The winner that year was Dana International for Israel. An openly trans woman won the world’s biggest music competition. I vividly remember her performance and her confidence standing on the huge stage, singing about her love for divas. At that moment, this small queer boy knew he wasn’t alone. I realised that if Dana International can win Eurovision, maybe there is a space for me in this world too. Maybe that big open hug that the Eurovision Song Contest shares with the world is why I love it so much.

Just in case you weren’t aware, the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 is being hosted in Liverpool on behalf of Ukraine which was unable to host it following their win in 2022. As runners-up, the UK have the honour of hosting this wonderfully inclusive celebration of diversity in May 2023 in the city of Liverpool.

So, where does Inclusive Employers come into this?

As the UK’s first and leading membership organisation for employers looking to build inclusive workplaces, we are honoured to work with Liverpool City Council to support the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. A partnership which is the first of its kind for any host city of the Eurovision Song Contest. We are working with the volunteering team in Liverpool to ensure the contest is as inclusive and accessible as it can be for fans visiting the city.

We are also delighted to work with Liverpool City Council and Liverpool Growth Platform, National Museums Liverpool, St John’s Shopping and OGAE UK.

Together we will offer a range of free resources to any business in Liverpool throughout the event, providing leaders and customer-facing staff with the toolkit they need to ensure a warm and inclusive welcome to guests.

Inclusion at the Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest attracts thousands of visitors to the host city each year (Stockholm welcomed 1.5 million visitors in 2016). With these huge visitor numbers from a diverse mix of world cultures, it’s important that local retail, leisure, and hospitality venues know how to offer an inclusive welcome.

The contest has long held a special place in the hearts of the LGBTQ+ community and has a large LGBTQ+ fan base. Artists from the LGBTQ+ community have represented multiple countries throughout its history, often helping to push for improved LGBTQ+ rights in the process.

Watch out for our ‘Live from Liverpool’ blog series during the contest, where we will dive into LGBTQ+ history at Eurovision a bit further. Businesses welcoming LGBTQ+ fans into Liverpool may be anxious about ensuring they meet the needs of their customers. We all want to provide a warm welcome but sometimes we may worry about ‘getting things wrong’. Our inclusion toolkits, available free of charge to businesses in Liverpool, will help everyone.

Understandably, the contest is also a huge celebration of our global diversity. The contest started to test the latest technology and bring together countries from a continent still recovering from World War Two. Countries were united by music, an idea reflected in this year’s theme as Liverpool hosts on behalf of last year’s winner Ukraine.

This wonderful competition celebrates our language and cultural diversity across Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Our free inclusion toolkits and webinars will focus on intercultural communication in customer service.

Local business support for the Eurovision Song Contest

If you’re a business in Liverpool, you can access our free inclusive customer experience toolkit, which includes:

Expert inclusion packs on the topics:

• Intercultural communication in customer service
• LGBT+ inclusion in customer service
• Thinking about accessibility for an inclusive experience
• Equality law and customer service

Plus

• Access to 4 free webinars on inclusive customer service (hosted by Inclusive Employers)
• Subscription to Monthly ‘Inclusion Insights’ newsletter

The post Providing an inclusive experience at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 appeared first on Inclusive Employers.

Metropolitan Police Service

Why did you apply for the Sparks Programme?

I have been fortunate to have a career doing the job I have always dreamt of.

I grew up around a time when Operation Trident was formed, and I remember that vividly. As I grew up, I became more aware of my own heritage and wanted to be in a role where I could try and make a real tangible difference.

But I am also acutely aware that the uniform I wear is one that symbolises deep rooted racial injustice and inequality for many communities. I joined all those years ago to be part of the change, but now I need to be at the forefront of change because we have such a long way to go.

What do you hope to gain from this experience?

Sometimes it is hard to believe that things can and will get better. But I don’t underestimate the role we all have to play in this, and I know that I can do more to lead the way for others, not just those I work with but everyone.

This is an amazing opportunity for me to gain the experience and skills needed to support myself, and those around me, to be the best they can be. To really embrace inclusion and stand up to inequality and injustice.

What are you most looking forward to in the Sparks Programme?

All of it! I am really looking forward to meeting new people, hearing other people’s experiences and gaining new perspectives.  I am excited to learn ways that I can support others to be the best they can be, and hopefully show a more humble side of policing. I work with some truly inspirational people, but I know first-hand that the uniform we wear can be a big barrier to having conversations and building trust. Conversation is key to everything, and I am so looking forward to it.

