Equalities training that "win hearts and minds"
Date Published: September 26, 2006

Summary
The Chief Executive of a major high street retailer noticed a significant increase in complaints of sexual harassment and commissioned Equalities Associates to develop and deliver a training programme to heighten awareness, improve knowledge and uplift managerial skill in the successful resolution of sexual harassment complaints.

Customer Profile
A major retailer with stores in many cities, employed a large number of young female staff in customer facing positions. Departmental managers were given challenging sales targets and staff were tightly managed to ensure customer service was priority one.

Problem and context
Complaints of sexual harassment were being made to managers who felt constrained by competing pressures to maintain high sales figures and customer satisfaction. As a consequence, female staff were often advised to simply ignore remarks, and/or their complaints were ignored. A review by HR staff revealed a growing tendency of staff calling in sick, and several complaints have escalated to grievance status.

Objectives
These were threefold. First, to understand and determine the nature of the problem. Second, to research and test solutions, and finally to determine acceptability through discussions with senior managers and staff.

Equalities Associates Solution
Equalities Associates conducted an extensive employee attitude survey that provided a benchmark of current attitudes and behaviours relative to gender issues. We also hosted numerous focus groups and conducted personal interviews with female employees to obtain specific examples of sexual harassment.

Working with local equality programme managers, Equalities Associates developed a comprehensive two-day course designed to raise awareness and improve behaviour. Equalities committee members piloted the course and resultant feedback was incorporated into the final programme delivered to front-line staff on a rolling basis.

Evaluation, Results and Benefits
Sexual harassment complaints were monitored over a six-month period and staff were administered another attitude survey to compare and contrast perceptions from the first exercise. A significant drop in complaints of sexual harassment was noted, as well as a discernable improvement in staff attitudes and morale.

For More Information
For more information about Equalities Associates, our products and services, call us at [+44 (0) 1234 881 213
To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: http://www.[equalitiesassociates.com
For more information, call Elizabeth Walker at +44 (0) 1234 881 213 or email us at info@equalitiesassociates.com
© 2005 Equalities Associates. All rights reserved.
This case study is for informational purposes only.
EQUALITIES ASSOCIATES MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.

Developing a bespoke ‘positive action’ initiative for black and minority ethnics, disabled, and female staff for the BBC
Date Published: September 25, 2006

Situation
Summary
BBC Television was concerned with improving the self-motivation of staff members from minority backgrounds to drive job performance in the BBC's major work streams.  To achieve this, the organization offered career incentives to attendees, and looked to gain a culture of renewed drive from attendees post initiative. The Initiative's impacts included increased promotion of participants from BME minority backgrounds into the major work streams, and an increase in the perception of BBC as an employer of choice.

Customer Profile
The BBC exists to enrich people's lives with great programs and services that inform, educate, and entertain. It's vision is to be the most creative, trusted organization in the world. To help the BBC progress firmly toward this goal, the BBC's Equalities Executive wanted to achieve increased self motivation, drive, morale, job performance, and the identification and promotion of high performing staff in critical work streams. The challenges faced by the Executive were in

· Identifying success factor criteria and critical career path indicators for successful people in the major work streams.
· How to identify staff who would benefit from development courses
· Motivating likely staff to apply for promotion through a self-nomination process
· Helping them reach then succeed in their enhanced positions for the benefit of the BBC and selected staff. 
Other aims needed to be achieved, particularly how to increase the attractiveness of the BBC organization as an employer of choice.

The BBC’s Objectives

To achieve the Positive Action initiative for BME and others, the BBC needed to understand ingredients for success for employees identified for future placement in the major work streams. To ensure the right balance was met, it was important to identify critical career path indicators, encourage right minded people to ‘self-nominate’ themselves for development courses, and make the BBC an employer of choice.

Finding the Right Partner

BBC Television appointed Equalities Associates to assist them achieve these objectives because of our two decade track record in helping Government and Public Institutions achieve similar far reaching changes. The BBC welcomed the creative and positive action approaches we outlined to solve their challenges, and the detailed implementation and the likely impact of delivering the program itself. These are outlined below.

Objective		What we did
Develop a bespoke positive action initiative for Black, Minority Ethnics, Disabled, and Female staff		Complete program
Identify critical career paths for all major work streams		Key managers interviewed to identify the essential knowledge, skill, and aptitude criteria for success
Create personal development plans		Developed the success profiles to be addressed, and co-developed plans for each profile
Reduce time to identify promising staff, staff selection process		Co-worked with the BBC to short circuit times by encouraging staff self-nomination for interview
Create course development plans for qualifying staff		Successful staff assisted to develop career plans, receiving CVs and interview practice to maximise success

Solution

Process
To deliver the Positive Action Initiative in the first instance, Equalities Associates conducted research to identify critical career path indicators for each major work streams. Key managers were interviewed to identify specific knowledge, skill and aptitude criteria for success. These were used to develop generic profiles to enable personal development plans to be created.

