Workforce Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2023-2028

Our approach will take account of our obligations in line with legislation, our workforce strategy, and what we want to do/have committed to so that we grow a sustainable culture which welcomes diversity, is truly inclusive and has equality for all. We'll do the right thing.

We'll deliver the change that's needed through focussing our activities on making sure that we engage, enable, educate, empower, and encourage our people work and think differently to ensure that Gateshead is an employer that consistently demonstrates equality, inclusion, and diversity. We'll work to embed these behaviours, ways of working etc, and we'll evaluate what we've learnt and evolve.

• Engage
• Enable
• Educate 
• Empower
• Encourage
• Embed
• Evaluate 
• Evolve 

Our plan, our priorities

Everything we aim to achieve will be targeted at not only meeting our obligations in line with the Equality Framework for Local Government, we'll aim to go further and exceed expectations, which includes but is not limited to:

• workforce diversity and inclusion
• inclusive strategies and policies
• collecting, analysing, and publishing workforce data
• learning, development, and progression
• health and wellbeing

Engage 

We'll make it possible for people to know what we're trying to achieve and why by:

• creating an employee communication plan that underpins what the strategy is aiming to achieve
• participating in national inclusion campaigns
• creating an engagement framework which allows employees to have a voice and influence what we do as an employer
• conducting an employee survey
• sharing our strategy, our vision, and our plan

Enable

We'll make it possible for our people to behave in a way that supports equality, diversity, and inclusion at work by:

• promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in our people policies and procedures
• training our people on how to use our policies and procedures 
• helping our managers be role models
• supporting our leaders and managers to embed positive working practices that enable equality, diversity, and inclusion
• keeping it simple

Educate 

We'll provide opportunities for our people to grow and learn, using a blended learning approach because we recognise that how you learn is individual, like our people by:

• developing a rolling program of key learning activities
• delivering meaningful training and learning activities
• helping our people know the law regarding equality, diversity, and inclusion
• explaining people's role and responsibilities
• outlining the potential consequences of not treating all colleagues as individuals and with dignity and respect

Empower

We'll help our people feel confident and capable enough to make choices that positively impact on others by:

• creating a culture where people have the authority to make decisions that have a positive impact on colleagues and customers
• designing a framework which allows our people to contribute to decisions
• allowing our people to take ownership and to organise their own equality, diversity and/or inclusion related activities/programme
• developing a programme that recognises positive contributions/ change
• providing opportunities for our people to become equality, diversity and inclusion champions

Encourage

We'll help our people be more likely to do something, or to make something more likely to happen by:

• removing perceived or real barriers
• listening and hearing what our people are saying and act
• inspiring our people to do the right thing
• sharing great stories of when others have taken positive action
• being open about what's gone well and what's not gone so well

Embed

We'll ensure that being an equal opportunity, diverse and inclusive employer is integral to who we are as a public service employer by:

• ensuring that EDI features in our Corporate Strategy and Service Plans
• reviewing and auditing our strategic approach and action plan
• encourage people to challenge poor behaviours and holding people to account
• build EDI into our annual employee appraisal process
• ensuring that every employee has been trained in the basic principles of EDI at Gateshead Council

Evaluate

We'll check if what we've set out to do is having the impact we want by:

• collecting relevant employee data in line with GDPR
• checking our progress against our 5 steps to success
• benchmarking against others
• using the data to help inform decision making
• reporting in line with our statutory requirements

Evolve

We'll know what we need to change/do differently by:

• checking what the data is telling us
• understanding if what we're doing is making a difference
• horizon scanning
• listening to our people
• working with our key stakeholders, partners and experts