Taylor (1998) looked for evidence of equity in light of the think tank’s statements. For his study, he defined equity as “programs acting as agents in creating an equitable workforce.” He found that organizational barriers to equity existed in the “hiring and promotion policies of many companies. It was felt by a number of employees that even with basic skills training their movement up the work ladder was hindered.” In regard to marketing internally, he also found that in about one third of his case studies, “employees felt that middle management perceived the program as a perk and that it was not promoted enough in the organization.” (p. 13)

Consider…

Even in unionized workplaces, workers who are members of joint committees often do not play as active a role as staff, supervisors and managers in the decisions and activities of the committee. While we say partnerships are about equality, in fact there are many barriers to workers participating fully — their schedules, lack of replacement workers, their access to computers and other technology, and often their inexperience with joint committee work in their company.

Variations on these barriers exist in many workplace education initiatives. It might be helpful to address these barriers up front in initial discussions with the company, union and other partners. What experience does the organization have with multi-party committees, how have they operated, what ground rules are in place and what success models do they have? Very few companies are in a position to replace workers who are at committee meetings; usually co-workers fill in, which requires that good relations be maintained throughout the process.