Progress updates

December 2020 

Working with external partners

Work with an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) partner in the next phase of staff engagement.

To support the development of our workforce recommendations we are embarking on a procurement exercise to collaborate with a specialist EDI consultancy supplier to explore, identify and understand the concerns and issues concerning our staff’s lived experience of structural racism, racism and racial inequality with an acknowledgement that, through intersectionality, other inequalities within the workplace will be discussed. This will therefore include examining issues concerning all protected characteristics and prioritising interventions for specific groups, where necessary.

The supplier will provide a proposal to influence and direct our workforce strategy and help us further develop our existing action plans that set out our strategic priorities for improving equality across the workforce to address structural racism, racial inequalities and injustice and remove barriers to achieving an inclusive council with representation at all levels.

Interviews took place week commencing 5 October and the preferred EDI consultant has been selected and will commence this month.

The intention is to start working very soon with them starting with the formulation of staff focus groups themed around the employee lifecycle.

Developing proposals

• review workforce statistics and work with the EDI partner on the creation of targets and measures to build a more inclusive workforce at all levels
• use the outcomes from the focus groups to inform the review and, where appropriate, revision of the council’s employment policy and procedures
• use the outcomes of our listening circles, upcoming focus groups and ongoing engagement activities to inform a workplan which will include measurable objectives and outcomes

A data and research working group has been set up including colleagues from HR, OT and Public Health to i) review our existing set of data including deep dive into areas of concern/interest and ii) research examples of good practice and case studies with demonstrable success

Key data sets will inform and underpin focus group discussions, also supporting or dispelling commonly held beliefs about workforce outcomes. Focus groups will help with the identification of priority areas and suggestions for improvement

We will seek advice from the EDI consultant to develop action plans around how best to address gaps, issues and challenges.

Look at our corporate learning and development offer and review our workforce development schemes including career progression, coaching, mentoring and reverse mentoring.

Work with the EDI consultant on reviewing our current EDI corporate L&D offer.

Look at tying into pan-London and national schemes including - Black on Boards, Impact Black and Mentor Black Business.

Communication and re-education

• renew our commitment to equality and anti-racism with refreshed and ongoing internal communications and engagement activities. Themes will include but are not limited to ally-ship, white privilege, gas-lighting, microaggressions and incivilities

A communication strategy is in place which will incorporate multiple and diverse media of communication. This will include re-education, awareness of services offered by the council, career and life stories of our BAME colleagues, linking to relevant national and international awareness campaigns and providing useful resources for all staff.

• embark upon an ongoing re-training and re-education programme of our leaders and managers so that they understand the critical role they play in addressing racism, structural racism and injustice in the workplace. We want to ensure our leaders are actively anti-racist

Leadership Network event took place 6 October to meet and discuss issues, challenges and opportunities with our Staff Networks - first of many themed around equality, diversity and inclusion

Directors Forum and Leadership Network events took place in October and November with Sue Liburd. These events are an ‘Anti-Racism Refresh’ and explores what it means to be actively anti-racist and explore best practices and develop inclusive leadership. As Sue Liburd states: The way we think influences how we act. Our actions reinforce our thinking. If we can refresh some of our thoughts, then we can impact our own behaviour and that of others.

• review our engagement strategy with all staff to create more dynamic two-way communication channels between staff, trade unions and workforce leads on highlighting opportunities and also areas of concern to ensure our support is appropriate and targeted
• ensure there is always a safe space in which staff feel they can share their lived experiences of working at Southwark free from any repercussions

Second wellbeing survey and listening circles - 7 sessions with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues on how they are feeling following the murder of George Floyd and the PHE report on the impact of COVID-19 on Black, Asian and Minority ethnic people.

Optima Occupational health support - running weekly sessions with staff who have experiences and experience the trauma of racism.

“What we’ve heard” playback sessions - several sessions have been played back to all staff, the results of the race and inequality questions we asked in the wellbeing survey and also the themes that have come out from the listening circles.

Workforce annual report playback sessions - several sessions will be set up to playback the workforce annual report and workforce equality statistics. These will take place in December.

Employee Lifecycle Focus Groups - following on from these playback sessions and the appointment of an EDI consultant, we will hold thematic focus groups around the employee lifecycle which will address some of the areas identified in the listening circles.

Ongoing engagement with all staff networks, trade unions and subsidiary groups, (eg Unison black members' group)

Page last updated: 19 November 2021