Diversity

About Us

Diversity

Diversity Policy

1. Key Statement

1.1 The NE Group (referred to as “The Company”) welcome the diversity of tradition, culture and belief within the communities it serves. The Company aims to provide appropriate and responsive services in support of our purpose to all parts of communities, especially those experiencing poverty or other forms of exclusion. The Company will therefore seek to ensure that it reflects that diversity through our programme practice, governance, staffing and operations. The Company will not accept discrimination on the grounds of race, religious belief, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability or age. (see Equal Opportunities Policy).

2. Applies to

2.1 This policy applies to all employees, volunteers and participants The NE Group .

3. Diversity and Equal Opportunities

3.1 Diversity – is the mosaic of people who bring a variety of backgrounds, styles, perspective, values and beliefs as assets to the Company and organisations with which they interact. It focuses not only on identifying that there are differences between people, but also on actually valuing those differences thereby facilitating individuals to reach their full potential to enhance the services delivered. It is the reality of managing and balancing differing needs and contributions of those involved in the organisation, for example, multicultural teams, people with disabilities, or educating the staff, board and volunteers to work in a diverse team. Managing diversity has also come to incorporate the growing area of a more flexible range of working practices.

3.2 Equal Opportunities – concentrates on the identification and removal of potentially discriminatory policies or practices. The focus of equal opportunities is to ensure that employers meet the requirements of employment and equal opportunities legislation. A more proactive stance is to address issues such as an under-representation of specific groups such as women, ethnic minorities or people with disabilities in the work place. Policies and procedures need to be scrutinised in order to ensure that there is no intentional or unintentional discrimination. (See Equal Opportunities Policy)

4. Principles

4.1 The principles which underpin this policy are as follows:

To build a workforce that is valued and whose diversity reflects the communities it serves, enabling the Company to deliver the best possible services.

To develop and implement fair and non-discriminatory systems for recruiting, developing and promoting people.

To enable every employee, participant or volunteer in the Company to achieve his/her full potential in an environment characterised by dignity and mutual respect.

Individual diversity is viewed positively and recognises that everyone is different, valuing equally the unique contribution that individual experience, knowledge and skills can make.

To continue to build and develop a working environment which respects individual responsibilities and their wish to balance work and personal life.

To promote a culture where all staff value and respect the diversity of those who use and participate in the services provided by The Company.

To deliver services equally and recognise the different and diverse needs of the community The Company serves.

5. Roles and Responsibilities

5.1 Chair and Board:

Ensure that equality and diversity are fully integrated into all Company business, in both service delivery and in treatment of employees/volunteers/participants.

Ensure that Board Members are trained appropriately in managing equality and diversity.

Advise, support and monitor the Chief Executive in implementing the policy.

Review the policy periodically to ensure that it remains compliant with legislation and up to date with current good practice.

5.2 Chief Executive:

Ensure that The Company applies the principles of managing diversity to all its operations and demonstrates a commitment to the policy.

Ensure that the commitment from The Company to managing diversity is communicated to all employees/participants/volunteers as appropriate.

Lead by example, developing and promoting an organisational culture that is supportive of the benefits of managing diversity.

Ensure that all human resources policies, procedures and practices are consistent with legislative requirements and best practice relating to work place diversity.

Ensure that all staff have access to the necessary training intervention with regard to managing diversity, and that all relevant training events are supportive of the principles of this policy.

Monitor the effectiveness of this Policy and other policies and procedures in relation to diversity and equality of opportunity, taking any necessary action as appropriate.

Report to the Board on an annual basis data relating to diversity and equality issues.

5.3 Managers:

Ensure that policies and procedures relating to managing diversity are implemented and communicated to all employees, participants and volunteers.

Promote a professional and positive working environment where staff are aware of the Company’s commitment to diversity and the standard of behaviour that is expected of them.

Be directly responsible for the resolution of issues relating to harassment and discrimination in their work areas in accordance with Company policies and procedures, including the Disciplinary Policy where necessary.

5.4 Employees/Volunteers/Participants:

Maintain a professional working environment, treating colleagues, participants and visitors with equal respect and fairness, taking care to avoid giving offence or causing embarrassment because of assumptions or preconceptions.

Familiarise themselves with, comply with and promote Company policy and procedures with regard to managing diversity.

Challenge any discriminatory behaviour, or behaviour which constitutes harassment and reporting the incident to their line manager.

THIS POLICY WAS ADOPTED BY THE NE GROUP ON: 21 December 2004

THIS POLICY TO BE REVIEWED IN OCTOBER 2009

Signed ______________________________(Chair N.E.) Date ____________

Signed ______________________________(Chief Executive) Date ____________

APPENDIX 1: MANAGING DIVERSITY IN PRACTICE.

WORKING WITH MULTI-CULTURAL COMPANYS

Common Mistaken Assumptions

That only a representative from a particular cultural group can resolve all the problems that relate to that particular cultural group or family.
That any Asian/black/traveller/disabled worker can work with all Asian/black/ traveller/disabled groups without appreciating the difference in language, culture organisation and individual identity.
That all families/individuals from minority groups are the same and have the same needs. E.g. Group stereotyping without appreciating the differences between families/individuals based on background, class, history etc.

Checklist of Good Practice

Research the local area in order to identify social demographics.
Check dates of festivals and religious events, e.g. Ramadan.
When using interpreters or talking to a person for whom English is not their first language, speak clearly and slowly and break up your speech into short sentences.
Invite all family members to meetings if appropriate.
Accept hospitality, but be clear about what you like and dislike so as not to cause offence.
Use appropriate local venues depending upon the group you are working with.
Ensure that the publicity material/correspondence used is sensitive to the targeted group (e.g. has appropriate images, avoids jargon and considers dialect and font size).
Negotiate with community representatives who see themselves as gatekeepers prior to setting up a new group/activity.
Co-work with other workers and projects; invite people to help with specific tasks and volunteer to do things for them which highlight your strengths and expertise.
Childcare: consider appropriate facilities to the group’s requirements.
If providing refreshments, keep meat and vegetable dishes separate, don’t mix different flavoured crisps or biscuits with and without animal fats/flavourings, label food where necessary. Hindus and Sikhs are primarily vegetarian and Muslims avoid pork, ham and bacon. Be aware of fast days.
Make the group safe for people to be able to say what is important to them; make it clear you want their ideas during the meetings.
Do offer help to people with disabilities – but don’t be offended if it is rejected as it may be welcome but sometimes it wont be needed or may hinder the person doing it in their own, possibly slower, but efficient way.
Do not make assumptions about whether people have a disability, many people have invisible disabilities.
Try to seat yourself at eye level with a wheel chair user as much as possible.
If in a group, say the name of the person you are speaking to so that any blind people in the group can keep track of the conversation.
The terms “able-bodied” or “non-disabled” can be used to describe someone without a disability but, unless in reference to statistics, the term “normal” should be avoided. It implies that people living with a disability are abnormal.
Consider dress code for a community task and is it appropriate for the group (i.e. tree planting may not be appropriate for sari wearers).