Inclusive cultures toolkit

Review all policies related to the employee life cycle, for example, recruitment and selection, training and development, performance appraisal, bullying, harassment and discrimination, flexible working, career breaks, maternity/paternity/adoption leave. Ensure all policies are kept up to date with current legislation, are inclusive of all employees, follow best practice and are communicated to all employees. In particular:

• Provide support mechanisms for those seeking career breaks – including but not limited to maternity/demonstrate to women that you want to retain them through career breaks and beyond.
• Implement effective guidance on how to respond to unacceptable or unhelpful behaviour in organisations.
• Implement flexible working for all/make flexible working a reality for all.
• Implement a transparent career path/map or similar activity that supports employee progression.
• Review and establish job design to ensure there are no barriers to recruiting the best person securing the job.

Review day-to-day management practice, for example, how are policies and processes applied? How inclusive are managers? To what extent do managers role model inclusive behaviours? How flexible are managers? To what extent do managers consider individuals’ needs and value contributions? In particular, you should:

• Develop leadership and a corporate culture that positions diversity as a ‘business’ as opposed to ‘HR’ imperative.
• Communicate and advocate diversity based on good practice.
• Identify, address and eliminate unconscious bias/challenging bias.
• Educate leaders and give them responsibility for change.

Consider employee perceptions of how inclusive the organisation’s culture is. Include data from interviews, focus groups, staff surveys, employee networks etc. You can collect broad views about what is working well in relation to diversity and inclusion and what the organisation could do to improve. In addition, consider perceptions in relation to employee processes such as promotion, career development opportunities, training, informal networks, dignity and respect etc. This will enable you to identify where improvements can be made, for example, through changes to policies and increasing transparency.

Review the demographic make-up of the organisation. How representative is this of the local community, your customer base and the sector? In addition, review demographics in relation to key processes such as recruitment, promotion, performance appraisal, access to development opportunities. This will enable you to identify whether any adverse impact (ie, a certain group of people being disadvantaged) is occurring. In particular:

• Use statistical information to raise awareness, measure progress and support diversity in organisations.
• Set public targets and measure progress.

Consider the informal networks that exist in organisations and the extent to which these have an impact on career development or project opportunities, access to information, perceptions of performance/ reputation and make people feel included or excluded.

Build understanding of where your organisation is in comparison to where it wants to be and what progress has already been made, for example, changes in demographics and staff perceptions. It can also be useful to look at benchmarks at this stage.

The DLG Diversity and Inclusion in Engineering Survey Report 2015 indicates that 78% of organisations include success measures and/or targets for diversity and/or inclusion in their strategy. These provide a good opportunity for understanding the level of progress made.

• Make a range of development activities available to all employees. Ensure development plans are designed to meet specific individual needs, increase performance in the current role and help to develop knowledge, skills and experience for potential future roles.
• Monitor the uptake of training and development opportunities, to ensure that all employees have equal access to relevant opportunities.
• Ask leaders to be the first to participate in sessions to raise awareness and increase understanding regarding D&I and inclusive leadership. 

• Collect and analyse diversity-related data where possible to identify areas of progress or concern. Analyse monitoring data in relation to employee processes to help identify if there are any stages which may be subject to bias or adverse impact.
• Collect data for all relevant grounds of the legislation (where permitted) and for other characteristics/ factors (for example, working hours) which could potentially cause discrimination. It is also important that global organisations are aware of the relevant legislation in different countries which may restrict the collection of demographic data. 
• Make employees aware that data is being collected for the purposes of monitoring.
• Collect data in a way that ensures confidentiality.
• Ensure data is stored confidentially.
• Ensure data is only accessed by personnel for the purposes of monitoring.

Tips for organisations thinking of setting up employee networks (based on Stonewall’s Guide to Network Groups):

• Research other employee networks to find out what has worked for them.
• Establish the business case for a network in your organisation. This should include benefits to the business and not just employees.
• Find a senior management sponsor who can argue your case across the organisation. Get the HR team on board as well.
• Set out the aims of the network. These could include advising on diversity policy and practice or helping with career development for the group the network is aimed at.
• Draw up a business plan that sets out the purpose of the group, its proposed activities and funding requirements.
• Ensure that network coordinators have the time to make it work. Many employers give coordinators time off each month for network business.
• Establish criteria for network membership, setting out whether the network is only open to certain employees or available to all.
• Publicise the group internally, through email and the company intranet, and externally.
• Consult all network stakeholders regularly — members and managers — to ensure it stays relevant to the business and to employees.

Legislation now states that “employees can apply for flexible working if they’ve worked continuously for the same employer for the last 26 weeks.” Furthermore, it is best practice to ensure that all employees are aware of the policy.

There are a number of benefits of flexible working to both organisations and individuals including:

Higher levels of job satisfaction and employee well-being and lower levels.

