Equality, diversity and inclusion

Sunderland is a fantastic, forward-looking city undergoing significant transformation and economic regeneration. It has a global reputation as a welcoming and inclusive place in which to live, work, achieve, play, and belong.

In the same way that we recognise and value the diversity of people living in the city, all staff being treated as equals, irrespective of their circumstances or background, is exceptionally important to us. We believe workplaces should be safe spaces where everyone feels valued and can be themselves, therefore, we have an inclusive and equitable approach, which is fundamental to achieving our aim.

Working to make our workplace inclusive for everyone

We focus on creating a sense of belonging and providing practical support for all staff members through:

• Measuring our progress through the Equality Framework for Local Government (EFLG), to ensure we meet our commitments
• Listening to our employees via surveys, forums and networks to continuously improve
• Not tolerating discrimination or harassment by managing complaints in a structured, unbiased and timely manner
• Delivering equality, diversity, and inclusion training to embed positive behaviours in the workplace
• Sponsoring the Supporting Employee Equality Network (SEEN), giving employees a voice
• Providing guidance documents and policies to support equality and inclusion throughout the employment cycle
• Providing a dedicated inclusion and belonging space on our staff intranet to share information and views
• Promoting awareness of national events such as International Womens Day

Supporting Employee Equality Network

The Supporting Employee Equality Network (SEEN) is a safe space for employees to share views and ideas. It focuses on different aspects of diversity and inclusion to continuously improve our workplace and ensure our employees have a voice.

In addition, it is an internal group working with senior leadership to provide a positive and inclusive working environment for all employees. Their aim is to affect policy, so no employee is marginalised on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex (including non-binary identities and any other gender identity or expression), sexual orientation and marriage and civil partnership.

Everyone is welcome to join, including friends and allies, and the level of involvement is entirely up to the individual, ranging from receiving update communications to attending regular meetings, or leading activities.

Supporting our employees

We have a number of policies and initiatives in place to promote and embed equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, including:

• Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion policy
• Dignity at Work policy
• Family Friendly policy
• Flexible Working policy
• Leave of Absence policy
• Reserve and Cadet Force Adult Volunteer policy
• Supporting Trans, Non-binary and Transitioning Employee's Guidance
• Providing reasonable adjustments guidance and disability passports to ensure
• Managers can better meet the needs of employees with disabilities and long-term health conditions

External Partnerships

To continue to achieve our equality and inclusion standards we work in partnership with external organisations to support our ongoing development. These include:

• Better Health at Work Award
• Disability Confident Leader
• Armed Forces Covernant
• North East Region Employers Association (NEREO)
• The Sunderland Partnership

Equality throughout our recruitment and selection processes

We are committed to recruiting a high-quality workforce with equality of opportunity at the core of our recruitment and selection procedures. It is our policy to recruit the most appropriate person for each approved vacancy and to support this approach, we ensure:

• Applications are anonymised at the shortlisting stage, so no personal information is available at this point in the recruitment process
• Reasonable adjustments are offered throughout the recruitment and selection process to ensure candidates with a disability are not disadvantaged
• We commit to interviewing all candidates who have a disability or are veterans of the armed forces, who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy
• We provide training and guidance to those with recruitment responsibilities, to ensure the process is followed and non-discriminatory
• The application documentation contains an equal opportunity monitoring form, used for monitoring purposes and compiling performance information