Diana Manuel

DEFRA

Why did you apply for the Sparks Programme?

I applied because it’s the perfect opportunity to kick-start my career in inclusion and diversity.

The fact that it is a sponsored programme made my decision to apply even easier because it meant that I would not have to worry about funding it.

Lastly, from looking on the Inclusive Employers website I was impressed with their work, and I knew this would be a great place for me to get the support and knowledge I need to progress in I&D.

What do you hope to gain from this experience?

I hope the Sparks Programme will help me grow personally and professionally. I am excited to develop my current skills by working with others and have the chance to see some glimpses of what my future career path will look like.

What are you most looking forward to in the Sparks Programme?

I am really looking forward to collaborating with the team, learning and growing my skills. I am excited to start my career in I&D!

Alex De Araujo

Greene King Ltd

Why did you apply for the Sparks Programme?

There are two factors that motivated me to apply:

• The opportunity to understand how I can become a better leader that promotes inclusion and diversity within my immediate team, and amongst peers.
• To influence how we shape the I&D culture in Greene King – it surprises me that the senior I&D leaders are mainly from a white background.

What do you hope to gain from this experience?

I feel that I always have to prove myself and work harder than others so I am hoping to improve my confidence, as well as gain a better understanding on how to promote I&D.

What are you most looking forward to in the Sparks Programme?

Gaining knowledge that I can put to good use and meeting other people that are on a similar journey to me.

Rose Dunkley

UNISON

Why did you apply for the Sparks Programme?

My colleagues encouraged me to apply after I was sent a link to the programme. I’d recently completed the Garrett Anderson Programme, which gave me the confidence to do more.

What do you hope to gain from this experience?

I hope to become more aware of my own differences, as well as those of others. 

I want to gain enough knowledge, so that I can confidently raise the same level of awareness in others. 

My colleagues and I, who identify as Black, started a Race Equality Group. As part of that, we ran a session at an employee conference about what it was like to be Black at work. We hope to build on this and I’m hoping this course will help.

What are you most looking forward to in the Sparks Programme?

I am looking forward to learning new things and being able to share that knowledge with friends, family and colleagues. I have made a start sharing my own personal experiences with colleagues but would like to be able to understand the difficulties others might face.

Denise Dowman

Warner Bros. Discovery

Why did you apply for the Sparks Programme?       

I think Inclusive Employers offer fantastic inclusion and diversity resources and the Sparks Programme was highly recommended to me.

I have lived experiences and have always been very interested in I&D and its importance is highlighted more than ever now. I want to learn so much more about it and make a difference in my little part of the world.

What do you hope to gain from this experience?

I am very involved in the DEI strategy at work. I want to be well equipped with the right tools and skills to enable me to contribute and be instrumental in making lasting changes in my workplace and personal life.

What are you most looking forward to in the Sparks Programme?

Being exposed to the different aspects of the course, learning from it, growing, empowering myself and others, creating an impact and a ripple effect. A whole new world is about to open up and I am excited about the opportunities it will present!

Thank you so much to the Sparks Programme 2022 intake for sharing your motivations for taking part! Learn more about the Sparks Programme and what motivated Inclusive Employers to set it up.

The post Sparks Programme participants 2022 appeared first on Inclusive Employers.

Little did we know then that we would be responsible for a campaign that really has helped to ignite a commitment to inclusion in thousands of workplaces. WOW!

For those of you that are joining us this year for your first National Inclusion Week, welcome! It may be year 10 for us at Inclusive Employers, but every year our network of inclusioneers widens and we’re delighted that you are signing up.

It is wonderful news that McDonald’s are the sponsor of National Inclusion Week 2022. We are very grateful to them for sponsoring us in the 10^th year of the campaign. McDonald’s is a founding member of Inclusive Employers and has supported us from the beginning.

The theme for National Inclusion Week 2022

This year, the theme we’ll be focused on and supporting you on is:

Time to Act, The Power of Now.

So, what is this all about? Simply, it is about embedding behaviours now, that will make inclusion an everyday reality. National Inclusion Week is the opportunity to kick start this. It is about being in the moment and alert to inclusion and exclusion (and responding).

Now, we understand that we all respond in very different ways. Some of us reflect and respond, some of us jump straight in, and we’re all different.

Recognising that we may need to reflect and then act, is still action, it is owning your commitment to inclusion just as reacting at the moment is.

If we can really use National Inclusion Week to help hardwire our commitment to inclusion into every moment of every day, we’ll start to truly drive inclusion. 

