Quality in Equality and Diversity – Six Essential Questions to Assess Your Business’ Inclusivity
Six Essential Questions to Assess Your Business’ Inclusivity
Many organisations think they’re inclusive and diverse, but the truth might not match that perception.
To help you evaluate your organisation, here are six essential questions to see if you’re truly inclusive:
1 – Leadership – Who’s your Champion?
Effective EDI starts with strong leadership. Is your company promoting EDI at the highest levels? If not, why? Does your board reflect a diverse mix of backgrounds, skills, experiences, and knowledge?
Leadership shapes culture—both by what they tolerate and what they exemplify. Senior leaders need to reflect on how they’re driving inclusive change and what specific outcomes they aim to achieve. This is key to guiding your organisation’s EDI journey.
2 – Do you have an EDI policy and implementation strategy?
An EDI policy is crucial, but do you also have a strategy to implement it?
EDI practices ensure a workplace where everyone feels valued and can reach their full potential. Inclusive recruitment and policies help attract diverse talent, while a solid strategy addresses systemic discrimination and promotes equitable outcomes. Start with an audit to see where your organisation stands.
3 – Do your inclusive policies address recruitment?
To attract a diverse talent pool, your recruitment process must be inclusive.
Consider whether your job descriptions highlight EDI and reflect your company culture. If you use a recruitment agency, ensure they understand and value EDI as well.
Inclusive recruitment involves sourcing, assessing, and hiring talent while minimizing bias at every stage to ensure fair outcomes. If you’re unsure whether your process meets these standards, it’s time to reassess your approach.
4 – Do you measure up in tracking EDI data?
Collecting, tracking and analysing data is crucial for measuring progress. Do you have clear, measurable goals and a plan for data collection?
If not, it’s time to evaluate your EDI priorities. Be transparent about your goals, track your progress, and openly share the results.
5 – Ensuring fair and responsive service delivery
Consider these questions: Do you use equality impact assessments? Is your organisation open to EDI scrutiny from staff and stakeholders? Does your procurement process promote and monitor EDI in contractor performance?
Addressing these questions ensures legal compliance, promotes fairness, and enhances service delivery. It builds trust through transparency, aligns contractors with your values, and strengthens your commitment to inclusivity.
6 – Ensuring awareness, accessibility, and positive experiences for tenants
To ensure accessibility and positive experiences, ask: Are your communication methods inclusive? Do you remove barriers and tailor services? Do you have strong policies for handling hate incidents?
Answering these questions ensures everyone can access and benefit from your services, enhances their experience, and demonstrates your commitment to addressing hate incidents.
How Can Our QED (Quality in Equality and Diversity) Award Help Your Organisation Meet These EDI Goals?
The QED process provides a thorough evaluation of your organisation’s approach to EDI. Through an in-depth survey of staff and board members, QED helps identify key areas for improvement—such as gaps in staff understanding of data use, unreported incidents of inappropriate behaviour, or even unrecognised feelings of exclusion. This survey also shines a light on positive aspects, such as staff feeling a sense of openness and belonging within the workplace.
Additionally, the focus groups and 1-2-1 interviews with staff, board members, and tenants offer a valuable reflective space. These conversations not only give us deeper insight into the organisation’s culture and operations but also allow individuals to reflect on their personal practices. This information is essential for creating SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) actions that are tailored to drive real, impactful change.
Tai Pawb offers continued support throughout the QED process, including the sharing of good practices on recruitment, accessible communication, equality monitoring, data capture and analysis, EDI key performance indicators (KPIs), Equality Impact Assessments, service accessibility, and hate crime campaigns. We also provide guidance on inclusive procurement practices to ensure that contractors align with your organisation’s values and commitment to EDI.
Remember: QED is an award crafted to support your organisation at any stage of your EDI journey, driving continuous improvement every step of the way.
If you’re interested in QED, get in touch with one of the team, or email info@taipawb.org
We are happy to come and have an informal chat about QED, tell you more and answer any questions.