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THE BRITISH COUNCIL’S DIVERSITY STRATEGY

Diversity Vision Statement

Respecting diversity is at the heart of the Council’s mission and of its values. Recognising
the importance of diversity is fundamental to the way we project the United Kingdom’s ideas
.and achievements and challenge outmoded stereotypes of the UK abroad
We demonstrate the principles of modernity, equality and multiculturalism through the work of
our centres worldwide. As societies become more complex we must forge relationships and
partnerships overseas which reflect our understanding of the diversity of both the UK and the
countries we work in. We must be relevant, we must be credible and we must be open to
difference and debate. We value individuals in everything we do, so we both need and
welcome staff and partners who have the experience and understanding which can bring
.these relationships and debates alive
Diversity means valuing all our staff and the contribution they can make. We welcome the
differences amongst them and believe that those differences give added depth to our work.
We aspire to make the greatest possible use of their talent and capabilities and to provide real
.opportunities for their professional development
David Green, Director General

INTRODUCTION

We first launched our Diversity Strategy in 2002 to progress our Equal Opportunity
Policy and support us to be more effective. This revision builds on the progress
made since then and outlines the direction of future work.

Underpinning the strategy is our belief that external relationships with clients,
customers and partners throughout the world should reflect the standards and
behaviours by which we manage diversity internally. The strategy corresponds with
the UK Government’s own vision of inclusion and diversity where every individual is
able to fulfil their potential and make their contribution to society, with an emphasis
on promoting equality in an integrated way, taking account of the needs of all groups
and providing protection for everyone.

DEFINITION AND BENEFITS

We maintain that equal opportunity and diversity (EO&D) are interdependent.


Diversity builds on equal opportunity and embraces its principles of equity but has a
broader focus.
Diversity is the description of a range of visible and non-visible differences that exist
between people. These include gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual
identity, religion, education, age and family/marital and economic status, amongst
others. These differences can result in varying experiences, values, ways of
thinking, behaving, communicating and working. Managing diversity is based on a
positive view of difference and a commitment to valuing individuals for business
reasons, in addition to social and moral ones. Valuing diversity and managing it
effectively can help to combat prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping, harassment
and unfairness and support people to give of their best, gain satisfaction in their
working lives and to be aware of the impact that actions and words can have on
others.
Valuing and managing diversity within the British Council enables us to:
• Strengthen our work in the field of cultural relations where engaging in a positive
way with difference is both central and crucial

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• Reach diverse communities which can result in new opportunities, contributions,
relationships and sources of support
• Utilise the ‘country’ knowledge, language skills and awareness of cultural norms
and networks that our staff have so that our cultural understanding develops and
supports us to gain access, enhance impact and achieve our organisational goals
• Utilise fresh perspectives and nurture creativity, innovation and flexibility, drawing
on the variety of approaches to work and resolving problems, tapping hidden
capacity for growth as well as encouraging staff to give of their best
• Translate our values into action and help us to nurture an organisational culture in
which all of us, with our varied origins and backgrounds, can work positively
together and feel valued, included, treated fairly and with dignity
• Ensure that we comply with relevant legislation and standards, fulfil related
obligations and minimise the risks of damage to our reputation
• Enhance our reputation as an employer of choice and a good one, and recruit
from a wider talent pool on the basis of objective criteria, leading to competitive
advantage

OBJECTIVES

 Mainstreaming diversity
Our strategy has been to mainstream EO&D throughout the British Council in all that
we do. A summary of some of the overarching action that we have taken to date is
included in appendix 1. We will continue to mainstream diversity by for example:
• Ongoing assessment of the effect of our policies on different groups of people in
order to ensure no unjustified discrimination
• Updating our diversity web and intranet sites to provide information and support
awareness and understanding of equality and diversity, as well as communicating
related British Council initiatives, activities and good practice
• Establishing our global equality and diversity learning and development
programme to include self access e-learning material in order to enhance the
awareness, understanding and the engagement of all colleagues
• Strengthening our links with UK minority ethnic communities to support us to
make use of a broader range of perspectives and resources and promote multi-
ethnic and diverse UK
• Continuing to encourage diversity objectives linked to strategic objectives within
the management plans of Corporate Services, UK Operational Departments
across all activity streams and Regional Directorates, and where appropriate,
within individual development and/or job plans
• Strengthening our global diversity network launched in March 2004, to help
ensure issues relating to colleagues appointed in regional, country and
operational activity are addressed and there is not an overly UK-centric approach
to this area of our work.

