'Dealing' with diversity is one of these business buzzwords that we've never quite been able to fathom. Accepting diversity possibly, reveling in it, enjoying in it, profiting from it are all phrases that seem more likely to us. As grandmother used to say, the world would be a boring place if we were all the same, would it not?



The problem is of course that in business that isn't quite what is meant by 'dealing with'. That people are different, that those of certain religions and cultures (and any other way you wish to slice humanity) might have different desires or needs is not the most difficult lesson to absorb. That religious Muslims will not work on a Friday, that asking an observant Jew to work on Saturday or a vegetarian to demonstrate the correct use of the newly designed steak knife: well, we can all see the problems with those, can't we?

Where diversity becomes a much more difficult problem is when it meets anti-discrimination law and group rights. The unfortunate truth is that at present you cannot defend yourself as a company by asking for proof that you do discriminate. You now actually have to prove that you do not. It is getting worse in that some are pressing that your workforce should accurately reflect the ethnic mixture of the area in which you operate: perhaps sensible and perhaps not. But the important point is that you will have to prove a negative if you are accused of discrimination. Not they that you are, but you that you are not.

The larger the company you are the less of a problem this is: you are more likely to have a human resources department that will be up to speed on such issues. However, for a small company this can be a near impossible minefield. Without that in house resource of trained professionals in the field what are you to do in trying to keep up with the legal requirements? Most especially as claims of such discrimination will inevitably start with your recruitment policies?

That's where you really ought to turn to your client director at Talisman. As the experts who deal with such issues all the time they'll be able to guide you through this perplexing process: as a result of the latest laws on age discrimination it is, for example, being seriously suggested that a job ad cannot contain the word 'vibrant' as this would imply a desire for only the young to apply. Now, whether that is actually a valid concern is another matter: one which makes consulting the professionals something worthwhile to do.