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Alderwood Education values the diversity of its staff, contractors and clients. We aim to make our services as accessible and responsive as possible to all existing and potential contractors and clients, 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 contractor/client 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, promotions, grievance and disciplinary procedures, training and development and assessment. It applies also to relationships with suppliers and contractors, as well as to potential employees.
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:
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.
We seek to provide equality of opportunity for all applicants and employees via our recruitment, selection development and promotion policies. In addition to our Diversity Policy, we also have a separate Equal Opportunity Policy which aims to ensure everyone receives treatment that is fair, equitable and consistent with their skills and abilities.
The actions we will take to make this policy work include:
The HR Director has overall responsibility for ensuring the implementation of this policy. As employers we are liable for the actions of our workers and therefore all of our 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.
This policy applies to all employees, who are required to understand and follow this policy, together with our associated policies on equal opportunity and harassment.
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 physical adjustments or more flexible ways of working.
Our employment policies and procedures will be continually reviewed to ensure compliance with this policy, to reflect current best practice and to remove barriers experienced by members of disadvantaged social groups in seeking employment with us, and working for us.
We will provide full and fair consideration for all job applicants, based on merit and ability. We will review and develop our recruitment procedures to encourage applications from, and the employment of, people from a range of backgrounds reflecting our client/contractor base.
Procedures for testing or assessment will be reviewed so as not to disadvantage any applicant. We aim to ensure that our recruitment practices are free from unlawful discriminatory criteria. Questions relating to applicants' race, ethnic origin, age, disability, religion or belief, gender, colour, sexuality, marital status, current or future family responsibilities will not form part of our selection process.
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 and promotion opportunities to enable them to develop their full potential within Alderwood Education.
Standard training modules, reference manuals and training materials will be updated where necessary.
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 and abilities.
We will consider requests for flexible working under our policies in a way which fairly balances the needs of the individual and our business.
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.
Harassment includes behaviour that is offensive, frightening or in any way distressing. We have a separate policy on bullying and harassment which makes it clear that such behaviour is totally unacceptable.
Positive discrimination on grounds of sex, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, disability or age is unlawful. It is however lawful to provide specific training or development opportunities aimed at under-represented groups to enable them to compete equally for job opportunities with the remaining workforce and we will do these wherever we feel it may be necessary to promote our diversity policy.
Alderwood Education will monitor its progress towards diversity by doing the following:
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Developed by Alderwood Education part of the Matchtech Group plc. |
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