Agenda item

[Jin Takhar, Head of Equality Diversity and Inclusion and Paula Moore, Head of Organisational Development, to present report]

The Chair invited Paula Moore, Head of Organisational Development, to present the report

The Head of Organisational Development advised the panel that aim of the presentation is to give an update on progress in delivering EDI Objective 3 – Develop an inclusive workplace culture, where targeted professional training, development and support is provided and to get comments from members.

The Head of Organisation Development gave a detailed summary of different initiatives aimed at supporting this agenda during the period April 2020 to January 2023. The Head of Organisation Development commented on the performance against key indicators, analysis of results by ethnicity, the numbers of people who participated and subsequently promoted.

The Head of Organisation Development advised the panel that the next step will be to undertake an EDI survey to gain feedback on all the action to date to better understand the impact of the different initiatives and to decide what further changes are needed.

The Head of Organisation Development advised the panel of communication and marketing plans to make all employees aware of the support available and to support managers to see the benefits of developing their employees. The aim will also be to encourage employees to undertake personal development and training and to further promote the Aspire into Management and the other programmes referred to in the presentation. The Brilliant Leaders programme will start again in September 2023 with a cohort of 15 employees from different ethnic backgrounds.

The Head of Organisation Development advised the panel that the service will continue to monitor the outcomes of the development of the interventions to ensure that people are getting promotions and to research other initiatives or learning from new opportunities elsewhere that could support progress towards achieving the stated objective.

The panel were invited to comment on the report and the presentation.

The panel thanked the presenter for the report.

The panel queried the reason for the majority of people taking up offers from the programme being women and if any specific action or strategies are being considered to increase male uptake rates.

The Head of Organisation Development commented that the approach taken is to promote these development opportunities wherever possible. A workforce planning exercise is completed annually across all service areas to look training needs and the meetings with managers are used to help them understand the benefits of the programme. In addition, there are articles in City People which are used to promote good news stories, which will hopefully encourage more male employees to see the benefits of joining the programme.

The Head of Organisation Development commented that it is often more difficult to encourage men to participate in some types of personal development work but was confident that the more the issue is discussed the more likely it is that male employees will be encouraged.

The panel queried the relevant experience of mentors from West Midlands Coaching Pool to support employees who may have a different work experience from their own and the also the cost to the Council of using the service.

The Head of Organisation Development commented that the West Midlands Coaching Pool is part of West Midlands Employers Forum of which Wolverhampton is one of 32 different Councils across the region and has been running for about 15 years. The Head of Organisation Development advised that coaches and mentors are all training to ILM Level 5 and 7 and the explained that when someone is looking for a mentor or coach, they can review the online biographies and see which person best matches their needs.

The cost of being a member of the pool is £3000 a year which is considered good value when compared to the cost of an executive coach or an online coaching service. The more people that use the service the better the value for money it represents to the Council.

The panel suggested that a current member could be asked to share a success story or become a champion encouraging other men to get involved.

The Head of Organisation Development welcomed the suggestion and agreed to take forward the idea.

The panel queried the use of ‘other’ as an ethnic group in the presentation and the reason for its continued use, given previous concerns shared about its appropriateness as a catergory.

The Head of Organisation Development commented that the use of ‘other’ is for people who are not from an English background or non-white. The panel commented that the analysis by ethnic origin should not be used, and care taken in how the data is presented as the aim of the initiative should be to support all employees.

The panel queried the reason for the focus on ethnic and gender in the presentation and not including other groups with protected characteristics.

The Head of Organisation Development commented that further details about people with different protected characteristics are in full presentation, sent separately to panel members.

The panel thanked the presenter for the report.

Resolved:

The panel comments on the report to be noted.