Definitions
Purpose
Scope
Statement of Purpose
Legal Obligations
Responsibilities
Implementing this Policy
Complaints

DEFINITIONS

This policy outlines the Company’s approach to equality and diversity at work. Diversity and equal opportunities are often seen as the same thing, however there are differences:

• Equality (or equal opportunities) is about protecting certain groups of staff against unfair treatment based on a particular personal characteristic. This protection is normally based on those groups covered by legislation i.e. gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, age and religion or belief.
• Diversity is about seeing everyone as individuals and valuing the differences between people.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this policy is to encourage an atmosphere in which all staff embrace the benefits of working in a diverse workforce and to promote fair and equal treatment for all employees, job applicants, customers, suppliers and visitors, irrespective of their individual differences or any personal characteristics.

SCOPE

This policy relates to all aspects of employment, including individual standards of behaviour, the advertisement of jobs, recruitment and selection, training and development, appraisal, pay, promotion and leaving the company. The principles apply equally to all dealings with customers, suppliers and visitors.

STATEMENT OF POLICY

All Employees are equally entitled to be treated fairly and with respect from all of their work colleagues. We will ensure that all Employees are familiar with the companies policy for promoting diversity through training and education. We aim to gradually educate every member of staff so that discrimination becomes a thing of the past. Good communication with Employees is key to our commitment to diversity. Our aim is that our workforce will be truly representative of the community we work in and society as a whole.

Valuing people, and their many diverse qualities, enhances employee potential which in turn enhances our business. All employees will be helped and encouraged to develop their full potential and the talents and resources of the workforce will be fully utilised to maximise the efficiency of the organisation.

Staff should be aware of the importance the Company attaches to this policy and that breaches will be classed as disciplinary offences and dealt with accordingly.

LEGAL OBLIGATIONS

In valuing diversity the Company commits itself to go beyond the legal minimum regarding equality. However, in applying this policy the company still needs to take account of current and future equality legislation (and associated codes of practice) including but not limited to, the following:

• Equal Pay Act 1970
• Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (as amended) and including the Gender Reassignment Regulations 1999
• Race Relations Act 1976 (as amended)
• Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended)
• Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
• Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
• Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006

The above legislation protects individuals against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment (including bullying) and victimisation because of their gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, age and religion or belief.

• Direct discrimination is treating a person less favourably because of a particular personal characteristic.
• Indirect discrimination is applying a criteria or practice equally to all people but which has the effect of disadvantaging one group of people.
• Harassment is unwanted behaviour which affects the dignity of others.
• Bullying is a form of harassment which is normally related to an abuse of power.
• Victimisation is treating a person less favourably because they have asserted their rights under this policy or equality legislation (i.e. made or assisted with a complaint).

In pursuing this policy we believe that the principles which underpin the above legislation should be extended to all employees regardless of any personal characteristic.

RESPONSIBILITIES

All employees are expected to have read and understood this policy, ensure they behave in accordance with its principles, encourage the same behaviour in colleagues and immediately report any breaches witnessed.

All Managers are responsible for ensuring this policy is understood and complied with by staff in their area, dealing with breaches and complaints (whether reported or not) seriously, speedily, sensitively and confidentially and contributing ideas for the advancement of diversity principles within the company.

The Managing Director, Mr D Houghton, has overall responsibility for this policy.

IMPLEMENTING THIS POLICY

Communicating this policy

In order to ensure the principles of this policy are embedded in everything we do, all existing staff will receive a copy of this policy and training regarding how it should be interpreted. This policy will also be covered in all future inductions.

General standards of behaviour

The Company expects employees to conduct themselves in a professional and considerate manner at all times. The Company will not tolerate behaviour such as:

1. Physical violence
2. Shouting or swearing in an aggressive manner
3. Rudeness
4. Isolating, ignoring or refusing to work with certain people
5. Telling offensive jokes or name calling
6. The display of offensive material such as pornography or sexist / racist cartoons
7. Distribution of offensive material via email / sms message

It is no defence for employees to say they did not intend their behaviour to cause offence, or to blame individuals for being over-sensitive as it is for the recipient of the behaviour to decide what they to consider to be offensive. It the impact of the behaviour rather than the intent which is important.

Recruitment and selection

Individuals involved in the recruitment and selection of staff will ensure the company recruitment and selection policy is adhered to and that:

1. A carefully worded and objective job description is produced for all vacancies, outlining the essential skills, knowledge and experience required.
2. Job advertisements are circulated to encourage applications from all sections of the community. Advertisements will not contain any age limits.
3. Short-listing and selection will be based on objective criteria relevant to the job and decisions made by suitably trained staff, purely on the basis of merit. The reasons for all decisions will be recorded.

Training, Development and Promotion

The Company will ensure that irrespective of any personal characteristics:

• The training necessary to implement this equality policy is provided.
• All employees are encouraged to achieve their full potential.
• Selection for all training, career development opportunities and job moves will be purely on the basis of merit.
• Appraisals of performance will be conducted objectively and on time.
• Selection for promotion will be purely on the basis of merit.

Meeting Individual Needs

As far as possible the Company will try to meet the needs of individuals at work. For example:

• Caring and domestic responsibilities – time off may be considered to allow employees to care for children or sick relatives to help them balance their work / life responsibilities.
• Disability – disabled employees and customers will be consulted about any reasonable adjustments which could be made to allow them to better perform their functions.
• Religious practices – the Company may provide time off for prayer or religious festivals

COMPLAINTS

Please see the procedure set out in the Bullying and Harassment Policy

MONITORING AND REVIEW

This policy will be under continuous review to ensure its effectiveness. We will monitor and evaluate this through appraisal discussions, feedback - both training and informal and surveys. The Health, Safety and Environment Committee will include Diversity and Equality as part of their meeting and report back through the employee representatives any feedback.

The results of this monitoring will be published.

Staff and their representatives will be consulted as part of the review process. The principles of this policy will also be considered when developing other new organisational policies.

For more information please see the following policies:

DEP2 – Age Equality Policy (current edition 21/07/08)
DEP3 – Sexual Orientation Policy (current edition 21/07/08)
DEP4 – Disability Policy (current edition 21/07/08)
DEP5 – Religion or Belief Policy (current edition 21/07/08)
DEP6 – Bullying and Harassment Policy (current edition 21/07/08)
DEP7 – Grievance and Disciplinary Procedure (current edition 21/07/08)
DEP8 – Staff Guidelines for Customer Care (current edition 21/07/08)

The above policies are available from Line Managers or Dave Ryley, Health and Safety Manager.

21/07/08 (Health checked by ACAS 10/09/08)