Employers have a key role to play in tackling discrimination and promoting diversity in the workplace.

EU laws prohibit discrimination at work on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin, disability, age, sexual orientation and religion or belief. Employers therefore have a responsibility to make sure that their employees can work in an environment free from discrimination.

In addition demographic change and the challenges brought by globalisation are demanding new ideas and new ways of working.

Developing a diversity strategy could help you to respond to these pressures as a diverse workforce can enrich your business by providing different skills, experiences, ideas and perspectives. Encouraging diversity at work can therefore help your business to open up new markets and reach new customers.

This section aims to help you as an employer to recognise discrimination and discriminatory practices which may be occurring in your business and to take some practical steps to tackling discrimination, as well as explaining the benefits of diversity.

There are also documents and publications available for employers who would like to deepen their understanding of discrimination and diversity issues in the Resources section.