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Equal Opportunities Statement
LASA recognises that certain groups and individuals are disadvantaged
and discriminated against because of the way that society is structured.
LASA is committed to equality of opportunity, taking positive steps
to ensure that we do not perpetuate this discrimination through our employment
practices and our use of resources.
LASA understands that a passive policy will not in itself provide equality
of opportunity. LASA will therefore:
- eliminate any unnecessary criteria in our recruitment and selection
procedures.
- take positive steps as part of developing and carrying out our work
programme, to promote full and equal access to our skills and services
and to combat any direct or indirect discrimination in our use of resources.
- seek to challenge and change attitudes and policies which reinforce
oppression and question and review our own practices and attitudes,
both with regard to our behaviour within the organisation and outwardly
in our image and service delivery.
LASA will regularly monitor and review our recruitment and selection
procedure, our work programme and our own practices and attitudes, to
ensure that this policy is put into effect.
Equal Opportunities Policy
This document is a statement of LASA's policy for achieving equality
of opportunity in all of our employment practices and in the use and provision
of our services. It provides a framework for LASA to
- introduce changes as necessary to promote equal access
- review existing policy and practice to ensure that they embody the
spirit and intention of this policy.
In applying this policy, LASA recognises that certain groups are particularly
disadvantaged. Such groups can be identified according to race, sex, class,
creed, ethnic or national origin, disability, HIV/AIDS status, sexual
orientation, marital status or age.
1. Recruitment and selection
LASA accepts its responsibilities as an employer, as laid down by statute
under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Race Relations Act 1976.
LASA will always recruit using the guidlines written down in our Equal
Opportunities Recruitment and Selection Procedure. This document will
be reviewed annually to ensure that people are selected and treated on
the basis of their merits and abilities.
LASA particularly recognises that many people are disadvantaged and discriminated
against in employment and that a passive policy will not reverse this.
Therefore, LASA will actively encourage steps to redress this. LASA is
particularly concerned at this time to attract black and ethnic minority
staff and disabled people, recognising that they are under represented
on our staff.
1.1 All staff or board members will have to have recruitment training
before being allowed to sit on a recruitment panel.
2. Training support and development at LASA
2.1 Training
LASA recognises that changing the basis of its recruitment is no good
unless support and training opportunities are provided to assist all staff
in learning the job and developing their skills. LASA's induction, training
and staff development policies will make explicit provisions for staff
from oppressed and disadvantaged groups, which encourage and promote equality
of career opportunities and the full implementation of this policy.
a. All staff will be made aware of the training and development opportunities
available to them and be positively encouraged to take these up. In
particular, staff who are disadvantaged should be offered and encouraged
to take up training which will enhance their skills and career prospects.
The needs of LASA should also be taken into account.
b. To assist staff in understanding the implications of this policy
and in the implementation of positive action, all staff must undertake
recognised training in equal opportunities policies and procedures within
a year of their appointment, if they have not done so before joining
LASA. New workers will be made aware of this requirement at interview
stage and existing staff must undertake to attend such training.
c. Members of the LASA Board of management will also be offered opportunities
to take up training to enable them to carry out their role and fulfil
their responsibilities.
2.2 Induction and Support
a. All new staff will be provided with an induction programme to equip
them to do their job and to provide them with an understanding of the
organization.
b. All new staff will be given particular support from their team in
the first year following their appointment. If a worker feels isolated
and would like support from outside the organization, such as from a
women's group or black workers group, this will be positively encouraged.
c. LASA will make every effort to support any staff with a disability
by providing any necessary facilities or arrangements which will enable
them to make full use of their experience and skills.
d. New members of the Board will also be offered a clear programme
of induction into the work of LASA. The workings of the Board will be
reviewed to ensure that the structure and timing of meetings do not
unnecessarily exclude Board members from access.
3. Carrying out our work
We want our services to be accessible to and appropriate for all advice
and information agencies which fall within the remit of LASA's aims. LASA
recognises that the vast majority of advice and information providers
are under-resourced for the job they are expected to do and need access
to support which assists them to provide the best service they can. LASA
also recognises that it is often those advice agencies which work with
groups in the community facing discrimination and disadvantage that are
most lacking in resources and access to support. LASA therefore intends
to take steps to ensure that our services are relevant and accessible
to these agencies. In order to achieve this LASA will:
3.1 review and monitor groups making use of our services using procedures
identified in the monitoring section of this policy.
