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The purpose of this article is to show how two specialist advisers from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) provide practical advice on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and diversity.

The article includes two best practice guides based on the experience and quantitative and qualitative research of the CIPD. The first half focuses on CSR, what it means in the workplace and how HR professionals can implement or encourage its take up in a strategic and meaningful way. The second half tackles diversity, explaining its role in the workplace and its importance to HR professionals in helping organizations gain competitive advantage.

The strategic importance of both issues provides HR with an opportunity to demonstrate its strategic value to the organization. People policies and people management are at the heart of CSR and diversity.

CSR and diversity are similar, in that they both have to be approached with serious intent that results in effective delivery. Purely paying lip service, or poor implementation, is most likely to have negative implications for the business. There are also differences between the two, a key one being that there are best practice approaches to guide HR professionals in approaching CSR, whereas diversity is a more complex concept that relies on approximate reasoning.

US HR functions ahead of Europe in credibility stakes ‐ Employers cannot afford to ignore diversity ‐ UK workers feel unappreciated and unsupported.

Women's Progression at Work Volume 25 Number 5 of Personnel Review includes an article by Catherine Cassell entitled “A fatal attraction? Strategic HRM and the business case for women's progression at work.” Critically assesses the underpinnings and implications of the business case for the progression of women at work. Fundamentally linked to the principles of strategic HRM, the business case focuses on the business benefits that employers accrue through making the most of the skills and potential of women employees. Presents a cautiously critical analysis of the claim that the position of women at work can be furthered through a business case. Drawing on recent writings on women at work, plus case study data from the authors own research, argues that the emergence and popularity of the business case has moved the discussion about the position of women at work away from concepts such as democracy and equality to those of organisational effectiveness and competitive edges.

ILO: Women's Participation in Trade Unions. This is the theme of a special issue of Women At Work namely that of the role of trade unions and the ILO in promoting the equal participation of women in economic, political and social life. It presents complementary information to that provided in the previous issue in which trade union and ILO responses, in terms of policies and programmes, to the situation of women workers were identified both nationally and internationally. This issue reflects on the actions being taken to organise women workers and to improve their participation at all levels of trade union activities and structures. A selection has been made of various initiatives by trade unions, nationally and internationally, and ILO technical projects in different regions are described and analysed. In this regard extracts from the ILO 1988 Survey on the Implementation of Convention No. 111 on Discrimination in Employment and Documentation are included. Requirements for trade union action to promote equality are reflected in the various ILO Conventions as well as in a number of ILO resolutions covering specific industrial sectors and geographical regions.