Equality Law and Compliance
Are you aware discrimination claims could cost you your business? Remember that there is no limit to compensation awards related to any form of discrimination because of sex, race, religion and/or belief, disability, age (young and/or old), sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity, marriage or civil partnership or gender re-assignment.
We believe that a business that has an inclusive and supportive working environment is more productive. Many organisations have found it beneficial to draw on a broader range of talent and to better represent the community that they serve.
An organisation that is able to provide services to meet the diverse needs of its users should find that it carries out its core business more efficiently, leading to increased customer satisfaction therefore increased business opportunities.
We have many years of direct experience of working in large organisations in both private and public sectors and we understand the challenges and dynamics of embracing diversity and inclusion.
From these backgrounds we deliver our specialist diversity knowledge and offer experienced consultancy support to ensure how equality and diversity and inclusion is fundamental to achieving excellence in customer service and getting the best from your business. We can help you the following Equality, Diversity and Inclusion matters:
- Equality Training
- Equality Audit
- Equality Policy and Practice Development
- Equality in Employment
- Equality in service provision
- Equality impact assessments
To request further information please use the contact us page.
Equality Training
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is everyone’s responsibility
Inclusive Approach deliver general training to further increase the level of awareness and understanding about equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) concepts and practice, for staff to effectively carry out their roles and responsibilities within their organisation.
We offer training that can be tailored to your business needs and can be delivered on site either as a half day or full day session and include the following:
- Introductions
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
- The Business, Legal and Ethical case for equality, diversity and inclusion
- Types of discrimination
- Understanding the effects of prejudice and discrimination
- Case studies
- Course Review
By the end of the workshop participants should be able to:
- Understand Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and the barriers to EDI across the nine
protected characteristics (age, disability, gender, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation) - Examine further their own experience, values and attitudes towards issues of equality, diversity and inclusion
- Have an appreciation of the range of diversity in the workplace, amongst their customers and in the wider community
- Fulfil their responsibility to recognise discrimination and to take appropriate action to eliminate discriminatory behaviour in their workplace for themselves, colleagues and service users
- Avoid unnecessary costly legal pitfalls
Organisations that promote inclusion and embraces diversity benefit from:
- Better awareness of the needs of different characteristics
- Better Employee Relations
- Improved performance and productivity
- Less staff turnover
- Reduced Training costs
- Reduced risk of adverse publicity
- Greater standing in the Community
To request further information please use the contact us page.
Equality Audit
There are higher proportions of women and people from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities in the workforce than ever before. The population is aging, with many people intending to stay in work for longer and many trying to juggle work with caring responsibilities. There is greater recognition that the barriers that disabled people have faced in accessing work should be broken down and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and the issues they face at work have become more visible.
An equality audit enables you to identify where your current policies and practices are not letting you down and provides a best practice framework of processes and policies for your organisations which promote inclusion, equality, diversity and achievement.
We can audit your equality policy and practices and offer:
- A benchmark against good practice
- A framework to identify gaps in managing equality and diversity
- A development of improvement plan for your organisation.
To request further information please use contact us page
Equality Policy and Practice Development
Policies and procedures provide a framework to ensure that equality and diversity are taken into consideration in employment practices and service provision. We can help you develop or review your existing policies and procedures to bring you in line with the current legislation relating to all employment practices.
To request further information please use the contact us page.
Equality in Employment
Workplace policies that prevent discrimination and protect and promote people’s rights to an inclusive and safe working environment cannot only reduce costs but enable you to retain and attract the best and improve your productivity and performance.
Attention to diverse needs of customers and their communities could help you to identify new products and markets. Understanding your human rights impacts is important in safeguarding your business reputation in the communities in which it operates and in the wider marketplace.
All employers and service providers, whatever their size, are covered by the Equality Act 2010. As an employer, the law generally still applies to you if your workers are temporary, do not have written contracts or are recruited to other positions such as trainees, apprentices or business partners. The act means treating everyone fairly, with dignity and respect. Your business’s policies for recruitment, promotion and management of staff should help you to stay within the law, attract talented employees and get the best out of them.
As a small employer you may have practices that are more informal, have fewer written policies, and may be more constrained by financial resources than larger employers, but no employer is exempt from these duties of the Equality Act because of size.
We can help organisations keen to be an Equal Opportunity Employer consultancy on designing an effective diversity and equality strategy. We will work with you to develop new policies or to review your existing policies and we help you to implement these through training and guidance to ensure your business remains not only legally compliant but also creating an inclusive culture.
To request further information please use the contact us page
Equality and Diversity in Service Provision
People are more easily engaged when they feel represented amongst their colleagues and peers. When employees are members of the communities that a business is working in or working with, it adds to both credibility and trust.
Beyond the benefits that relationship-building brings, your business also gains valuable cultural knowledge that will help you better understand the needs of the community you serve. For example, an employee with a disability may be more keenly aware of the needs of others in the disability community, and can act as an excellent resource for the identification of relevant goods and services for both community members and potential employees. Similarly, employees from diverse ethnic or linguistic backgrounds are better able to serve people from their communities, as well as increase the language and cultural capacity in a business.
We can help you with embedding equality in service provision under the Equality Act
To request further information please use the contact us page
Equality Impact Assessments
An impact assessment is a way of identifying and removing any barriers (arising from policy or practice) that may cause discrimination against a minority group. It is about ensuring that policies and practices of your organisation are fair and inclusive in meeting the legitimate needs of the diverse groups and that your services or products are not disproportionately or unjustifiably discriminating against a particular group of people due to race, disability or gender, together with religion or belief, sexual orientation or age. Equality Impact Assessments are also a great tool to improve services and to promote equality and participation.
The benefits of Equality Impact Assessment are to help you:
- Manage risk
- Comply with legislation
- Promote good relations
- Promote your organisation as a good employer, service provider and service enabler
- Improve Service Delivery
- Mainstream Equality and Diversity
- Enable you to engage with our service users
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination against all protected characteristics as outlined in Equality Act 2010
The results of the Equality Impact Assessment are used to set equality objectives that become part of your Business or Service Plans, leading to improvements to services and employment practices. They may also highlight that you need more information about your customers and service users, for example through consultation and monitoring.
We can help and offer practical tool and training courses to equip managers, supervisors and HR professionals with the necessary skills to carry out equality impact assessments.
To request further information please use the contact us page.