National Inclusion Week is a week dedicated to celebrating inclusion and taking action to create inclusive workplaces. This year’s theme is ‘Time to Act: The Power of Now’.
The power of inclusion
An inclusive workplace can have a profoundly positive impact for our colleagues and friends who have a protected characteristic, for the teams that they work with, and for the organisation that they work for as a whole.
A report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that workplace inclusion is linked to “positive team outcomes, reduced absenteeism, enhanced job commitment, enhanced team knowledge sharing, innovation and creativity“.
Planning to consider the barriers that people in the workplace with a protected characteristic can face, the reasons why these barriers exist, and seeking ways to break those barriers down is a huge step towards creating an accessible and inclusive workplace for everyone.
It’s time to act and that time is now
You may be thinking, “but there are already lots of people working to make the University of Kent a more accessible and inclusive place for everyone”, and you would be right. However, it’s the responsibility of everyone to make our community a welcoming, accessible and fair place for anyone to work, and we all have a role to play in achieving this.
Do an Equality Impact Analysis
When we make changes to policies or processes, it may seem that the changes impact everyone equally. However if we consider the changes more closely, we may find that they impact certain groups of people differently.
An Equality Analysis focuses on the impact of a change on each of the protected characteristics and whether it is putting someone with one or many of the protected characteristics at an unfair disadvantage.
Make a difference
Equality Impact Analysis are one of the single most powerful processes in our toolkit that can support growing an inclusive workplace culture.
However, we still have some way to go to ensure that everyone knows about the resources and support available to enact this, and that they should be done as standard when any change or development is due to happen.
“I’ll do an Equality Impact Analysis if its needed”
We can never understand the experience others will have unless we make an effort to learn from them, so that we can mitigate against any negative impacts they may face.
Get support and get started
The University of Kent’s Toolkit has everything needed to undertake an Equality Impact Analysis:
For any further advice about please contact the University Equality and Diversity team.
If you require specific advice about disability, neurodivergence or chronic illness in relation to an Equality Impact Analysis, please contact the Staff Disability Network.