Briefings were conducted for all self-nominated staff and their line managers. Selected participants were offered a series of development courses to enhance promotability. Staff that successfully completed the courses was assisted in developing personal career plans with attendant CVs, and attended interview skills practice sessions to maximize success.

Evaluation

Results and Benefits
The BBC organization benefited by an increase in self motivation, renewed drive and determination to succeed. Job performance and morale improved, and most course participants achieved promotions after completing the program. 

BBC Television’s public image increased as awareness of the program spread, increasing the attractiveness of the BBC as an employer of choice.

For More Information
For more information about Equalities Associates, our products and services, call us at [+44 (0) 1234 881 213
To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: http://www.equalitiesassociates.com.
For more information, call Elizabeth Walker at +44 (0) 1234 881 213 or email us at info@equalitiesassociates.com
© 2006 Equalities Associates. All rights reserved.
This case study is for informational purposes only.
EQUALITIES ASSOCIATES MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.

Equality proof practices improve regional HM Revenue and Customs services to BME customers
Date Published: September 25, 2006

Situation
Summary
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)’s Wales and West Midlands Region were concerned they may have institutional racism issues, and if they existed, may affect the delivery of services to BME customers and give rise to complaints. Research was commissioned to identify the extent of problems – if any, and identifying the best ways to resolve them. Equalities Associates were engaged to firstly research if these issues existed, and if they did, to identify their impact. Any changes we recommended needed to bring demonstrable and measurable benefits to both customers and HMRC. We were next required to implement changes with the HMRC’s front line staff in ways that would bring staff with us. Following the research, issue resolution approaches, and staff training we were able to help HMRC measurably improve service delivery to BME customers, reduce complaints about unfair treatment, and increase compliance from taxpayers in the region.

Customer Profile
The Regional Director for HMRC’s Wales and West Midlands region is responsible for over 1,000 staff serving over 5 million customers. The catchment area included major conurbations including Birmingham and Cardiff, as well as rural shire counties, with little or no diversity.

Problem
Concerned about the possibility that institutional racism could affect service delivery in his region, HMRC’s Regional Director needed to address the following challenges:
The challenge faced by the region included:
• Establishing a pro-active outreach programme to ensure all taxpayers understood their obligations relative to tax law.
• To ensure all customer-facing staff possessed the awareness, knowledge, and skills to deliver non-discriminatory services.
• To equality assess current and future policies to ensure they did not unintentionally discriminate against disadvantaged groups.
To establish the extent of any concerns, and identify ways to correct them, the Director tendered for a multistage research project to assess possible problems, identify and address issues found, and measure the impact.

Objectives
For the preliminary research, the objective was to establish whether institutional racism did exist, and if it was affecting service delivery and taxpayer relations. The degree of concern was to be proven by example, along with advice about the best way to identify issues.
If racism was shown to exist, the next objective was to implement multi-stranded approaches to correct this, and demonstrate these approaches were effective by proposing relevant measurements.

Why Equalities Associates was selected
HMRC selected Equalities Associates because of their long and successful track record in Equality and Diversity work, knowing how to effectively unearth relevant issues in a complex area. We offered a very structured and full approach in creating robust measurable long lasting solutions to the benefit of participants, external publics, and customers.

Solution
Was there actually a problem?
Equalities Associates commenced the project by conducting a desk audit of current policies and procedures. This identified potential areas for policy development. Next we work-shadowed inspectors to identify procedures and practices normally undertaken in Revenue work. To assess customer impact we interviewed a wide range of BME customers about their experience of dealing with HMRC. This confirmed a number of issues that required addressing.
To document the findings and define their degree of concern, we created a 10-point matrix to show:
• Policies that unintentionally created difficulties
• Work practice issues
• Deficient procedures
• Relevant examples

What we did		Result
Reviewed policies		Identified areas of difficulty
Work-Shadowing		Examined daily practices, looked for improvements
Interviews with taxpayers		Understand their views of how HMRC dealt with their cases as taxpayers
10-Point Results Matrix		Present results unambiguously

This research confirmed that there were indeed issues with policies, practices and procedures leading to a higher than acceptable level of taxpayer complaints from BME customers.
To share the findings, we assembled a strategic workshop attended by regional managers with responsibility for principal work streams to share the results. The workshop reviewed the issues unearthed during the research phase of the project, looking at how they affected service delivery and had links to customer satisfaction and compliance levels. The review led to wide ranging discussions covering alternative policies, updated practices and procedures, and developed ways to measure improvements. As a consequence, new wide ranging ethnicity neutral policies, practices, and procedures were created.

