Equality and diversity policy 1 Policy statement The Company is committed to eliminating discrimination and encouraging diversity amongst its workforce. The aim is that the workforce will be truly representative of all sections of society and each employee feels respected and able to give of their best. 1.1 The Company does not discriminate against staff on the basis of any protected characteristic i.e. their gender, sexual orientation, marital or civil partner status, gender reassignment, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, disability or age. The principle of nondiscrimination and equality of opportunity applies equally to the treatment of applicants for employment, former staff, visitors, clients, customers and suppliers by members of the Company s current workforce. 1.2 This policy, and the measures the Company has taken, and will be taking to implement it, has been devised on the basis of advice from the relevant governmental and professional bodies. The Company is committed to a programme of action to bring it to the attention of all staff. 1.3 This policy deals with the specific categories of staff and areas of work which the Company has identified as potentially giving rise to equal opportunities issues and provides more specific guidance on the parameters of the Company s policy and approach to equal opportunities. 1.4 All staff have a duty to act in accordance with this policy, and therefore to treat colleagues with dignity at all times, and not to discriminate against or harass other colleagues irrespective of seniority. In some situations, the Company may be at risk of being held responsible for the acts of individual members of staff and will therefore not tolerate any discriminatory practices or behaviour. Staff should also note that they may be personally liable for those acts too. 1.5 All members of staff are responsible for the success of this policy and must ensure that they familiarise themselves with the policy and act in accordance with its aims and objectives. If you are involved in management or recruitment, or if you have any questions about the content or application of this policy, you should contact Human Resources to request additional training and/or guidance. 2 Who is covered by the policy? 2.1 This policy covers all individuals working at all levels and grades, including senior managers, officers, directors, employees, consultants, contractors, trainees, home-workers, part-time and fixed-term employees, casual and agency staff (collectively referred to as staff in this policy). 2.2 The policy statement above applies equally to the treatment of the Company s visitors, applicants for employment, clients, customers and suppliers by the Company s staff and the treatment of its staff by these third parties. All contracts between the Company and contractors that supply goods, materials or services will include a clause prohibiting unlawful discrimination or harassment by contractors or the Company s staff. Clients will be made aware of this policy and their right to fair and equal treatment. 3 Scope and purpose of the policy 3.1 This policy applies to the advertising of jobs and recruitment and selection, to training and development, opportunities for promotion, to conditions of service, benefits and facilities and pay, to health and safety and to conduct at work, to grievance and disciplinary procedures and to termination of employment, including redundancy.
3.2 The Company will take appropriate steps to accommodate the requirements of workers religions, cultures, and domestic responsibilities. The Company s policies on Family Emergency, Flexible Working Request Procedure should be consulted for specific guidance on the Company s approach to some these issues and your entitlements. 3.3 The Company s objective is to achieve a working environment where all members of staff feel respected and where their contributions are recognised. 4 Forms of discrimination 4.1 Discrimination may be direct or indirect and it may occur intentionally or unintentionally. 4.2 Direct discrimination occurs where someone is put at a disadvantage for a reason related to one or more of the grounds set out in paragraph 4.1(i) above. For example, rejecting an applicant on the grounds of their race because it is considered they would not "fit in" could be direct discrimination. 4.3 Indirect discrimination occurs where an individual is subject to an unjustified provision, criterion or practice which puts them at a particular disadvantage because of, for instance, their sex or race. For example, a height requirement would be likely to eliminate proportionately more women than men. If this criterion cannot be objectively justified for a reason unconnected with sex, it would be indirectly discriminatory on the grounds of sex. 4.4 Harassment is where there is unwanted conduct, related to one of the protected characteristics that has the purpose or effect of violating a person s dignity; or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. It does not matter whether or not this effect was intended by the person responsible for the conduct (although it does not cover harassment because of marriage and civil partnership and (according to current guidance from the Government and Acas) pregnancy and maternity). 4.5 Associative discrimination is where an individual is directly discriminated against or harassed for association with another individual who has a protected characteristic (although it does not cover harassment because of marriage and civil partnership, and (according to current guidance from the Government and Acas) pregnancy and maternity). 4.6 Perceptive discrimination is where an individual is directly discriminated against or harassed based on a perception that an individual has a particular protected characteristic when they do not, in fact, have that protected characteristic (other than marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity). 4.7 Third-party harassment occurs where an employee is harassed and the harassment is related to a protected characteristic (other than marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity), by third parties such as clients or customers. For an employer to be liable: 4.7.1 the harassment must have occurred on at least two previous occasions (although not necessarily by the same harasser or suffering the same type of harassment); 4.7.2 it must be aware that the previous harassment has taken place; and 4.7.3 it must have failed to take reasonable steps to prevent harassment from happening again.
