Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

We recognise that for a community to thrive every member needs to feel valued, listened to, respected, welcome and represented.

at the beginning of 2021 we started our EDI journey by forming an EDI Steering Group with representation from across our organisation. This group took the following steps:

• Developed and published our EDI policy
• Identified and made available on-line EDI training for colleagues and volunteers
• Started monitoring and developed a plan to ensure EDI was integrated within our recruitment strategy
• Created a framework for collecting and reviewing recruitment, colleague, volunteer and membership diversity data
• Created and rolled out an EDI Impact Assessment
• Invested in bespoke EDI training for our Senior Leadership Team and EDI Steering Group

We are committed to creating a culture which is inclusive and respectful, founded on equality, diversity and inclusion. Everything we do to achieve our EDI mission is underpinned by our values. When developing our new values, our members, colleagues, and volunteers endorsed “inclusive” and “respect” as two of the six chosen values, these, and our wider set of values have been integrated into all our people processes and support our EDI journey.

It is important for us to embed EDI into all our activities. Here are just some of the ways that we have or are embedding EDI within our organisation:

• We have run awareness events for colleagues and volunteers to increase knowledge and understanding of EDI
• We collect and interpret diversity data for members, colleagues, and volunteers to help inform our EDI strategy and workplan in the future
• We regularly review our recruitment data to identify any potential issues and proactively engage with underrepresented groups
• We regularly review our physical workspaces and materials (promotional and informational) to identify any areas for improvement in terms of EDI
• We have set up support networks and mentoring opportunities within the workplace as part of our succession planning and talent agenda
• We have created colleague-led working groups to lead several EDI related initiatives
• We utilise our Equality Impact Assessment to help ensure that our policies, practices, events, and decision-making processes are fair and do not present barriers to participation or disadvantage any protected groups from participation

EDI is integral to our latest 5 year strategy (2022-2026), ensuring we are fully supporting and representing the whole DEBRA UK community in our plans.