Equality and Diversity Policy

Equality & Diversity Policy

Brighton Dome and Festival Ltd values the diversity of its staff and customers. We aim to make our services as accessible and responsive as possible to all existing and potential customers, and to provide a service to them which recognises and respects their differences. We recognise that our ability to meet their needs is improved by having a diverse workforce which generally reflects our customer base. We also wish to provide the best opportunities to all of our employees based on their abilities and potential.

This policy covers all aspects of employment, including advertisements, recruitment, induction, pay, conditions of service, staff development, change management, promotion, grievance and disciplinary procedures, training and development and assessment. It applies also to relationships with suppliers and contractors, as well as to potential employees.

It is not contractual, but indicates the way Brighton Dome and Festival Ltd wishes to 
address equality and diversity in the workplace. 

Aims of this Policy 

Whilst we fully accept all of our responsibilities under current legislation, we also aim to go beyond the strict confines of the law to provide equality of opportunity for all. We will continue to formulate and review policies to that end. We aim to:

• recognise that everyone has a right to their distinctive and diverse identities
• have a workforce which generally reflects the customers we serve
• understand how diversity can improve our ability to deliver better services
• provide services which are responsive to our customers' needs
• provide all employees with the necessary training and development they need to contribute to our goals
• provide a supportive, open and safe environment where all employees may use their talents fully, and where employees and customers are treated fairly and with dignity and respect, in an environment free from abuse or offensive behaviour, bullying or harassment, intimidation or prejudice regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnic origin, marital status, age, disability, religion or belief, impairment, marital status, responsibility for dependants, social background or any other individual characteristic which may unfairly affect a person's opportunities in life.

Furthermore, we recognise the benefits of helping our employees to balance 
the responsibilities of their work and private life.

Learning to work with people's differences, visible or not, enables us to all work together effectively and helps us to anticipate and meet the needs of all of our customers; recruit, retain and develop the best people; act responsibly in the communities of which we are a part and also fulfil our legal commitments. 

Equal Opportunity 

We seek to provide equality of opportunity for all applicants and employees via our recruitment, selection, training and development policies and/or practices. Our aim is to ensure that everyone receives treatment that is fair, equitable and consistent with their skills and abilities. We continually review our existing policies and procedures to ensure that current equalities legislation and best practice is complied with.

Actions Taken

The actions we will take to make this policy work include:

• Providing training and communications to raise awareness and understanding of diversity and equality issues, to show their impact on the business and individuals. EDI training is mandatory for all staff.
• Through the above, ensuring that decisions on recruitment & selection, access to training and development and promotion are made only on the basis of skills, ability and knowledge.
• Regularly reviewing our employment policies and recruitment practices to ensure that people are treated fairly, equitably and consistently with their skills, abilities and knowledge.
• Developing patterns of work and work styles which are consistent with the needs of all staff to ensure that staff can have an appropriate work-life balance.
• Reviewing working arrangements to ensure that they do not restrict the opportunity for employment or career progression for people with protected characteristics.
• Monitoring the composition of our workforce on a regular basis to provide us with robust data to evaluate the effectiveness of our policies and practices.
• Providing the opportunity for employees who think they have been treated in any way contrary to this policy, to raise and resolve issues within the workplace as quickly as possible.

Managers' Responsibility

As employers we are liable for the actions of our workers and therefore all managers are responsible for this policy's successful implementation within their own departments and should take steps to ensure staff working for them understand and follow this policy, undertake training required of them and act as allies to staff with protected characteristics in the organisation.

Employees' Responsibility 

This policy applies to all employees, who are required to read and understand and follow this policy, undertake training required of them and read and understand our associated policies on Recruitment & Selection, Flexible Working, Dignity & Respect at Work and our Code of Conduct. 

The Working Environment 

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that our working environment does not prevent people from taking up positions for which they are suitably qualified. This may include making reasonable adjustments such as physical adaptations, providing appropriate equipment or providing more flexible ways of working e.g. from home or compressed hours etc to support them to work for our organisation.

Employment Policies 

Our employment policies and procedures will be continually reviewed to ensure compliance with this policy, to reflect current best practice, equalities legislation and to remove barriers experienced by people with protected characteristics in both seeking employment with us and working for us. 