4.8 Victimisation occurs where a member of staff is subjected to a detriment, such as being denied a training opportunity or a promotion because they made or supported a complaint or raised a grievance under the Equality Act 2010, or because they are suspected of doing so. However, a member of staff is not protected from victimisation if they acted maliciously or made or supported an untrue complaint. 5 Recruitment and selection 5.1 The Company s aim is to ensure that no job applicant receives less favourable treatment on any of the unlawful grounds listed in paragraph 4.1(i) above. The Company s recruitment procedures are reviewed regularly to ensure that individuals are treated on the basis of their relevant merits and abilities and that sufficiently diverse sectors of the community are reached. Job selection criteria are regularly reviewed to ensure that they are essential for the effective performance of the job and therefore justified on non-discriminatory grounds. 5.2 The Company takes steps to ensure that knowledge of vacancies reaches a wide labour market. The Company s aim is that its employees will be truly representative of all sections of society. 5.3 Where appropriate, use may be made of lawful exemptions to recruit suitably-qualified people to cater for the special needs of particular groups. Vacancy advertisements shall include an appropriate short statement on the Company s Equal Opportunities Policy and a copy of this policy shall be sent to those who enquire about vacancies. 5.4 To ensure that this policy is operating effectively with respect to recruitment and selection and the other areas identified in paragraph a above, and to identify those sections of the local community which may be under-represented in employment, the Company monitors applicants' racial origins, gender, disability, sexual orientation and religion and age as part of the recruitment procedure. It also maintains records of this data in an anonymised format solely for the purposes stated in this policy. Ongoing monitoring and regular analysis of the data obtained will provide the basis for taking appropriate steps to eliminate unlawful direct and indirect discrimination and implement this policy. 6 Staff training and promotion and conditions of service 6.1 Staff training needs will be identified through regular staff appraisals. All employees will be given appropriate access to training to enable them to progress within the organisation and all promotion decisions will be made on the basis of merit. 6.2 The composition and movement of staff at different levels will be regularly monitored to ensure equality of opportunity at all levels of the organisation. Where appropriate, steps will be taken to identify and remove unnecessary or unjustifiable barriers and to provide appropriate facilities and conditions of service to meet the special needs of disadvantaged groups. 6.3 The Company s conditions of service, benefits and facilities are reviewed regularly to ensure that they are available to all staff who should have access to them and that there are no unlawful obstacles to accessing them. 7 Redundancy and disciplinary procedures 7.1 The Company will monitor redundancy criteria and procedures to ensure that they are fair and objective and are not directly or indirectly discriminatory.
7.2 The Company will also ensure that disciplinary procedures are carried out fairly and uniformly for all staff, whether they result in the giving of disciplinary warnings, dismissal or other disciplinary action. 8 Disability discrimination 8.1 Staff who are disabled, or become disabled in the course of employment with the Company, are encouraged to inform the Company about their condition. This is to enable the Company to support the member of Staff as much as possible. The member of Staff may also wish to advise their line manager or Human Resources of any reasonable adjustments to their working conditions or the duties of their job which is considered to be necessary, or which would assist in the performance of their duties. The line manager or the Human Resources Department may wish to consult with the member of Staff and with their Occupation Health Advisor and/or the individuals medical adviser(s) about possible reasonable adjustments. Careful consideration will be given to any such proposals and they will be accommodated where possible and proportionate to the needs of the job and the Company s business. Nevertheless, there may be circumstances where it will not be reasonable for the Company to accommodate suggested adjustments, and it will ensure that it provides the member of Staff with information as to the basis of its decision not to make any adjustments. 8.2 The Company will monitor the physical features of its premises to consider whether they place disabled workers, job applicants or service users at a substantial disadvantage compared to other staff. Where possible and proportionate, the Company will take steps to improve access for disabled staff and service users. 9 Fixed-term employees The Company monitors its use of fixed-term workers and their conditions of service, to ensure that they are being offered appropriate access to benefits, training, promotion and permanent employment opportunities. The Company will, where relevant, monitor their progress to ensure that they are accessing permanent vacancies. 10 Part-time workers The Company monitors the conditions of service of part-time workers and their progression to ensure that they are being offered appropriate access to benefits and training and promotion opportunities. The Company will ensure requests to alter working hours are dealt with appropriately under its Flexible Working Request Procedure. 11 Breaches of the policy 11.1 If a member of staff believes that they may have been discriminated against or have been subject to harassment they are encouraged to raise the matter through the Company s Grievance Procedure. Advice on how to proceed can be sought from Human Resources. 11.2 Allegations regarding potential breaches of this policy will be treated in confidence and investigated in accordance with the relevant procedure. Staff who make such allegations in good faith will not be victimised or treated less favourably as a result. False allegations which are found to have been made in bad faith will, however, be dealt with under the Company s Disciplinary Procedure. 11.3 Any member of staff who is found to have committed acts of discrimination or harassment will be subject to disciplinary action. Such behaviour may constitute gross misconduct and, as such, may result in summary dismissal. The Company always takes a strict approach to serious breaches of this policy.
12 Implementation, Review and monitoring of the policy 12.1 The implementation of this policy will be a priority for the Company s senior management. The Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director of each of the Company s subsidiaries will be responsible for the day to day implementation of the policy. 12.2 This policy is communicated to all employees and job applicants and will be placed on the Company s intranet, website and in its Employee Handbook. 12.3 All staff will receive training in this policy, on their rights and responsibilities under the policy and how the policy will affect the way they carry out their duties. This will ensure all staff are aware of what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable conduct and how they assist the Company to meet its commitment. 12.4 Those working at a management level have a specific responsibility to set an appropriate standard of behaviour, to lead by example and to ensure that those they manage adhere to the policy and promote the Company s aims and objectives with regard to equal opportunities. To facilitate this process, managers will be given training on equal opportunities awareness and equal opportunities recruitment and selection best practice in order that they may do so. 12.5 An equality and diversity action plan will be drawn up with targets and timetables to show what steps the Company plans to take to achieve the aims of this policy. 12.6 The Company will continue to review the effectiveness of this policy to ensure it is achieving its objectives by monitoring the composition of job applicants and the benefits and career progression of its staff.