How the theme was created

So, you may be thinking, why Time to Act, The Power of Now?

At Inclusive Employers’ we’re working hard on the concept of living in the inclusion moment and considering our inclusion impact and how we can be even more inclusive.

We have been considering whether there are some of us who are instinctively inclusive and some of us who aren’t. We concluded that every single one of us needs to work on being more inclusive, none of us are perfect and we need to build deeper habits of inclusion.

National Inclusion Week 2022 is the week to really crack on with developing and deepening this habit so that for the rest of the year, it gets easier and our workplaces get more and more inclusive.

Why the theme matters

Lots of our member organisations are really striding ahead in making inclusion an everyday reality – we see the evidence of this, for example, through their submissions for the Inclusive Employers’ Standard.

These members can evidence that they have moved past the concept of inclusion to where they are able to evidence the impact through policies, practice, commercial outcomes, attraction, retention and loads of key inclusive culture indicators. This evidence is what we use to assess accreditation for the Inclusive Employers’ Standard.

However, we still see and hear from other organisations, less advanced in their inclusion journeys, about their performative action on inclusion, the lip service of leaders, the exclusion of colleagues and we’re concerned that for many organisations inclusion is still not an everyday reality.

If these organisations do not, right now, start to deepen their commitment to inclusion, do not start to focus on inclusion action then all evidence points to them being the organisations that are left behind commercially, or in terms of innovation, and they will be the organisations in which colleagues feel vulnerable, unhappy, excluded and unable to contribute in an authentic and innovative way.

Celebrating National Inclusion Week 2022

Inclusive Employer’s tenth National Inclusion Week is from Monday 26 September to Sunday 2 October 2022.

Registration is now open and for the first time, we are offering two different types of registration – free and supporter. In line with our theme for 2022, do it now, register and act now. Procrastination is the thief of time and it is up to every single one of us to take part.

The free toolkit for National Inclusion Week 2022 is available to everyone that registers and is all about Time to Act, the Power of Now.

In addition to this, the enhanced supporter level toolkit can be purchased (free to members of Inclusive Employers). This provides an enhanced level of support for those organising National Inclusion Week within their organisations.

Members, please speak to your account manager about the events and additional support options that are available. We are looking forward to embracing the #ThePowerOfNow with you all!

The post National Inclusion Week 2022: Theme announcement appeared first on Inclusive Employers.

What the Equality Act says about gender reassignment discrimination

Extract from the EHRC website 5 April 2022:

“The Equality Act 2010 says that you must not be discriminated against because you are transsexual, when your gender identity is different from the sex assigned to you when you were born. For example:

• a person who was born female decides to spend the rest of his life as a man

In the Equality Act it is known as gender reassignment. All transsexual people share the common characteristic of gender reassignment.

To be protected from gender reassignment discrimination, you do not need to have undergone any specific treatment or surgery to change from your birth sex to your preferred gender. This is because changing your physiological or other gender attributes is a personal process rather than a medical one.

You can be at any stage in the transition process – from proposing to reassign your gender, to undergoing a process to reassign your gender, or having completed it. 

The Equality Act says that you must not be discriminated against because:

• of your gender reassignment as a transsexual”.

The new EHRC guidance

Because the guidance (which we understand is not legally binding in anyway) appears to step away from the basic principle that any employee should be treated as they identify, the guidance is likely to be subject to judicial review and certainly any employers who follow this new guidance may in our view be at risk of successful discrimination claims at Employment Tribunal.

The Guidance proposes a range of scenarios where people can make judgements about the appropriateness of a trans inclusive approach, to the detriment of trans colleagues.

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/gender-reassignment-provisions-equality-act

Our suggestions to members are:

• Continue to apply the principles of the Equality Act
• Reach out to your networks to offer support as this new guidance is causing considerable upset and fear for trans colleagues

Disclaimer

The information contained in this guidance note is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by Inclusive Employers Limited and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the information, contained. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk.

The post Update for members on the recent EHRC trans guidance appeared first on Inclusive Employers.

Achieving accredited inclusion status

Optivo, Serco, Asda, Sony, Bank of England, Hogan Lovells, Essex Fire and Leidos are just some of the organisations that are receiving their accreditation.

Accredited organisations are awarded Bronze, Silver or Gold accreditation status. All three of these accreditation levels reflect the successful organisations commitment to embedding workplace inclusion and diversity. Rupert Moyne, MD – Corporate Services at Inclusive Employers, the organisers of the Inclusive Employers Standard says:

“Huge congratulations to all of the amazing organisations who took part in the latest round of the Inclusive Employers Standard. Participants were at all stages in their workplace inclusion journey from just starting out to those progressing to a higher accreditation level compared to their previous submission.”

