Equality and diversity policy

The Centre is totally committed to the principles and the implementation of equality and diversity in its consultancy and training services, and in the employment of staff and associate consultants.

Being a diverse organisation enables us to be dynamic and innovative in a period of major change and helps us identify and meet diverse needs.

For the Centre, equality of opportunity is informed by social justice and the need for social inclusion; this is one of our core values and an important component in our approach.

Our commitment to diversity comes from a recognition of change and difference; we see diversity as key to customer focus and organisational success. We are committed to both equal opportunity and diversity in all our practice:

• Services for our clients
• Recruitment and conditions for our employees and associates.
  

Services for our clients - meeting diverse needs

We always tailor our training and our consultancy to clients' needs. We know that ‘one size' does not fit all. We will talk through the specific challenges and organisational dilemmas you face and work out how we can add value and help you find solutions.

In training, we recognise that individuals have different learning styles, and come with different knowledge, experience and understanding. We design our training materials carefully to take this into account - case studies reflect diversity, course materials are available in a variety of formats etc. We strive to create an open training environment where individuals are respected, their views valued, and where ideas can be exchanged and questions asked.

We always strive to meet the needs of clients with disabilities and other special needs. For example, our training rooms are fully accessible, we have an induction loop and we cater for different dietary requirements.

Our consultancy is informed by equal opportunities and diversity. Whether we are helping you develop a marketing strategy, a corporate plan or, perhaps, facilitating an awayday or a team building programme we will help you think through the impact of change and diversity on your work.

Staff and associates - equality and diversity in recruitment and employment practice

Our trainers, consultants and administration staff are a very diverse group. They bring a wide range of expertise and different perspectives - including their experience as younger/older people, their ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender. They have the authority to win respect, and the humour and warmth to ensure good working relationships.

We want to ensure that we maintain a diverse team. We have therefore developed a range of policies and procedures which are outlined below.  These ensure that we recruit and develop people with this in mind. The broad scope of these policies and procedures is set out below. More detailed versions are available upon request.

Policies 

Equal opportunities policy

We will not discriminate on grounds of race, sexual orientation, gender, age, religion, disability or family responsibilities. We will strive to offer equality of opportunity in:

• Recruitment
• Staff development
• Terms and conditions of service

and to provide a flexible, people-centred working environment which encourages work/life balance

We have developed procedures to ensure all managers and staff are aware of the policy and its impact on their work, and training to support them in implementing the policy.

Diversity policy

Being a diverse organisation enables us to be dynamic and innovative in a period of major change and helps us identify and meet the varied needs of our clients and employees and associates. We therefore actively seek to establish and maintain a diverse workforce capable of reflecting the broad needs of our clients.

Dignity at Work policy

We believe that staff have a right to a positive, harmonious and satisfactory working environment, free of discrimination, bullying and harassment where they are valued and respected as human beings and treated as reasonable people. We therefore have procedures for identifying and tackling bullying, discrimination and harassment.

Internal communication policy

At a macro level, internal communication can help achieve a shared understanding of, and commitment to, corporate goals. At a day to day level it helps achieve a better flow of operational information and ensures that everyone within our organisation feels valued, enables them to share their views and input into the development of the organisation.

Our internal communication policy is designed to ensure that communication at the Centre

• Informs
• Involves
• Is two way
• Is person to person wherever possible
• Is consistent and regular throughout the organisation
  

External communication policy

We strive to ensure that all our external communication reflects and reinforces our commitment to equality and diversity.

Whether we are communicating through job advertisements, marketing leaflets, our media spokespeople, our website or letters and phone calls we undertake regular equality audits. We are also keen to ensure that all our users are regularly consulted, in appropriate and timely ways, to ensure that our services continue to reflect their needs.