“Tom and his younger brothers as they grew up, went on playing with the village boys without the idea of equality or inequality (except in wrestling, running and climbing) ever entering their heads, as it doesn't till it's put there by Jack Nastys or fine ladies’ maids.”, (Thomas Hughes, from Tom Brown’s Schooldays, 1857).

Evidence from the wider world (outside of work) indicates that being different can result in a range of inequalities.  Despite efforts by politicians and governments to address inequalities, the gaps between the haves and the have-nots, seem only to have grown wider.

At work, ‘equal opportunities’ is a hot topic, and rightly so. It is illegal in the UK to discriminate on grounds of sex, race or disability. More recently, it also became illegal to discriminate on grounds of age. 

Aspects such as the ‘pay gap’ between men and women have been widely publicised, and how much you earn can be objectively measured. But how do you measure inequalities in the quality of working life?  Does difference (for example, being male or female, disabled, older or coming from an ethnic minority) result in a very different quality of work life experience?

Naturally, we think our tool does a pretty good job of answering these and other questions, such as:

• Are men or women happier at work?
• How does disability affect how you experience work?
• Do more diverse workplaces result in a better quality of working life?

The data we've gathered recently sheds some light on these important questions.  We’ll be writing up this research soon, but in the meantime, if you're interested in finding out more please get in touch.