MANY businesses in the North-west are failing to value employees' differences, it is claimed.

Mr Ian Lewis, an employment law partner at the Manchester office of law firm Rowe Cohen, said: "The idea of generalising people simply by their job 'label' is outdated.

"The diversity principle revolves around recognising the benefits of employing people who don't fit the usual stereotype."

"These days most businesses supply markets that are ethnically and otherwise diverse," he said.

"The idea is to make your workforce mirror your market as closely as possible. "That way you harness peoples' differences rather than regarding their differences as obstacles."

He said a growing number of large multinational organisations were learning to make use of untapped resources within the workforce.

"That way you'll be able to recruit and keep the best people, irrespective of their sexual orientation, religion, sex, age, background, ethnicity, language and job title.

"This philosophy is paying dividends for the Fords, IBMs and BPs of this world and there is a lesson here for every manager and employer in the North-west."