Equal opportunities policy

Good equality practices benefit everyone. Wholegrain Digital acknowledges that the quality of life for many people has been eroded by disadvantage and discrimination, and that experience of this is both wide and varied.

People are still discriminated against because of their ethnic origin, gender, disability, age, religion or sexuality. We also recognise that some people suffer discrimination due to ill health, social exclusion and other socio-economic factors.

It’s important to us that Wholegrain Digital is a diverse, open-minded place to work and we encourage people from a broad range of backgrounds to join our merry team.

Our Equal Opportunities Policy reflects our commitment to equality, to promoting diversity in the workplace, and treating everybody with kindness and respect.

The Policy

As a business, we seek to play a part in creating, maintaining and promoting a society in which each person has equal entitlement and access to high-quality opportunities and services, irrespective of race, religion, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation or social class or origin.

We are strongly opposed to discrimination, whether intended or unintended, in all its forms. We are therefore committed to:

  • Promoting and understanding the principles and practices of equality and justice
  • Identifying and removing practices and procedures which may result in direct or indirect discrimination
  • Providing equal access to appropriate resources and opportunities throughout our services
  • Encouraging active participation and involvement in decisions about priorities for all members of the community
  • Ensuring that recruitment, employment, promotion and training systems provide equality of access throughout
  • Securing compliance with all relevant legislation
  • Recognising that individuals’ needs vary and that a flexible approach is required to ensure full participation and access to all services
  • Monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the policies and making changes and corrections where necessary.

Our topmost priority is to protect and promote the rights and interests of individuals and communities. Where there are conflicts of interest, we will make judgements according to existing laws and policies.

We expect all of our employees to commit themselves to challenge and combat discrimination in all its forms.

Policy Aims and Scope

This policy applies to all aspects of our relationship with our employees, including:

  • Recruitment
  • Employment
  • Promotion
  • Transfer
  • Training
  • Working conditions
  • Wages & salary administration
  • Employee benefits & application of policies
  • Job appraisals
  • Conduct at work
  • Disciplinary & grievances procedures
  • Termination of employment.

The policy also applies to candidates, independent contractors, and visitors to our office.

Wholegrain Digital is committed to developing services that benefit not only our clients but also wider society. We aim to achieve this by:

  • Putting equality and social justice at the heart of its operations and services
  • Challenging discrimination
  • Ensuring that commitment to equalities is an ongoing process
  • Regularly consulting stakeholders.

Legislation

We will comply with all aspects of the Equality Act 2010 and Anti-Discriminatory Legislation including:

  • The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (updated 1986)
  • The Equal Pay Act 1970 (updated 1983)
  • The Race Relations Act 1976 (amended 2000)
  • The Disability Discrimination Act 1995
  • Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999
  • The Crime and Disorder of Offenders Act 1974
  • The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
  • The Human Rights Act 1998
  • European directives and regulations.

This helps to protect against workplace discrimination of any kind.

Wholegrain Digital recognises that legal obligations in relation to discrimination may overlap between different groups and that some groups do not benefit from legislative protection. We will ensure good practice towards all groups through this policy.

Amplifying the Policy

Providing Effective and Accessible Services

Wholegrain Digital aims to:

  • Keep under review its services to ensure they meet the differing needs of individuals and groups
  • Provide clear information about Wholegrain Digital and its services
  • Scrutinise and monitor services to ensure that they do not discriminate
  • Ensure equal access to the company complaints procedure
  • Make Wholegrain Digital’s position on equality clear to all clients and potential clients.

Providing Equal Opportunities in Recruitment and Employment: Our Open Hiring Policy Statement

Wholegrain Digital aims to:

  • Become a model employer in terms of good practice on equal opportunities in the workplace
  • Employ a workforce that represents the diversity of society and in doing so serve gain a broader, more global perspective and serve society more effectively
  • Monitor the recruitment and selection process to ensure that applicants for jobs are considered only on the basis of relevant experience, skills and abilities. We, therefore, do not always require qualifications and give each candidate the opportunity to demonstrate their potential in their own way
  • Provide a safe and accessible working environment which values and respects employees’ identities and cultures
  • Help and encourage employees to reach their full potential through a variety of means including training appropriate to their needs
  • Provide positive action allowed under the law to help to redress employment imbalances.

Training & Development

We’re committed to providing training and development opportunities for all permanent employees. We support all our team members to develop their full potential, for the mutual benefit of Wholegrain and your personal and professional development. We’ll discuss what you want to achieve in your career and how we can assist you in our regular check-ins.

Key Issues for Different Groups

Discrimination can be direct or indirect, intentional or unintentional. Discrimination can be perpetrated by individuals, groups or institutions. At an individual level, discrimination is based on personal attitudes of superiority; at a group level, shared behaviour serves to reinforce discrimination; at an institutional level, prejudice becomes embedded in policy and procedure with the effect of excluding some people in favour of others.

