Strengthening Inclusion Framework

Tips and hints to make your workplace a better place to work

Making voluntary sector organisations a good place for everyone to work can only be a good thing. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it will also help with recruitment and retention.

Here are some very simple things that three of our member organisations are doing to tackle racism in their workplace.

Cambridgeshire ACRE

Cambridgeshire ACRE have:

Carried out a brief, quick audit of their HR database. They discovered that the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) information had not been transferred to their new HR system. So they made the necessary adjustments and sent a short message to all staff asking them to log in and review their records to ensure their EDI information, emergency contacts and disability information were accurate.

Hayley Neale, their CEO said:

This was a simple two-minute task for each employee. The system automatically generates charts showing the breakdown of characteristics such as ethnic group, so once the data was updated, I could easily generate the information needed.

Hayley added that this was a very quick and efficient exercise in improving the quality of our inclusion data and demonstrated how small technical changes can make a big difference.

Arthur Rank Hospice Charity

Arthur Rank Hospice Charity are:

Rolling out team conversations, using infographics and prompt cards, to encourage staff to talk about their experiences in a safe and supportive way

Making sure they have inclusive hiring practices, so that recruitment is open and transparent and everyone feels able to apply.

Caring Together

Caring Together have:

Encouraged staff to attend Eliminating Racism Sessions run by International Recruitment East on Eliminating Racism across the Charity. Staff across the organisation have participated, including three members of their People team.

Off the back of attending one of these, a meeting was arranged with one of the project’s experts to ensure they are explaining their inability to offer sponsorship appropriately and fairly.

Shared information on accepted language regarding race and religion, as well as other protected characteristics as part of their education and awareness activities. All employees undertake EDI training.

Used AI to analyse their recruitment adverts to identify whether any undetected bias was preventing them from attracting candidates from any particular ethnicity. It didn’t find any, but it made some suggestions to improve attraction success in this area, which are being implemented.

Supported their leadership to be involved in a programme with Above Difference, specialists in inclusive and culturally intelligent leadership, to become a facilitator for their cultural change programme.

The initial training has been completed, but the programme continues until March 2026.

This is about supporting leadership teams through 10 pillars to be fully inclusive and person-centred in their leadership, creating a truly inclusive culture – the premise is ‘If you don’t lead all of your teams well, you don’t lead well.

One of the areas worked on is unconscious bias, which incorporates all sorts of things, but potentially, indirect racism could be an unconscious bias within.

There are more examples on The Hub that can help you can tackle racism in the workplace and make your organisation an even better place for everyone to work.