Recruitment and employment

As well as in our individual projects and services, our EDI values help to define the recruitment and employment procedures we have in place. These are continually developed and improved. We also influence these procedures on a wider scale, as part of our national campaigning for Disabled people. 

Examples of some of our policies and national campaigns include: 

• Reserving roles for Disabled people and encouraging other organisations to do the same. In June 2023 we worked with Acas, in partnership with Inclusion London, to clarify the wording in their recruitment guidance on reserving roles. These changes made it clearer to recruiters that reserving roles is possible, and how they can do it. 

• Promoting our staff vacancies and board positions within specific groups in the community, to attract people from protected groups and multiple marginalities. 

• Asking staff to complete anonymous surveys about the organisation and acting on the results of these. 

• Being accredited as a Living Wage Employer (since July 2022). 

• Using anonymous recruiting, for the reassurance of applicants and avoidance of any unconscious bias. 

• Communicating throughout the entire recruitment process to ensure reasonable adjustments are accommodated from the outset. 

 Learning and development

We encourage our staff to create and embrace learning opportunities. This includes skill-sharing, which benefits both the individual and the organisation. The atmosphere of encouragement and support leads to a more positive and productive workforce. 

Examples of learning opportunities include: 

• Actively encouraging and creating opportunities for staff to participate in awareness training for all protected characteristics. 
• Facilitating regular opportunities for staff to share their experience of multiple marginalities through staff presentations. 
• Explicitly outlining in our procedures and policies that lived experience has a greater influence on our work than expert opinion.  
• Sharing accessibility, disability and inclusion awareness experiences and tips at the start of all weekly staff meetings, through staff bulletins and in our monthly newsletter for the wider Disabled community. We prioritise taking deliberate steps to ensure equality, diversity and inclusion throughout our work processes. 
• Encouraging questioning and healthy debate. 
• Running peer support groups for staff to share their experiences.  
• Modelling a social model approach in our leadership style. 
• Senior leaders openly sharing their lived experience in reflective group discussion.