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Argues that merely complying with legislation is not sufficient to accomplish genuine diversity and that, rather than assuming its benefits will naturally be derived and accepted, diversity must be approached strategically and its advantages communicated effectively to stakeholders to ensure desired outcomes.

Considers the business case for diversity, presents a case study of barristers and examines the role of the national equality standard.

Advances the view that multi-layered approaches to diversity are essential for its successful implementation.

Highlights the strong business case for diversity in the workforce, as well as possible social repercussions from failing to ensure that workforces are diverse.

Underlines how young people in European and Anglo-Saxon countries are increasingly demanding to work with colleagues from varied ethnicities, nationalities and sexual orientations who are similar to the peers they socialize with. Diverse workforces have thus become central to talent attraction.

Presents an interesting case study of barristers and diversity.

Argues that the British House of Commons is acutely unrepresentative of the population that it serves. A range of party leadership interventions that have sought to increase the possibilities for women and those from minority groups to become MPs are evaluated, but regulating in this way is found to have largely failed. Alternative policy solutions are proposed that seek to increase the “supply” of candidates from such backgrounds.

Conducts document analysis of political parties’ equality and diversity policies and assesses their impact upon their proportion of MPs or parliamentary candidates from minority backgrounds.

Argues that the real problem lies in the lack of engagement in the political process and a shortage of candidates from such backgrounds putting themselves forward for nomination in the first place. Thus, authentic parliamentary diversity cannot be created through enforcement but needs to be fostered organically through supportive longer-term measures alongside electoral reform.

Advances the view that greater diversity is required for parliamentary legitimacy but top-down interventions have been counterproductive; barely improving the proportion of MPs from minority backgrounds and actually presenting threats to party autonomy and quality of democracy.

Shows how structural problems complicate the ease with which women and those from working-class, ethnic minority and disability backgrounds can engage with the political process and then successfully become parliamentary candidates. Reforming the political culture and targeted policies aimed at reversing the barriers to entry may create a more level playing field by encouraging them to stand.

Offers a timely case study of the neglected and longstanding lack of representation in Parliament that is uniquely interrogated from an HRM perspective.

Unions and worker cooperatives have long represented distinct approaches to building worker voice. This paper draws from observations of the work of the “Co-op Exploratory Committee” of 1199SEIU, the nation’s largest union local, which is seeking to expand the development of unionized worker cooperatives. Described by Martin Luther King, Jr, as his “favorite” union, 1199SEIU has a storied history of organizing frontline healthcare workers and includes large numbers of women of color and immigrant workers among its membership. Since 2003, it has also represented workers at Cooperative Home Care Associates, the nation’s largest worker cooperative. Drawing from discussions among union officials, co-op leaders, and rank-and-file union members about the potential role of unionized worker cooperatives within the labor movement, the paper examines the creative tension between stakeholder and democratic logics in efforts to expand this model. It argues that continued union decline, heightened interest in economic alternatives, and systemic frailties exposed by Covid-19 may create new opportunities for building unionized worker co-ops at scale.