Council still in country’s top 100 employers for equality

January 20, 2016 by Southend Borough Council

Council still in country’s top 100 employers for equality

Wednesday 20th January 2016

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council has again been named among Britain’s 100 best employers to respect workplace issues for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual staff.

This is the seventh year in a row that the Council has won a coveted place in the top 100 employers in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index.

The national campaign group, Stonewall announced today that the Council is 11th among local authorities who took part in this year’s Index and is 82nd in the table.

To achieve this, the Council took part in a rigorous selection process.

This included submitting a detailed self-assessment, backed up by evidence, and staff members were also invited to complete questionnaires about their work experiences.

The Workplace Equality Index, featuring employers from both the private and public sectors, is published every year by Stonewall - the UK’s leading organisation campaigning for equality and justice for lesbians, gay men and bisexual people.

Stonewall measures a wide range of criteria when rating the different employers.

These cover policy and practice, including promoting a non-discrimination policy to all staff and supporting a lesbian, gay and bisexual employee network group.

More than 400 employers submitted entries to the 2016 Index, the highest number since it first opened in 2005, and this year Stonewall received 60,506 responses to the staff survey, making it one of the largest national employment surveys in Britain.

Council Leader, Councillor Ron Woodley said: “We’re very pleased that for the seventh time in succession, we have earned our place among Britain’s top 100 employers for equality.

“This is a particularly impressive achievement as competition to reach this ranking is becoming tougher every year, with more and more employers coming forward to take part in the process.

“It shows how much we are continually improving our efforts to be inclusive and ensure equality for every member of our workforce.

“We consider this to be vital in ensuring we create the right workplace culture, helping us to recruit and retain the best staff and we pride ourselves that we respect the employment rights of all staff.”

The Equality Index is an important tool as it supports the Council’s vision of ‘creating a Better Southend’ by placing equality and diversity at the heart of everything it does.

Ruth Hunt, Chief Executive, Stonewall said: “Southend-on-Sea Borough Council and all of those employers that secured a place in the Stonewall Top 100 Employers 2016 list performed fantastically this year.

“We have had more submissions than ever before and so making the list is a huge achievement. I’d like to thank all of those organisations for their continued efforts to ensure that their lesbian, gay, bi and trans staff feel comfortable to bring their whole selves to work and are accepted without exception.”

Full details of the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index can be found at: www.stonewall.org.uk