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Slide 1: Title

Hello, my name is Ila Chandavarkar from the Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum or CECF. I’m here with my colleague, Louise Tan, who is the Development Officer for CECF.

We are a charity based in Cambridge working primarily in the field of race equality. This presentation considers ways to reach all people with characteristics that are protected by the Equality Act, by making discrimination against these individuals or groups illegal.

Discrimination is illegal, for example, on the grounds of age, disability, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, etc.

Slide 2: This video will cover

In this short presentation, we will look at some concerns that may affect implementing EDI and suggest some possible solutions. This is a guide. We suggest that you review the ideas outlined here and decide what solutions work for your organisation.

You can find out about concerns within your organisation by consulting your staff, volunteers, trustees and service users for their views on this topic. For example, through a survey.

To accompany this presentation, you will find a transcript with links at the end to all the guidance material we refer to.

We will start by looking at some common concerns one by one and suggesting possible solutions. Please note we are not putting concerns in any priority order. You can look at these and decide which ones are the most relevant for you.

Slide 3: Using time effectively

The first issue is time. Organisations often give lack of time as a reason for not doing more about EDI. We are so busy delivering services that it is often hard to find time to reflect on what we do, who we are engaging with and what we need to do to address EDI gaps.

Making time to reflect and identify key issues is essential, not just for EDI but also for ensuring a quality service.

The solution is to formally manage time by developing an EDI timetable and slotting in dates and times for reflection, leading to actions to be taken. In part 2 of this resource, we will have more action plans.

Slide 4: Collecting the right information

The second concern is information collection. Work out what data you need to collect to help you see which groups are not adequately represented in your trustees, staff, volunteers and service users.

It is helpful to use the categories mentioned in equalities legislation, for example, age, disability, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

You can add other data categories if they are important to your organisation, for example, those on a low income or those with substance abuse issues.

This is sensitive personal data and needs to be collected with reference to confidentiality and data protection guidelines to meet the requirements of data protection legislation. There are links to help with this shown in the transcript accompanying this recording.

Compare your data to published information about your community, such as the latest census data for the area. For example, Cambridge is one of only 13 places where men outnumber women. Is this reflected in your organisation? You don’t need to follow local statistics rigidly – these are just an indication to show if your organisation has under-represented groups.

When you have collected and reviewed your data, decide what you will do to reach a particular underrepresented group. For example, in race terms, you may find your groups are not evenly distributed.

Your service users may include people from different Black and Minoritised Ethnic or BME groups, but your trustees are all from the white community. You can then decide what is practical and feasible to do to recruit BME trustees.

Slide 5: Making EDI a priority

Another consideration is how we may view EDI. We all know it is important but somehow never clarify where it sits in terms of our organisational priorities. Often EDI goals are something separate and not connected to business or organisational goals. It is useful to look at the core purpose of your organisation to make clear the link between this and EDI goals. We give an example in the next slide.

Slide 6: Example of Google

Google’s mission statement is “to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”.

Their linked equality purpose is to be “committed to continuing to make diversity, equity and inclusion part of everything we do – from how we build our products to how we build our workforce.”

This means that Google’s goal of organising information and making it accessible and useful will have an EDI lens, through their approach to underlying work on products and workforce.

There is another example showing EDI as a core value under the Guidance Links at the end of the transcript.

Slide 7: Does it need to cost money?

Another issue is money. Whenever there are discussions about EDI there is an assumption that this will involve spending money. In this present climate, we know all organisations are struggling for resources.

First, we need to be clear on how we interpret EDI. EDI is not about spending money on a small minority; it is ensuring that as ethical and effective organisations, we are truly open to all and we benefit from that diverse reach.

If there is a need for resources, for example, around access – plan how you can achieve this. Look at the access needs of your organisation and fundraise for any essential measures needed – you may even find a new route in raising money, for example, there may be businesses that would respond positively to an appeal to fund access. However, you don’t need to wait for funds to improve EDI practice.

You can start by looking at what can be done without huge expenditure. Improving access in EDI terms is understanding what inadvertent barriers there might be and dealing with these.

So even if you don’t implement all measures, you can do an audit on access barriers and what you can do to resolve these.

Then you can action the changes that don’t cost money. For example, do you have complicated written information explaining what services you provide? Could this be put in plain, easy-to-understand English or provided as a recording? Look for creative solutions. For example, are there other ways of running recruitment to ensure there is no bias?

