Interview Question - Equal Opportunities

JoJoB

I'm 99 percent sure I am going to get this question asked on an upcoming interview and am really struggling in wording a response. Any help appreciated!

What do you understand by the term equal opportunities?

And (the bit i'm struggling with) how would you respond to a service user or colleague expressing views contrary to our equal opportunities policy?

susie_Q_4

from wiki:Equal opportunity is a stipulation that all people should be treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers or prejudices or preferences, except when particular “distinctions can be explicitly justified.” The aim according to this often "complex and contested concept" is that important jobs should go to those “the most qualified”––persons most likely to perform ably in a given task––and not to go to persons for arbitrary or irrelevant reasons, such as circumstances of birth, upbringing, friendship ties to whoever is in power, religion, sex, ethnicity, race, caste, or “involuntary personal attributes” such as disability, age, or sexual preferences.

heretolearn_2

that's equal ops as it relates to recruitment.

With regards to service user type environments, it's about ensuring all service users have the same opportunities but it's not about treating them the same or in similar ways - it's about identifying what they need and how to treat them to ensure that they can access the same opportunities. i.e going swimming; do they need transport, how many people to work with them, do they need a hoist into the pool, do they need special floatation equipment etc. Different needs to access the same opportunities as everyone else.

On what to do if someone says something they shouldn't, that's a stinker of a question! I don't know, ask them what they mean? Point out the right way to do things? If it happens a lot report them to manager?

slig

JoJoB wrote: »

And (the bit i'm struggling with) how would you respond to a service user or colleague expressing views contrary to our equal opportunities policy?

I agree with cleartolearn, I guess you need to calmly say something, eg 'I don't think that is an appropriate thing to say' or 'I don't agree' or something, rather than letting them continue on - not saying anything might lead them and other observers to believe that you/the company agree with what is being said. Entering into an argument/discussion with them might not be productive or professional though. I think discussing a recurring issue with a manager is also a sensible suggestion.

When I temped in social services, service users would sometimes say that they didn't want a black carer. Pretty tricky for a number of reasons; you wouldn't really want to put a carer into that situation, but you also wouldn't want to discriminate when selecting a staff member for a job or when hiring. But on the other hand, you don't want the service user to refuse care when they need it.

Savvy_Sue

JoJoB wrote: »

I'm 99 percent sure I am going to get this question asked on an upcoming interview and am really struggling in wording a response. Any help appreciated!

What do you understand by the term equal opportunities?

Be aware it may also go along the lines of "how can we ensure we are putting our equal ops policies into practice?" or similar. So don't just think about what it means, think about what it means for the organisation.

JoJoB wrote: »

And (the bit i'm struggling with) how would you respond to a service user or colleague expressing views contrary to our equal opportunities policy?

Our way of phrasing that question was "what would you do if a colleague told a racist joke?" to which the answer is NOT "It would depend how funny it was."

You have to challenge it. One way of starting to do that is to check you heard and correctly understood what the other person said. One of MY colleagues heard me say "the b*st*rd from the local church has just phoned and ..." when what I'd ACTUALLY said was "the pastor from the local church has just phoned and ..."

My colleague said "Did you just say 'the b*st*rd from the local church'?" and what I heard them say was "Did you just say 'the pastor from the local church'?" As she looked completely confused I thought maybe they didn't know what a pastor was, so I said "Yes, that's right, the pastor, you know, the chap who leads the local church, like a vicar."

Several colleagues who had correctly heard the whole exchange were convulsed with laughter ...

If you HAVE correctly heard and understood, you may need to report it to a manager.

Mind you, if this is the kind of environment I think it is, it's worth including in your answer that you'd expect the organisation to offer training in the policy and how it's implemented.

jobbingmusician

You might also like to add into the mix:

I would hope that all employees understand the EO policy and that it is a live document which fosters discussion and thought about its day to day implementation, and that employees are actively encouraged to challenge unacceptable views and develop each other's understanding.

Ideally, service users should be involved in the development of their own code of conduct, and this gives a good basis to work with them to understand all aspects of EO and to challenge unacceptable views.

JoJoB

Thank you everyone, really useful food for thought. I've been for an interview for this organisation before and flounderred when asked this question which I think played a big part in not getting the job. Have a lot more to go on with now!

westv

Public sector role?

Sambucus_Nigra

JoJoB wrote: »

I'm 99 percent sure I am going to get this question asked on an upcoming interview and am really struggling in wording a response. Any help appreciated!

What do you understand by the term equal opportunities?

And (the bit i'm struggling with) how would you respond to a service user or colleague expressing views contrary to our equal opportunities policy?

A service user - I'd follow the procedure to deal with service users who do not adhere to the Equal Opportunities policy that had been implemented and agreed. This in turn would depend on how serious the company takes this issue, which will obviously be explained at induction.

A colleague - surely their excellent recruitment procedure would ensure that no colleague has a view contrary to the policy, and there would likely be a procedure to follow should someone who doesn't understand it slip through the net.

gibson123

I would personalise the answer a bit more, people get all caught up in legislation and policy when it is about your attitude to equal opps as much as your knowledge, here's my tuppence worth.

What do you understand by the term equal opportunities?

I consider myself to be a fair person and I think everyone should have the same opportunities and rights as I have, so for me equal ops is about ensuring that everyone is treated fairly and in a way that helps them access opportunities such as opportunities to work and to have a family and social life.

And (the bit i'm struggling with) how would you respond to a service user or colleague expressing views contrary to our equal opportunities policy?

I respect everyone's right to have an opinion, but I don't have to take it on board, so to the service user, I would probably say something like, "ok that's one opinion but I disagree, if it's ok with you I would prefer that you do not express these views in my company please" and to the staff member I would be a bit more forceful and say something like "do you mind not expressing those views in the workplace, they are against equal ops and I personally don't agree with you or want to listen to you expressing these opinions"

Hope this helps

Savvy_Sue

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

A colleague - surely their excellent recruitment procedure would ensure that no colleague has a view contrary to the policy, and there would likely be a procedure to follow should someone who doesn't understand it slip through the net.

:rotfl: classic! Reminds me of the candidate who answered the question about prioritising work from different managers by saying that she expected her managers to be more organised than to have conflicting priorities. Err, why do you think we asked that question? :rotfl:

However, there's still the kind of misunderstanding / mishearing as described above, which does still need to be responded to, IMO.