Islington as an employer

Islington Council is committed to ensuring that there is a zero-tolerance approach to workplace discrimination. It’s everyone’s responsibility to be respectful, work positively together and challenge exclusionary behaviour. The Challenging Inequality Programme sets out various employer-led initiatives that will run simultaneously to drive change for council staff across the organisation. The programme will continue to work collaboratively with staff to take clear and substantial action to address equalities issues, create an inclusive workplace and foster a culture of fairness and inclusion.

We appreciate that no single action will lead to significant change, instead a planned and coordinated series of actions will enable a sustainable cultural shift . It is crucial that the voices and opinions of our staff sit at the heart of our strategy to challenge inequality in the workplace. We are engaging with staff to critically review current processes and will continue to develop our Challenging Inequality Programme over the coming months, collaborating directly with trade unions and staff forums to inform actions and gather feedback from: the Race Equality Network, the Disabled Staff Forum, the LGBTQ+ Forum, Women’s Forum and the Carers Forum. We know that simply listening and participating in discussion alone is not enough, so we will collaborate and embed feedback cycles into practice. We still have some way to go. We know that this is just the start but we will continue to listen to staff , learn from experiences and review policies and processes to improve organisational practice and culture.

Islington Council has a diverse workforce which reflects the borough it serves, but that is not necessarily the case at senior levels. Our current data tells us that employees from White ethnic groups have increasing representation as pay band increases (up to 74% in Chief Officer pay band), whereas employees from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups have decreasing representation as pay band increases (11% in Chief Officer pay band). We believe that everyone should have access to training opportunities and career progression to reach their potential, including aspirations to senior leadership roles within the organisation. Staff have shared that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff do not appear to have the same opportunities for progression as their White colleagues and that the council leadership must do more to tackle these issues.

Our ‘Islington as an employer’ actions aim to empower and support professional development for under-represented staff , improve learning and development opportunities, develop a more modern approach to recruitment and selection that supports and increases diversity, especially at senior tiers, and equip senior leaders to embed equality, diversity and inclusion principles into practice across the organisation. This work will also complement existing progress to develop and embed our CARE values and the Be Islington programme.

Some of the ‘Islington as an employer’ key actions are:

Staff development, talent pipeline and support

• We will introduce a Management and Leadership Development programme that can identify and support staff to learn new skills, gain relevant experience and achieve a recognised Islington as an employer qualification. The offer will include a variety of programmes, including tailored support for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff.
• We will introduce a training programme for aspiring managers and emerging leaders.
• We will implement an ongoing programme of coaching and mentoring, including mentoring for inclusion for staff.
• We will ensure that we provide staff with access to specialist trauma support and assistance for staff who have experienced discrimination and/or racism.

Recruitment and selection

• We will review our recruitment and selection processes to ensure that they are fair and transparent and help to improve diversity at all levels.
• We will ensure diversity of panels and remove grade requirements for panel members, ensuring training for recruitment panels is culturally sensitive.
• We will open up opportunities for staff by developing criteria for an ‘internal first’ policy for roles to support internal career progression.

Cultural awareness and competence training

• We will provide training for the Corporate Management Board and senior leadership around cultural competence and inclusive leadership.
• We will introduce a mandatory, rolling training programme for staff and leaders on diversity, cultural awareness and understanding our communities and staff.
• We will reach the next level of the Disability Confident Employer scheme and ensure staff with disabilities are included in the process through engagement with our Disabled Staff forum.

Key targets include:

• Our aim is for 25 pairings to be identified and begin to participate in our mentoring schemes by the end of 2021.
• One hundred percent of the senior leadership team will have completed cultural competence and inclusive leadership training by summer 2021.
• Our first cohort of 20 people will have begun our Islington Management Diploma by summer 2021.
• Become a Level Two Disability Confident Employer by July 2021.

To achieve outcomes such as:

• A workforce more representative of our community at all levels across the organisation, in particular at senior levels.
• Improved recruitment and selection practices, leading to more diverse candidates and a more diverse workforce.
• Cultural competence, awareness and inclusivity will be embedded across the workforce to educate and support staff from induction to exit.