At all levels, discrimination caused by unfair treatment and unequal distribution of opportunities and resources deprives people of a good quality of life and serves to reinforce a cycle of multi-faceted disadvantage.

Age Discrimination

Definition – negative assumptions based on a person’s age, which can affect both young and older people, particularly when they apply for jobs.

Wholegrain Digital is committed to:

  • A recruitment and employment policy that does not take age into consideration either in recruitment, promotion or training
  • Eliminating reference to age in recruitment material unless it is specifically relevant to the job
  • Having in place a complaints procedure which takes into account age discrimination in service delivery.

Disability

Definition – this occurs when Disabled people are faced with barriers to their full participation in society e.g. lack of access, negative attitudes, lack of support systems.

Underlying this is a lot of negative stereotyping over what disabled people can and cannot do. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 makes it unlawful for employers to treat Disabled people less favourably than others.  Wholegrain Digital undertakes to be proactive in countering this form of discrimination and promoting a positive attitude towards providing opportunities for people with disabilities.

Wholegrain Digital is committed to:

  • Ensuring that employees are aware of good practice when providing services or working with disabled people and have a clear understanding of their duties and responsibilities
  • Ensuring that our terms and conditions of employment do not disadvantage people with disabilities
  • Ensure that the working environment does not prevent disabled people from taking up positions for which they are qualified by providing appropriate facilities, support and training to employees who have impairments, or who develop impairments while working for Wholegrain Digital
  • Taking positive steps to ensure that disabled people have fair access to promotion.

If you have a disability, you become disabled while working for us, have a health issue, or impairment that prevents you from working effectively, please tell us about your condition so we can consider any reasonable adjustments or support that we can provide to make your working life easier.

Racial Discrimination

Definition – the belief that one culture and set of values is superior to another, leading to prejudice on nationality, ethnic, origin, colour and culture. The Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 places a general duty on all public bodies for eliminating all forms of racial discrimination, promoting equality of opportunity promoting good race relations between people of different racial groups.

Wholegrain Digital is committed to:

  • Training employees at all levels to enable them to recognise and challenge all forms of racial discrimination and to raise cultural awareness
  • Ensuring that work practices and policies do not alienate or disadvantage employees from minority ethnic communities or prevent them from having fair and equal access to jobs, promotion and training
  • Taking decisive action to address incidents of victimisation or harassment in relation to any aspect of the companies activities.

Discrimination on the Grounds of Sexuality or Sexual Identity

Definition – negative attitudes and prejudices based on the belief that heterosexuality is the norm. The Human Rights Act 1988 Article 8 includes the right to one’s sexuality.

Wholegrain Digital is committed to:

  • Creating a positive working environment for employees who identify as LGBTQI so that they have fair and equal access to jobs, promotion and training
  • Training employees in order to ensure that the workplace is free from discrimination.

Discrimination on the Grounds of Religion and Faith

Definition – negative perceptions based on the view that one set of beliefs is superior to another. The right to hold and practice religious faith is enshrined within the Human Rights Act 1988 Article 9.

Wholegrain Digital is committed to:

  • Respecting each person’s religious beliefs
  • Taking account of religious festivals and practices when planning and organising events or services or developing policies
  • Ensuring that work practices or requirements do not unreasonably disadvantage people from any particular religious group
  • Treating discrimination on the ground of religion with the same force as all other forms of discrimination.

Sex Discrimination

Definition – prejudiced attitudes that suggest that one gender, usually women, lack certain skills, abilities and characteristics that the other gender possesses.

Wholegrain Digital is committed to:

  • Ensuring recruitment and working practices do not disproportionately disadvantage either gender in gaining fair and equal access to jobs, promotion and training
  • Keeping under review pay and conditions of service to ensure the principle of equal pay for equal work is fully adhered to
  • Developing work practices that ensure that the needs of employees who have childcare and dependant care responsibilities are taken account of
  • Supporting employees taking maternity or paternity leave or time off to care for children or other dependants
  • Training employees to raise awareness of their statutory obligations and ensure that the workplace is free from discrimination and harassment and acting promptly if any such incidents occur.

Responsibilities

Wholegrain Directors, are responsible for determining the Equal Opportunities Policy and overseeing its implementation. Our People Manager is responsible for assessing our company policies, ensuring that they’re free from bias, and that all team members comply with them.

Should we discover any bias in our policies, we will immediately refine our processes and provide any necessary training.

All Wholegrain employees also have a responsibility to ensure they follow our policies and procedures and treat their fellow team members with respect.

For further information, read our Anti-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policies.

Your Responsibilities

All managers and supervisors have a responsibility for familiarising themselves with the policy, for ensuring that it is distributed to, and understood by, all employees and for dealing appropriately with any breaches of it. Managers are also responsible for ensuring that they promote Equal Opportunities in their planning and operations.

Every employee is responsible for putting this policy in place and for mainstreaming its provisions. Breaches of the policy will be dealt with under the company’s disciplinary procedures as appropriate.