 Legal requirements and relevant standards


We will continue to ensure we fulfil statutory obligations, align our practices with
wider developments, avoid legal challenges and minimise the risk to our reputation.
Our action plan to support this (available from the Diversity Unit) will be extended and

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reviewed and we will develop work in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility as
part of our wider commitment to mutuality.

 Leadership commitment to valuing and managing diversity effectively


Our global staff survey results currently show that the majority of managers welcome
diverse views and do not treat staff in a discriminatory way. We will continue to
expect to achieve this result and expect managers to demonstrate through their
words and actions that valuing and managing diversity are integral to their
responsibilities and our cultural relations role. We require them to support staff
participation in equality and diversity endeavours, invite and respond to related
feedback, encourage and agree to flexible working arrangements which have no
adverse impact on the delivery of services, ensure appropriate accountability and
provide adequate resources to help ensure progress. Staff survey results and other
relevant results like those from grievance and complaints will continue to be tracked
annually and acted on.

 Inclusion, fairness and appropriately consistent and transparent


organisational processes
To help ensure practices and decisions are based on our organisational values,
inclusion, fairness, transparency and consistency will be encouraged. Staff will
continue to be invited to share their views and comment on policy development, with
a particular emphasis on the potential for adverse impact. Consultation will make
use of the organisation’s networks such as staff associations, the union, European
Works Council and Ethnic Minority Development Group. Inconsistency will be
challenged and disciplinary action will be taken in the event of unjustified
discriminatory behaviour.
 UK gender, race and disability targets
Considerable overall progress towards achieving a more representative workforce
has been made although not in the area of disability; so with the exception of
disability, we have revised our targets upwards (see appendix 2) and strengthened
the related positive action initiatives (see Appendix 3). Equality targets remain under
review and revisions will take place as necessary with progress reported annually. It
is hoped that the proposed British Council disability framework will support progress
in the area of disability.

 Gender, disability, ethnic (or other) makeup of countries outside the UK


Our aim is to achieve a more representative workforce in our offices outside the UK.
We will therefore launch a global monitoring framework and extend monitoring to
teaching staff on UK contracts to help us to identify under representation and where
appropriate take remedial action. We will gather data regarding the grade profile of
staff appointed in-country to provide us with some understanding of their
representation in management roles and address any career progression issues. We
will be careful to exercise cultural sensitivity and take account of issues specific to
respective countries and regions; we recognise that in many instances the UK
approach in this area will not be appropriate.

 Monitoring, evaluation and reporting mechanisms


We will continue the process of sharing successes and difficulties, tracking and
measuring progress and shaping the future direction of the strategy. We will do so
by monitoring, evaluating and reporting on our objectives, policies and processes,
through for example the Diversity Unit Annual Report, Northern Ireland Annual
Equality Scheme and Analysis of Equality Monitoring Data for Employment reports

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and the Staff Survey and Performance Scorecard. Where necessary we will revise
and strengthen our reporting and measurement tools in order to assess impact.
RESPONSIBILITIES
It is the responsibility of all British Council staff to participate fully in the strategy;
without this participation we will either not progress, or do so at an unduly slow rate.
It is the particular responsibility of the Chair of the British Council, the Director
General, and all senior managers as key representatives, to lead the strategy and
model commitment to it through their behaviours and attitudes and effective use of
their influence and authority. Managers of departments, because they interface with
large numbers of staff on an ongoing basis and are closest to operational aspects,
need to ensure the strategy is progressed and mainstreamed.

The Diversity Unit undertakes strategic planning and is supported by a Global


Diversity Network and UK Diversity Working Group members in doing so and in
providing guidance and support to individuals, teams and departments. We welcome
dialogue and value feedback that helps to identify barriers to progress and the
existence of good practice; to this end therefore please contact us on 0207 389
4484.