Results highlight a renewed focus inclusion initiatives

This year we have seen returning organisations demonstrate excellent progress in their I&D work, alongside first-time participants who have impressed with advanced I&D practices.

The results have highlighted that organisations now have time to reinvigorate their focus on I&D as the impact of Covid-19 has settled. It’s great to see that participants have been re-engaging with programmes that had to be put on hold during the pandemic.

As always, we’ve seen some great commitment from organisations who are just beginning their I&D work – we look forward to seeing their progress in future IES rounds.

Rupert Moyne goes on to say:

“This round saw almost one third of participants coming from organisations that had taken part previously and wanting to measure the progress they have achieved since the last time (and looking to improve their accreditation level). The great thing about the Inclusive Employers Standard is that participation works for organisations at all stages of their journey to workplace inclusion.

As well as those at an early stage we saw some first-time submissions from organisations doing some really great work. Our aim is that regardless of where you are on your journey, participation will lead to insight into what is working well and ideas for where to focus. The report we provide identifies the priorities to unlock opportunities to accelerate progress.

It is clear that the experiences of the past two years have led to many changes within workplaces, particularly around more hybrid/flexible working. This has certainly accelerated some areas of inclusive practice and of course brought many challenges as well.

Now is definitely a good time to participate in the Inclusive Employers Standard and use the feedback to refresh your inclusion action plan.”

How to take part in the IES and become inclusion accredited

Find out more about how the Inclusive Employers Standard can measure and progress your inclusion work. The IES uses the six pillars of inclusion and diversity and is designed to support organisations wherever they are at on their inclusion journey.

The current round of the IES is open for submissions from 7 March-24 June 2022. Organisations must have expressed their interest and registered by 20 May 2022 to participate in this first round of 2022.

The post Inclusion accreditation awarded to ASDA, Sony and more appeared first on Inclusive Employers.

As a growing employer, we have lots of exciting plans ourselves…and for me, the most exciting of all is the further development of our anti-racism activities.

Why has Sparks been created?

You can find out more about Sparks on our main page but I would like to tell you why it’s an important part of our plans for 2022. As you may know, last year we published our anti-racism toolkit – a fantastic resource for employers to embed anti-racism in their strategy through to their operations, policy through to behaviours.

This year we are continuing and extending our anti-racism work by using our Inclusive Employers influence and resources to enhance the opportunities of a key group of individuals as we launch the Inclusive Employers Sparks Programme.

Can anyone apply?

The programme is open to people who identify as being Black, who have experience of work, have access to IT and the internet, are not qualified beyond A-Level and who are wanting to develop a career in Inclusion and Diversity.

What happens if I successfully get on to the programme?

Successful programme participants will win a fully-funded place on our CMI Level 6 Certificate in Inclusion and Diversity (plus some other career-enhancing goodies!).

This is a fantastic opportunity to:

• Access a Leadership and Management programme and achieve a qualification in Inclusion.
• Develop the knowledge needed as a foundation for a career in Inclusion and Diversity – make your passions into a profession.
• Establish a network of peers, working in a range of sectors, as you study together.
• Benefit from the expertise of the Inclusive Employers team of consultants as you work with a learning mentor/coach

And possibly…

• Potentially connect with mentors from within our membership organisations
• Have your thoughts and ideas published via blogs
• Gain some additional work experience (paid)
• Celebrate your success during NIW 2022

How to get involved

Sparks is all about opening up opportunities for talented people who, for whatever reason, have not achieved their ambition or potential yet.  We want to “spark” careers, amplify voices, offer a springboard.

On 10th February we are hosting a webinar where you can find out more about Sparks, meet the team and ask any questions you may have. You can register here.

The application process is simple – if you meet the entry criteria. The deadline for applications is 4th March 2022.

Do you know anyone who might be interested in joining the programme?

Please think about friends, neighbours, network colleagues, co-workers and what about you? Would this suit you or them?

We are very happy to answer questions, dispel imposter syndrome, encourage suitable people to give it their best shot – it could be life-changing! Find out more on the main Sparks Programme page.

So, we are using our influence to make a change. Please help us by using yours too by sharing details of the Sparks Programme across your network – and help us to create some sparks!

Those who are interested can apply here before 4th March 2022.

The post Sparks: An introduction to our new programme appeared first on Inclusive Employers.