AN award-winning North-East housing group has approved a new policy aimed at building a culture that “encourages, supports and celebrates difference”.
North Star Housing Group’s equality, diversity and inclusion policy, which has been endorsed by the board, includes an objective to increase the number of staff who have a disability and who are from black and minority ethic (BME) backgrounds.
Chief Executive Angela Lockwood said: “North Star is determined to be an organisation where people’s differences are valued, and this updated policy puts in place a wide range of fair practices to ensure that everyone can thrive and work together effectively.”
The policy statement – entitled “Different together” – says: “At North Star, equality, diversity and inclusion are part of our DNA. Together, we continue to build a culture that encourages, supports and celebrates difference. It fuels our innovation and connects us even closer to customers and communities.”
Last year, North Star’s reputation as a leading equal opportunities employer was underlined when it won the “Creating LBGTQ Inclusion and Accessibility In The Workplace Award” in the LGBTQ Alliance Awards.
North Star was also named the “Apprentice Organisation of the Year” at the Tees Valley BME Achievement Awards ceremony, recognising the association’s leading role in a partnership to increase boardroom diversity.
The association now intends to continue the momentum with a new policy that covers the protected characteristics of: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion/belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
The board agreed to commit the association to increasing levels of staff with a disability to eight per cent and approved the same target for staff who describe themselves as BME.
Key objectives including building a workforce that broadly reflects the diversity of the community served by the association.
Employment policies and practices will be reviewed annually to ensure fairness and so they can be updated to reflect changes in the law or best practice.
North Star has pledged to take positive action to increase diversity, by encouraging applications from under-represented groups, forging links with community groups, sharing vacancies with them, and using specialist recruitment platforms or agencies.
Every candidate who declares they have a disability and meets the essential job criteria will be guaranteed an interview, and the same will apply to every ethnic-minority candidate.
The board has also adopted a strong stance against any breaches of its policy, stating: “North Star will not tolerate unfair treatment and discrimination and expects everyone we work with to share our commitment to eliminating discrimination.
“We adopt a zero-tolerance approach and will take prompt and strong action to deal with unfair discrimination, bullying, harassment, or victimization by any individual or organisation connected with us.”