This could include taking out personal details such as name and age from applications when shortlisting, sending interview questions two hours before the interview, giving
information on what you look for when interviewing, etc. Creative solutions can make a real difference without costing huge amounts.

Slide 8: Managing Change Positively

Another issue is that by making changes to bring about EDI, there may be some disruption and conflict.

For example, if new volunteers and service users come in with different needs and issues, will that disrupt present service users and how services are delivered? If trustees work well now, will the inclusion of people with different perspectives mean that change? Solutions to these are not confined to EDI and are helpful for any disruption caused by change or growth.

In terms of managing change, it is important that the organisation publicises the core principles and values that it will not change.

For example, many women’s organisations believe in delivering services in a peer learning, skill-sharing environment because they believe all women are similarly disadvantaged in a patriarchal society – this is a core principle that will not change, even if the organisation changes or grows.

In terms of preventing conflict, it is good to have a Code of Conduct that spells out how everyone in the organisation is expected to behave not just for EDI but for organisational health.

This means that harmful behaviour such as a lack of respect or malicious gossip can be easily challenged. The Code of Conduct should also have a section on how you behave if you disagree with other views.

The Code of Conduct may not be enough to prevent conflict, which is ultimately up to the trustees to resolve. It may be helpful to have a “Dealing with Disputes” policy for trustees, which clearly recognises some of the grounds that cause disputes and how these can be dealt with.

Slide 9: Resolving Potential Disputes

In building policy or guidance on dealing with disputes, it is worth identifying some of the causes. Here are some examples:

A difference of opinion on EDI priorities or action
Dominance of an individual or small group of people in the charity’s governance that obstructs EDI practice
Undisclosed personal or private benefits or unmanaged conflicts of interest affecting EDI practice or transparency
Poor behaviour inside and outside the Board room, misrepresenting trustees in their EDI views
Not seeing EDI as a trustee’s responsibility

Work out the action you could take for each. For example, action could be training sessions to understand the context of particular groups facing discrimination or advice from a representative of a group working with a particular protected characteristic.

Once you do this, you can see if you can generalise in a policy.

For example, resolving disputes, through external advice or training or making it the responsibility of the Chair to remind trustees of the Code of Conduct if discussions get heated.

We have included information on dealing with disputes in the guidance links. The examples given here are specific to disputes around EDI but a general policy on dealing with disputes will help with this.

Slide 10: Already doing it – how to improve?

The last issue we would like to talk about is the one many groups present to us. They have tried everything they can think of to improve representation and it hasn’t worked. We have the following suggestions.

It is useful to try an exclusion exercise. For example, think about the publicity you present or services you run and intentionally think of what you could do to exclude a particular group.

When you see what you can do to exclude, check to see if this is happening in the organisation. It can be difficult to think about what you need to do to promote inclusion, but easier to think about what you can do to exclude.

When you do this, you may find you are inadvertently carrying out certain practices that will exclude or you are not doing things that would help inclusion.

It is also useful to get advice and suggestions from someone with lived experience of a particular characteristic. One organisation I know found when they got advice from a wheelchair user, that they had successfully managed wheelchair access into the building but there were many problems impeding access that remained within the building.

Lastly, people are reluctant to raise a concern or complain. And you do need to know if there are equality issues. Look at how you can collect this feedback anonymously to encourage people to report concerns.

Slide 11: Benefits of implementing EDI

It is crucial to work out how your organisation benefits from effective EDI practice. We all recognise that this is ethically the right thing to do, but do we recognise the other benefits to the organisation? Business research by companies like McKinsey & Company and Deloitte have evidenced these benefits and some of these are summarised on the slide.

Wider & more effective organisational reach
Meeting the legal requirements of the Equality Act
Better retention rates
Greater productivity
Higher client satisfaction
Greater creativity & innovation
Better problem-solving

Slide 12: Summary

In summary, issues such as time, money and making EDI a priority can hinder the implementation of effective EDI practice. The key to moving forward is making time to review what you’re currently doing and how you can move forward.

It’s not possible to do everything at once, so prioritise a group or area to start with and go from there. Establish what you plan to do and timetable this in an action plan. A plan will support you in reflecting on and implementing effective EDI practices. We talk about how to develop an action plan in part 2 of this video.

Slide 13: Next Steps

For further information, please see part 2 of this video which covers the basics of EDI practice: Policy and Action Plans. A link to this is available in the Guidance Links section.

You can also contact CECF at cecfenquiries@cecf.co.uk or Cambridge CVS at enquiries@cambridgecvs.org.uk.