The City Council rose 50 places in the last year to make Stonewall’s annual listing of the top 100 most inclusive employers, rewarding the Council’s work to promote workplace equality for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) staff.
This is the first time the City Council has made the top 100 and comes as a result of the work of the Equality and Community Relations Team undertaken with LGBT staff, partner organisations and groups.
Amongst the initiatives conducted by the Council was placing more emphasis on data monitoring to increase the recording of staff sexuality to enable a better understanding of the Council’s workforce profile. Other activities included adopting Stonewall’s NoBystanders campaign to challenge and eradicate victimisation and harassment in the workplace and introducing the Workplace Allies initiative where straight, trans, lesbian and gay staff can act as support to LGBT colleagues who may or may not be ‘out’ in the workplace.
In addition new LGB training was introduced, with specific trans training for managers and other members of staff. The Council worked with external partners to celebrate LGBT culture, supporting events such as LGBT History Month and Pride.
Toby Neal, Nottingham City Council’s Executive Assistant for Equalities, Customer Focus, IT and Technology said: “We are delighted that the City Council has achieved this ranking, which sends a positive message to all our staff, whether LGBT or not, that we listen to employees concerns and take actions to make the Council a better place to work. Reflecting the community’s diversity is vital because it’s right that we represent the people that we serve and to show that we make the most of talented people, whoever they are.
“The listing in Stonewall’s top 100 employers is a result of the progress we have made recently, listening to our staff and acting upon their concerns.”