Recruitment/Work Experience

We will provide full and fair consideration for all job applicants, based on merit and ability. All managers involved in recruitment and selection will be trained appropriately. We will review and develop our recruitment procedures to encourage applications from, and the employment of, people from a range of backgrounds reflecting our local communities. Procedures for testing or assessment will be reviewed so as not to disadvantage any applicant and candidates will be asked whether any support is required for them to attend an interview with us.

We will ensure that our recruitment practices are free from unlawful discriminatory criteria. We will also ensure that other opportunities such as work experience or volunteering, where available, are open to people from a wide range of backgrounds and we will work to create good education/industrial links in order to achieve this.

Equality & Diversity Training & Communication

Induction training for all new recruits will be tailored to individual needs but will in all cases include awareness of our equality & diversity policy and how it applies to individuals. We will then continue to take specific steps to raise awareness of equality and diversity issues throughout the business. Particularly targeting employees involved in the recruitment and selection process.

We have recently (over the past 18 months) run training for staff on:

• Equality, diversity and inclusion
• Gender awareness
• Disability awareness
• Unconscious bias
• Neurodiverse conditions

Publicity will be developed and disseminated in ways which bring diversity issues to the attention of all employees and people who have dealings with our business. A wide range of cultures will be displayed and celebrated in our publicity material where possible.

Career Development 

We recognise that our ability to meet our clients' diverse needs is improved by having a diverse workforce which has the skills and understanding to achieve our service objectives. We will take all appropriate steps to ensure that all staff receive fair consideration of their training and development needs to enable them to develop their full potential within Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival. 

Standard training modules, reference manuals and training materials will be updated where necessary. 

Retention, Retraining and Redeployment 

Any employees whose circumstances change whilst employed by us will be given full support by the business to maintain or return to a job appropriate to their experience, skills and abilities where possible.

Flexible Working 

We will consider requests for flexible working under our Flexible Working policy in a way which fairly balances the needs of the individual and our business. We have a variety of flexible working options available to staff, however, there are some roles which do by their very nature require a more set working pattern, which will be clearly publicised in the recruitment advert. 

Staff Involvement

We will take appropriate steps to encourage the participation of all employees to ensure that, wherever possible, our employment practices recognise and meet their needs and will involve our staff in determining what can be done to make sure they develop and use their abilities at work. All members of staff are invited to join our Equality & Diversity Action Group, which meets on a quarterly basis and discusses a range of EDI issues.

Harassment 

Harassment includes behaviour that is offensive, frightening or in any way distressing towards any member of staff/person with a protected characteristic . We have a separate policy on Dignity & Respect at Work, which makes it clear that such behaviour is totally unacceptable. This is also included in our Code of Conduct for staff too. This includes sexual harassment, which under the Protection of Workers amendment in the Equality Act 2010 places a duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Our staff have received appropriate training and will be aware of the policies available if any complaints of harassment need to be reported.

Customer Care 

We undertake to listen to our customers and, where possible, involve them in the development of services which recognise and value their diversity. 

External Agencies

In order to ensure that we follow best practice and keep ourselves up to date, we will liaise with external equalities organisations and charities to help to continuously improve what we do in this area.

Monitoring Performance

Brighton Dome and Festival Ltd will monitor its progress towards equality and diversity by doing the following:

• Undertaking equalities monitoring of our workforce to enable us to understand the composition of our workforce and to identify any areas of inequality.
• Monitoring of applicants for jobs, training and development, grievances, disciplinary hearings, dismissals and other reasons for leaving.
• Monitoring of employee opinions and comments though feedback eg. via the appraisal system, our annual staff survey or through exit interviews/surveys.
• Committing to undertaking formal investigations into any EDI complaints and reporting these to the Board so that there is sufficient oversight.
• Performance monitoring through customer feedback, surveys, focus groups, and proper investigation of any customer complaints.

Breach of this Policy 

Any employee who feels they have been treated in a way which is contrary to this policy should raise this either formally through the grievance procedure, or informally with a senior manager, or a member of the HR team.

Any breaches of this policy by employees will be fully investigated and may lead to disciplinary action being taken.

Implementation, Monitoring and Review of this Policy 

This policy will be reviewed on a regular basis following its implementation (at least annually) and additionally whenever there are relevant changes in employment legislation or to our working practices.

This Policy Statement is endorsed by

Maxine Hort
Interim Chief Executive
Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival

Last reviewed October 2024