Unit 203 – Work In a Business Environment
203.1 Understand How to Respect Other People at Work

1.1 What Is Meant By Diversity And Why Should It Be Valued?
Diversity pertains to the differences between people. In the work-place, diversity in mostly mentioned in relation to: age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and health/disabilities. By being aware of the differences between people, employers are able to understand how workloads may affect their staff. For instance, someone with a heart condition may react more negatively (in terms of physical health) to a high stress project than someone with no heart problem. Diversity should also be valued because of the variation of skills a group of people can bring to a business. If all employees had the same strengths and weaknesses, the business would find that it fell short in crucial areas.

1.2 Describe How To Treat Other People In A Way That Is Sensitive To Their Needs.
Firstly, in order to behave in a way that is sensitive to others’ needs, we need to be able to understand what those needs are. People with physical or mobility issues may need specialist equipment to overcome them, whilst others may need to have something explained to them in a different way. For instance, at the credit union a few clients have learning difficulties, and so if they have a concern or something they don’t understand, I do my best to speak with them calmly, and check that they understand, sometimes asking them to repeat a piece of information back to me. Offensive words or humour should never be used – even when not dealing with the public. In general, by sympathising with a person, you go a long way to dealing with their needs as well as possible.

1.3 Describe How To Treat Other People In A Way That Respects Their Abilities, Background, Values, Customs And Beliefs.
When dealing with people, it is essential to have an open mind – only by having an open mind can you truly learn about a person’s differences in a constructive way. There is never one right way to do things, all processes and methods we follow today have come from thousands of years of learning from other people. One way of showing respect for a person’s individuality is to enquire about that particular aspect of their character, rather than pre-judging them based on that aspect of them. This is also a good way to build rapport with customers, as it illustrates that you are interested and invested in them. Again, offensive language should never be used, and the tone of voice should be monitored when asking questions that are personal to the individual. As an instance of how this can go wrong, I have scars on my upper arm which are a sore topic of conversation for me; a colleague of mine asked how they had happened, but asked in a very brusque manner. This made me quite defensive, as I do not like talking about them as it is. While I know they did not mean any harm by asking and were genuinely intrigued, they could have used a softer tone of voice and asked in a more sensitive way, rather than in the office in front of others. This is one way in which we need to be careful.

1.4 Describe Ways In Which It Possible To Learn From Others At Work.
Asking how an individual performs a task – many people do things differently, and so you are more likely to find a way of working which is best for you.

Talking and discussing matters with a range of different people – from other departments, branches and even customers

Collaborating with others in various departments to carry out tasks
203.2 Understand How to Maintain Security and Confidentiality at Work and Deal with Concerns

2.1 Describe the Purpose and Benefits of Maintaining Security and Confidentiality at Work
Security and confidentiality are very important areas of any business, as they could cause massive damage to it should they be breached.
Security is defined as: being free from harm or danger. The purpose of maintaining security in an organisation is that the business,