Our Equality Diversity and Inclusion journey

The Growth Company are proudly supporting National Inclusion Week (26th September – 2nd October). Vicky McDonald, Director of HR and Organisation Development reflects on our journey so far to become a more inclusive workplace and celebrates our many achievements from the past year as we strive to make a difference and continuously improve to become more representative of the colleagues and communities we support - and the advantages this brings to the business and ultimately the services we provide.

As a social value-based organisation, The Growth Company is passionate to lead by example across Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). It’s the right thing to do and promoting and embracing an inclusive culture can boost innovation, creativity and performance - making our organisation an even greater place to work and partner with.

The importance of our Steering Committee and Networks

We have an EDI Steering Committee (EDI SC), which continues to evolve to recognise the differing needs of individuals and to ensure we provide a ‘voice for all’. It raises awareness and influences our organisational and cultural change, making sure everyone working at The Growth Company feels valued and know that they belong.

It also oversees the work of our 8 themed EDI Network Groups who focus on key subjects, providing colleagues with additional support; EmbRace; Health & Wellbeing; Women; Veterans; Parents & Carers; Age; LGBTQ+; Religion & Faith.

Our achievements over past 12 months

I’m proud we’ve continued to make progress towards our EDI agenda and action plan. We’ve achieved this with the increased levels of engagement from our colleagues, alongside strengthened commitment from our Senior Management Team - in terms of their investment, leadership and engagement.

Here are just some of our fantastic achievements I’d like to share:

• Dignity at work campaign - launched in March 2022 and running until December, it aims to better embed our commitment to a culture which is safe from any form of harassment, bullying or discrimination. Following the live launch event, it’s been supported by the introduction of our Dignity at Work Policy and Charter, training and follow-up events throughout the year
• EDI e-learning module - developed in-house for all colleagues to enhance knowledge of equality, diversity and inclusion - and the impact they have on driving organisational performance. This includes our commitment to achieving inclusivity from ‘day one’ of employment, as well as raising awareness of our dignity at work policies and how to join our networks
• Live keynote speaker events - since September 2021, thought provoking speaker events have taken place including John Amaechi, Cheddar Gorgeous and Kelechi Okafor. They’ve been well attended and aimed at developing knowledge across different EDI subjects and to encourage open discussions on the topics that matter
• With the challenges of limited staff within GC sites, we’re currently reviewing logistical solutions which can ensure residents of GM can have a valuable experience with GC with minimal impact on staff resource. Members of the Age network are supporting Centre for Ageing Better’s ‘Grow’ programme, which’ll host a series of ‘roundtables’ to look at solutions relating to making recruitment and retention practices more accessibility and inclusive to over 50’s residents
• EDI related accreditations – we’ve achieved a number of accreditations including:
  • All equals charter - ‘Good Practice’ level within 6 months of having achieved ‘foundation’ level
  • Armed Forces covenant – Defence Employer Recognition scheme Bronze status – enabling us to recognise, understand and support those who serve (or have served), as well as family members of the armed forces, to ensure fairness and accessibility to our services
  • RLW accredited employer - in August, we were accredited as a Real Living Wage employer and over the next year we’ll work towards the upcoming milestones in our action plan
  • Disability Confident Scheme - in August, we were re-accredited as a ‘Disability Confident Leader’. It’s valid until August 2025 and we’ll use this time to continue taking an active role helping other employers on their journey to becoming Disability Confident

Measuring our impact

We’ve been reporting our EDI workforce statistics for 3 years and this year we can report an overall improvement in how more diverse our organisation is, compared to previous years. This is a journey, and we must continuously improve until we become more representative of the communities we support. In summary:

• The average age has decreased by 2 years from 43 to 41
  • 35.7% of colleagues are aged 34 and under (31.2% in 2021)
  • 65.3% of colleagues are aged over 34 (68.6% in 2021)
• We’ve seen an increase in colleagues representing ethnic communities over the past 3 years: from 12% in 2020, to 14.9% in 2021 and to 16.5% in 2022
  • 6.1% of managers from an ethnic minority community (increased 0.9%)
• LGBTQ+ representation increased from 4.2% in 2020 to 8.9% in 2021, this has decreased in 2022 to 7.07% despite an increase in numbers from 90 to 114
• Our gender split had remained stable in 2020 to 2021 at 40% Male and 60% Female; in 2022 this changed to 38% Male to 62% Female
• The number of employees who’ve disclosed a disability has increased from 9.7% in 2020 to 12.3% in 2022