Tips for organisations considering flexible working:

• Be aware that legislation now states that "employees can apply for flexible working if they've worked continuously for the same employer for the last 26 weeks."
• Ensure that all employees are also aware of this legislation.
• Consider the full range of options encompassed by "flexible working", including:
• Job sharing: Two people do one job and split the hours.
• Working from home: Doing some or all of the work from home or anywhere else other than the normal place of work.
• Part-time: Working less than full-time hours (usually by working fewer days).
• Compressed hours: Working full-time hours but over fewer days.
• Flexi-time: The employee chooses when to start and end work (within agreed limits) but works certain core hours, for example 10am to 4pm every day.
• Annualised hours: The employee has to work a certain number of hours over the year but has some flexibility about when they work. There are sometimes core hours, which the employee regularly works each week, and they work the rest of their hours flexibly or when there is extra demand at work.
• Staggered hours: The employee has different start, finish and break times from other workers.
• Phased retirement: There is no longer a default retirement age, so older workers can choose when they want to retire. This means they can reduce their hours and work part time.
• Term-time working: A worker remains on a permanent contract but can take paid/ unpaid leave during school holidays.
• Career breaks/sabbaticals: Extended periods of leave – normally unpaid – of up to five years or more.
• Providing a flexible approach to work utilising some or all of the approaches outlined above. It will not be possible to offer all options to all employees, but ensure that the rationale for not offering certain options is clear and not just based on the fact that it hasn`t been tried before. 

Tips for embedding diversity and inclusion across global organisations. 

• Consider how the legislation differs in different locations and the impact of this.
• Agree both business and diversity and inclusion priorities at a local level.
• Plan to communicate diversity and inclusion across the organisation, including the overall strategy, local strategy and action plan, successes, progress, and areas of future focus. 
• Ensure a plan is in place to support different locations.
• Consider how to celebrate the success of areas that might be at very different stages of their D&I journey.
• Create an overall vision for the whole organisation.
• Ask different regions/locations to take responsibility for determining and implementing action plans at a local level, to ensure that priorities and initiatives are tailored to the needs of individual areas.
• Identify a senior leader in each region/location who is responsible for championing D&I actions and reportings back to others.
• Hold regular meetings for the D&I leaders of each region/location to share experiences, challenges, progress, advice and tips. The requirement to report back on actions also increases the likelihood that people will take action.

• Carefully consider the language used in job adverts and descriptions. There is certain language which indicates that a role is ‘male’, for example, ‘power, strong, leader, bold.’ Keep language neutral and focused on essential skills. Being explicit that your organisation actively seeks diversity and will support the successful candidate in their role.
• Advertise using a range of different publications and organisations. 
• Work with organisations that target underrepresented groups to signal to applicants that the organisation is committed to employing a diverse workforce. 

Mentoring schemes are now in place in many organisations, however, results are mixed and schemes are often abandoned. To increase the likelihood of success from a mentoring scheme

• Consider how mentors and mentees will be matched. Ask mentees to state their requirements and mentors to outline what they can offer and use this information to determine the right match. When an individual is asked to mentor someone they haven’t chosen and there is little flexibility in finding a match, it can result in the feeling that this is just a procedural thing. A more tailored approach to matching and flexibility for both mentors and mentees to change pairings is likely to minimise the feeling.
• Research has shown that people who are similar to those who occupy senior positions find it easier to secure mentors. Given the underrepresentation of certain groups in senior positions across STEM roles, it is therefore more likely that people in these groups will find it harder to find a good mentor. Consider launching mentoring schemes specifically aimed at certain groups to bridge this gap.
• Ensure that training is available for mentors. Training should cover topics such as: what is expected of them as mentors; benefits of mentoring; the boundaries; contracting and maintaining confidentiality; setting expectations; the difference between coaching and mentoring; challenging and giving feedback the mentoring process; what to do if things are not going well; and hints and tips for making the relationship a success.

• Arrange training for all staff involved in recruitment and selection which covers the process, how to ensure fairness, consistency and objectivity and how to avoid bias.
• Use specific examples in the recruitment process to encourage managers to recognise situations and think through the best way to deal with these.

• Ensure all employees are aware of what is meant by acceptable/unacceptable behaviour, bullying, harassment and discrimination.
• Make employees aware of their rights and responsibilities, what to do if they have experienced unacceptable behaviour, and the sources of support available.

• Link D&I to personal and strategic objectives help leaders and employees understand what is expected of them and how this impacts on the organisation’s wider strategy, to increasing engagement and accountability.
• Measure performance against these objectives to increase the likelihood that D&I remains a priority even when workloads are high.
• Start the roll-out of any diversity training with the most senior teams to signal its importance to the rest of the organisation.
• Use senior leaders in the organisation as sponsors for staff networks to increase the likelihood that the networks’ views are considered and that actions are taken seriously. It is essential that such sponsors are authentic supporters of their network and champion its work.

• Develop a strong, positive mission and core values which make diversity and inclusion necessary, long-term business objectives.
• Ensure the mission and values are a focus and a responsibility of all employees.
• Involve leadership in developing the strategy, and ensure they have a clear idea about the future of the organisation in relation to diversity and inclusion, and diversity goals and aspirations.
• Undertake a gap analysis by evaluating you organisation against this vision. Use this to identify priorities and build strategies to address them.

Supplier diversity is an area that is important for all businesses. It means taking steps to ensure that the businesses that supply your business are inclusive and diverse. Businesses that diversify their supply chain can experience unexpected positive add-on benefits, such as new ways of looking at product development and marketing, access to new markets and an enhanced business image.

• Tips for improving supplier diversity:
• Level the playing field rather than positively discriminating in favour of particular groups.
• Consider how the diversity of the business community and wider society is reflected in your supply chain.
• Ensure that the businesses that supply your organisation follow policies that live up to your own equality, diversity and inclusion standards.