Welcome Maria Hegarty Equality Strategies Ltd

What ? Equality/Diversity Impact Assessment A series of steps you take that enable you to assess what you are doing so that you can do it more effectively and set in place a plan to achieve a range of equality outcomes

Diversity factors protected Gender Marital Status Family Status Age Disability Sexual Orientation Race Religion Membership of the Traveller community

Other Diversity Factors Background / class Education Interests Skills - communication, conflict management, leadership

Aim People maximise their potential and contribution to the organisation Reveal and remove hidden barriers Develop clear plan of action

Why? Business case - not getting the best staff, not harnessing the full range of capacities of all employees, not getting all customers, perception of the organisation Legislative case - Legal requirements, individual case taken Social justice case Want to promote equality and manage diversity effectively so that all are included in all aspects of society

Equality promoted and diversity managed taking account of different employees’ identities, experiences, situations, interests and ambitions organisational culture that welcomes understands and values diversity Positive action Procedures and skill to deal effectively with any discrimination claims Understand diversity of customers

How - Approach 4 C’s - 4 C’s - Collaboration Collaboration Communication Communication Consultation Consultation Competence Building Competence Building

Example HAPPY HOTELS Profile 1.Management One general manager Four supervisors There are 120 staff - 65% female and 35% male People from seven nationalities work in the hotel

Happy Hotels Equality infrastructure Staff do not have a representative forum, some are members of a trade union No Equality Plan / Diversity Plan No equality training Staff handbook which is used for staff in the whole group Induction training does not address equality and diversity management issues

Exercise Who are the key stakeholders? How would you include them in the process? How can you set up a process that gets “buy in” from the company? How long do you anticipate the process should take? What challenges do you anticipate? How can you address these? What is likely to go well?

Equality Team Exercise Happy Hotel Discuss in pairs Who should be a member of the team What are the terms of reference for the team

Indicators Build equality team awareness and agreement Discuss what WE mean by equality and diversity Discuss what WE think about equality and diversity management in our organisation Discuss what we will measure Discuss how we will measure

Collaboration Essential in an organisational context Get all involved - people, levels, areas Get all perspectives - issues, concerns, fears, hopes Generate cooperation- see outcomes for all Lay basis for future collaboration

Exercise What can we do to build collaboration?

Collaboration Actions Initial Meetings - with mangers, supervisors, staff groups to ascertain Their hopes and fears Their langauge re equality The best method of consultation The best methods of communication Develop Equality Team Involve all people, levels and areas Discuss what is to be assessed

Communication All informed of all stages Improve participation in consultation processes Raise expectations Generate understanding Increase ownership

Exercise What can we do to communicate with all in the organisation?

Communication Actions Send articles for newsletters, notice boards, staff pay packets Send information for discussion at staff / team meetings Attend open meetings and provide information on process Inform all at different stages of process - start-up, consultation, outcomes

Consultation What do we need to know Work / Life Profile Equal Opportunities Dignity at work Training and Development Demographics

Exercise Work / Life Profile What do we need to know?

Work / Life profile Read / know contents Employee handbook Policies Further initiatives, e.g. caring responsibilities, employment of people with disabilities, customers Do you work full/part time Do you job share Do you do shift work Location?

Exercise Equal Opportunities What do we need to know?

Equal Opportunities - Perceptions Opinion - strongly agree to strongly disagree XX Equal opportunities employer XX fair recruitment procedures Equal access to training My supervisor respects me Employees in various grounds respected by colleagues XX attracts a diverse range of applicants Promotion procedures transparent Age is an important criteria for promotion in XX Managers are good at promoting equality and managing diversity

Dignity at Work What do we need to know about views in organisation?

Dignity at Work Have you read / Do you know contents dignity at work policy Anti-bullying and harassment policies Equality policies Have you experienced / someone complained Harassment, discrimination What happened Were you happy with outcome

Exercise What do we need to know about training and development?

Training and Development How long have you worked with XX Have you read training and development policy Have you participated in training Have you participated in equality training What level of education / technical skill have you achieved Have you applied for promotion What were the outcomes

Consultation Actions Design survey Test questionnaire Send questionnaire to all Allow sufficient time for return Provide analysis for equality team Conduct Focus Groups re key questions

Competence Building Equality Team Managers / supervisors Contact persons Leaders in organisation

Competence Building What do we need to do to build equality competence in the organisation?

Competence Building Actions Train equality team Train / coach managers / supervisors - EIA Brief contact persons Brief leaders

Assessment Organisational culture - annual reports, strategy docs etc.. Human resource information/data Policies - equality, training, working conditions

Assessments Procedures Recruitment, selection and promotion processes Processes - XX number of Recruitment, selection and promotion processes

Reporting Draft presented to the Organisation Informal brief to the Key Persons Formal Presentation to the Steering Group Agree approach for the Action Planning Stage

Action Plan Key priorities Timescales and milestones Build capacity (note integrate into managers performance assessment) Initiatives and actions Monitoring Review

Outcomes Summary Equality Team - infrastructure involved and committed to act Awareness campaign - improved knowledge Building Understanding - clearer aims, roles, impact of MY actions Information gathering - more up-to-date data, re-gather Assessment - clear steps, links to business aims Reporting - regular, monitor progress Action Plan - awareness, commitment, promotion of best practice