In its internal organisation, membership groupings and activities The BSG recognises and supports excellence regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion and belief, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity issues (in line with the Equality Act 2010).
The BSG is committed to a culture of diversity and inclusion in all its structures and as an organisation does not tolerate any behaviours or actions which are discriminatory to any individual or group.
In Particular:
- The BSG’s communications will reflect this commitment
- BSG Officers and Senior Executives will lead by example with professional and respectful conduct thus creating a trusting and open environment
- Leadership will act promptly and appropriately if discrimination concerns are raised
- The BSG is committed to ensuring that diversity (i.e. representation of the full spectrum of demographic and lifestyle differences) and inclusion (i.e. referring to a cultural and environmental feeling of belonging) are understood by all BSG officials and considered in all appointments
- Diversity requires us to quantify the various constituencies – demographic and social, at all levels of the BSG. This requires us to quantify, monitor and be responsive to the diversity of the employees at BSG offices, BSG Council Members, as well as BSG Section representatives
- Inclusion requires us to quantify the extent to which employees are (and feel) valued, respected, accepted and encouraged to fully participate in the organisation. This will strengthen the Society and will help us to accurately represent the wider membership
- In appointing or conducting elections for roles within the Society, the BSG’s processes and procedures are compiled on the basis of the requirements for the post and the competencies of the individual applying, irrespective of the characteristics in the Equality Act 2010
- Appointments and elections are conducted strictly within the rules of the Society according to its charitable memorandum of association
The terms equality, inclusion and diversity are at the heart of this policy. ‘Equality’ means ensuring everyone has the same opportunities to fulfill their potential free from discrimination. ‘Inclusion’ means ensuring everyone feels comfortable to be themselves at work and feels the worth of their contribution. ‘Diversity’ means the celebration of individual differences amongst the workforce. We will actively support diversity and inclusion and ensure that all our employees are valued and treated with dignity and respect. We want to encourage everyone in our business to reach their potential.
We recognise that discrimination is unacceptable and although equality of opportunity has been a long standing feature of our employment practices and procedure, we have made the decision to adopt a formal policy. Breaches of the policy will lead to disciplinary proceedings and, if appropriate, disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.
The aim of the policy is to ensure no job applicant, employee, member or worker is discriminated against either directly or indirectly on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.
We will ensure that the policy is circulated to any agencies responsible for our recruitment and a copy of the policy will be made available for all employees and made known to all applicants for employment.
The policy will be communicated to all private contractors reminding them of their responsibilities towards the equality of opportunity.
The policy will be implemented in accordance with the appropriate statutory requirements and full account will be taken of all available guidance and in particular any relevant Codes of Practice.
We will maintain a neutral working environment in which no employee or worker feels under threat or intimidated.
Recruitment and Selection
The recruitment and selection process is crucially important to any equality, inclusion and diversity policy. We will endeavour through appropriate training to ensure that employees and officers making selection and recruitment decisions will not discriminate, whether consciously or unconsciously, in making these decisions.
Promotion and advancement will be made on merit and all decisions relating to this will be made within the overall framework and principles of this policy.
Job descriptions, where used, will be revised to ensure that they are in line with this policy.
Job requirements will be reflected accurately in any personnel specifications.
We will adopt a consistent, non-discriminatory approach to the advertising of vacancies.
We will not confine our recruitment to areas or media sources which provide only, or mainly, applicants of a particular group.
All applicants who apply for jobs with us will receive fair treatment and will be considered solely on their ability to do the job.
All employees involved in the recruitment process will periodically review their selection criteria to ensure that they are related to the job requirements and do not unlawfully discriminate.
Short listing and interviewing will be carried out by more than one person where possible.
Interview questions will be related to the requirements of the job and will not be of a discriminatory nature.
We will not disqualify any applicant because he/she is unable to complete an application form unassisted unless personal completion of the form is a valid test of the standard of English required for the safe and effective performance of the job.
Selection decisions will not be influenced by any perceived prejudices of other staff.
Training and Promotion
Senior staff and Officers will receive training in the application of this policy to ensure that they are aware of its contents and provisions. All promotion will be in line with this policy.
Monitoring
We will maintain and review the employment records of all employees in order to monitor the progress of this policy.
Monitoring may involve:
- the collection and classification of information regarding the race in terms of ethnic/national origin and sex of all applicants and current employees
- the examination by ethnic/national origin and sex of the distribution of employees and the success rate of the applicants
- recording recruitment, training and promotional records of all employees, the decisions reached and the reason for those decisions.
The results of any monitoring procedure will be reviewed at regular intervals to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of this policy. Consideration will be given, if necessary, to adjusting this policy to afford greater equality of opportunities to all applicants and staff.