3.2 seek out and consult with organizations and networks under-represented
in our user groups to establish the best ways in which LASA can provide
or adapt services to meet their needs and work with others in the advice
field to meet them.
3.3 disseminate information about LASA as widely as possible and in
particular take steps to target those advice agencies representing or
serving the interests of specific disadvantaged groups.
3.4 take steps to encourage broader representation on LASA's Board
of management.
3.5 Following the processes of review, monitoring and consultation,
LASA will build in to our future work programmes and development strategy
any changes or new activity needed to meet these objectives.
4. Communication and awareness
LASA recognises that it has a responsibility for influencing change.
This applies externally in our service provision and recruitment practices
and internally in office management, internal relations and communication.
In the course of our work we will therefore seek to positively challenge
and change attitudes and policies which reinforce oppression and will
question and review our own practices, communication and attitudes. To
foster ongoing awareness of equal opportunities issue we will:
4.1 display our equal opportunities statement widely, including it
in all relevant publications and literature.
4.2 use positive images in all our publications and training materials
so that they are relevant and accessible and better reflect the make-up
of our users, staff and management committee.
4.3 organise meetings/seminars at least once a year for all staff to
assist them in focusing on equal opportunities issues. These might arise
through our current work, eg. meeting the information needs of disabled
people; racism and social security; or be concerned with assisting LASA
in reviewing or implementing this policy.
4.4 provide the opportunity for each individual staff member to produce
written information on their needs, discuss in their teams how these
can be met and if they wish, make this information more widely available
within LASA.
4.5 annually review the equal opportunities dimension of each team's
work and of LASA as a whole and report on this with any recommendations
for change. This will involve: assessing and monitoring the team's effectiveness
in meeting previous targets and making proposals on future work;
4.6 staff should be committed to creating a working atmosphere which
supports those staff and Board members who face discrimination - such
as black staff, those with a disability, women, lesbian or gay staff
- to fully participate in LASA. Teams are encouraged to be aware of
good and bad practice, to ensure that all staff work in a non-discriminatory
environment and promote a working atmosphere which supports and empowers
all staff. Examples of how to achieve this include putting these issues
on each team's agenda at least twice a year for discussion to be formally
minuted.
4.7 develop written policy and guidance for staff on good practice
and methods of working which promote better awareness, both internally
with staff and management committee and externally with clients and
colleagues.
4.8 ensure that all policies operated or developed by LASA, eg. Health
and Safety policy, address equal opportunities issues and include procedures
for their implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
5. Monitoring
LASA will check that it is fulfilling its commitment to the aims laid
out in the Equal Opportunities Statement through rigorous monitoring procedures.
LASA will monitor by:
5.1 Questioning each agency that uses our services on their target
group
5.2 Do a detailed user profile on each participant using our training
services.
5.3 Do a user profile of client we represent through our appeals service.
5.4 Once a year doing an agency user profile on every caller who uses
the advice line or CDUs and CIPs consultancy service for at least a
four week period.
5.5 Monitor the effect of new legislation on our user group to identify
its impact on different user groups in order to feed into social policy
work.
5.6 Analyze our recruitment procedure and monitor all applicants.
5.7 All data colected on our client group should be compared to as
diverse and reliable figures as possible. Examples could include the
census figures, the networks statistics.
6. Targeting
In order to ensure that any gaps in our service provision are addressed
and the aims of our Equal Opportunities Statement are met LASA undertakes
to target specific user groups. LASA will therefore:
6.1 Analyze the information collected above and spot gaps in our service
provision. See point 5.7 above.
6.2 Devise a strategy to fill these gaps.
The following actions provide examples of how this may be done:
- meeting with agencies/groups that represent the user groups we are
missing.
- obtaining/buying specialist mailing lists to do group specific mailshots
- devising courses/ publications/ IT for specialised groups e.g. women,
refugees etc
- having our publications translated into other languages
- employing trainers to run our courses in other languages
- having our written materials translated into braille
- using signers and making our services e.g. conferences,training,
representation, IT] truly accessible
This list is not exhaustive.
6.3 Advertising all our services widely and also selectively.
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