Fiona Bartels-Ellis
Head Equal Opportunity and Diversity, July 2004

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Appendix 1

Our action to support mainstreaming diversity to date has included amongst other
things:
• Raising awareness of and encouraging engagement with our EO Policy and
Diversity Strategy through a programme of mandatory workshops in and to some
extent outside the UK and the production and distribution of a CD-Rom for all
7,000 plus staff world-wide.
• Establishing comprehensive equal opportunity monitoring and analysis and
related UK equality targets with progress against these externally analysed on an
annual basis.
• Building reference to equality and diversity into our corporate planning,
monitoring and evaluation systems, including the identification of performance
scorecard indicators.
• Developing operational work with an equality and diversity focus.
• Developing equality and diversity initiatives within our teaching English and
exams administration work.
• Making changes to the recruitment and selection of staff and introducing a
competence based framework to support greater transparency and fairness, as
well as intercultural awareness competencies.
• Revising our performance management policy and placing an emphasis on
upward and 360 degree feedback with related training, to effectively manage the
performance of staff and bring rigour and as a result greater fairness and
transparency to the process.
• Encouraging staff to have diversity job objectives and/or development objectives
to support increased engagement and ownership of the agenda.
• Undertaking an equal pay audit within the UK to establish unjustified inequity and
acting on the findings.
• Revising our flexible working policies and producing a guide that helps all line
mangers and members of staff worldwide to make effective use of these in order
to help support achieve work/life balance.
• Harmonising the terms and conditions of senior Enterprises staff with UK globally
mobile staff to help minimise differences.
• Developing and maintaining a diversity website to help showcase and
communicate UK achievements in the area, as well as British Council initiatives,
activities and good practice.
• Undertaking a series of UK consultation meetings with minority ethnic
communities in the UK in order to establish a resource base to help promote
multi-ethnic and diverse UK and help nurture an open, accessible and relevant
reputation.

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Appendix 2 Summary of staff breakdown and progress against targets, 2003/04

Payband Number of Number of % of Target for Number % of Target Number of % of Target Number % of
employees minority minority minority of women for disabled disabled for of staff staff on
at this ethnic staffethnic ethnic staff women at each women people at people at disabled on reduced
payband at each staff at (by 2011)* at each payband staff (by each each staff (by reduced hours at
payband each payband 2011)* payband payband 2006)* hours at each
payband each grade
payband
SMT 12 Payband 8 0 0.0%
and
1 0 0.0% 1 (9%) 0 0.0% above:
11 9 0 0.0% 3 33.3% 0 0.0%
10 3 (9%) 10 8 0.5% 0 0.0%
43 4 9.3% 11 25.6% (28%)
9 16 (9%) 74 3 1.4%
210 8 3.8% 77 36.7% (40%)
8 403 35 8.7% 181 44.9% 17 4.2%
7 328 49 14.9% 193 58.8% Paybands 27 8.2%
6 191 51 26.7% 133 69.6% 5–7 6 3.1%
5 20 12.0%
168 19 11.3% 115 68.5% 14 1.0%
4 50 23 46.0% 31 62.0% Paybands 1 2.0%
3 59 8 13.6% 38 64.4% 1–4 10 17.0%
2 3 2 66.7% 1 33.3% 0 0.0%
1 2 0 0.0% 1 50.0% 3 0.2% 1 50.0%
TOTAL 1467 199 13.6% 784 53.4% (25) 1.7% 64 (5%) 85 5.8%

* Equal Opportunities Monitoring and Target Setting Proposals, Fiona Bartels-Ellis, 2nd July 2001

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Appendix 3

Positive action initiatives

Guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants meeting essential


competencies.

Welcome statements used on external job adverts – welcome applicants from


all sections of the community, etc.

Range of media ( including The Voice, Asian Times, Disability Now, Ready
Willing and Able, etc) used to attract applicants in external recruitment

International Management posts – advance notice sent to EMDG; ethnic


minority and disability press and recruitment sites used to encourage
applications from these groups.

Mentoring scheme – pilot to be targeted at minority ethnic staff, disabled staff


and International Management post-holders.

Senior management development programme – positive action applied at


second sift if more applicants than places (preference to women and minority
ethnic colleagues).

Working attachments – mix of UK and country-appointed colleagues.


Proportion of UK places reserved for minority ethnic colleagues.

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