The business case for equal opportunities

It has long been argued that equality of opportunity brings business benefits and that it is in employers' interest to implement policy to promote equality of opportunity. We present new evidence on this issue from the Workplace Employment Relations Survey 2004. There do not appear to be large and widespread business benefits associated with Equal Opportunities policies amongst the establishments that implement these; nor do there appear to be large and widespread costs to businesses of the same. Nevertheless, we suggest that the net benefits to society of Equal Opportunities policies are likely to differ substantially from the net benefits to businesses.