Delivering the changes to the customer-facing staff
To communicate the new procedures, practices, and measurements, we developed a thorough and participative training course for the front line staff. The course focussed on:
• The rationale behind the new and updated policies and practices.
• The alterations themselves, with opportunities to fully discuss them.
• How they would lead to improved service delivery to BME customers.
• Reduction in complaints and why this would benefit customers – and staff.
By concentrating on bringing out the benefits of the new policies to staff and customers alike, and concentrating on involving the staff during the course development and delivery, we also received and incorporated several employee suggestions that resulted in several further improvements.

Evaluation
Results and Benefits
Following delivery of the updated training course, with its focus on equality proofing, the Wales and West Midlands Region noted fewer complaints of unfair treatment were received. There was a measurable increase in compliance from taxpayers in the Region.

For More Information
For more information about Equalities Associates, our products and services, call us at [+44 (0) 1234 881 213
To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: http://www.equalitiesassociates.com.
For more information, call Elizabeth Walker at +44 (0) 1234 881 213 or email us at info@equalitiesassociates.com
© 2006 Equalities Associates. All rights reserved.
This case study is for informational purposes only.
EQUALITIES ASSOCIATES MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.

Equalities training that "wins hearts and minds"
Date Published: September 25, 2006

Summary

A NHS Primary Care Trust Training Manager was receiving numerous complaints from staff attending equality/diversity seminars. An analysis indicated the problem centered on trainer delivery style and programme content. The resultant research indicated a need for a more adult-based approach and subsequent programme changes resulted in greater participation and satisfaction.

Customer Profile

The Primary Care Trust was located in a shire county with relatively few visible minorities. Hence, staff had little or no experience with the issues of equality and diversity. However, whilst ethnicity was not a major issue, staff were concerned with gender, disability, age, and sexual orientation issues. In addition, managers had little or no experience in the handling of equalities complaints, and felt "de-skilled" when confronting discrimination complaints.

Problem and context

Knowledge of equality and diversity was low, and the two areas that seemed to be causing difficulty were programme content, and delivery style. Research to blend the training contents with specific concerns had not been carried out, and recipients were unable to see the relevance of the information being transferred. The learning structure was one way and did not win participants involvement and interest. The training style was also clearly not winning delegate hearts and minds, frustrating the programme’s effectiveness.

Objectives

These were threefold. Understand and determine the nature of the problems, research and test solutions, and determine acceptability through discussions and a pilot seminar.

Equalities Associates Solution

Firstly, research was required to identify exactly what problems were being encountered. Equalities Associates conducted a desk audit of the PCT’s Equal Opportunity Policy objectives to ensure accurate and relevant information would be imparted in future training sessions. Next, Equalities Associates conducted focus group sessions with a representative number of staff to identify specific concerns and knowledge gaps.

The resultant information was used to devise new core curricula. A change was made in how the program should be delivered. This time, a participant centered approach was adopted in order to win the support of staff for the training. In addition, a comprehensive evaluation programme was implemented to ensure timely feedback was obtained and acted on. Changes were then fed back into the programme to maximize its relevance.

To avoid any lingering assumptions and validate the programme, a pilot seminar was conducted using Equalities Associates revolutionary Seminar Performance System. Responses indicated recipients were much more supportive of the changed format.

Subsequent seminar feedback confirmed the acceptance of changes, and significant improvement was noted in all areas of evaluation.

Required		Activity
Research the problem		Desk audit & focus group session
Restructure the course		New curricula devised, pilot course trialled
Improve participant learning		Increased participation practices, measured results

Evaluation, Results and Benefits

Both the pilot seminar and subsequent seminar feedback using the Seminar Performance System confirmed acceptance of the changes, and significant improvement was noted in seminar feedback sheets. In addition, participant knowledge gain noted in pre and post-training, revealed a 10-25% increase in each equality area.

Focus group discussions indicated a concomitant increase in staff perceptions of their ability to handle equality issues, and the organization noted a decrease in the number of equality complaints and a significant increase in satisfaction rates on staff attitude surveys.

For More Information

For more information about Equalities Associates, our products and services, call us at [+44 (0) 1234 881 213
To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: http://www.[equalitiesassociates.com
For more information, call Elizabeth Walker at +44 (0) 1234 881 213 or email us at info@equalitiesassociates.com

© 2005 Equalities Associates. All rights reserved.

This case study is for informational purposes only.
EQUALITIES ASSOCIATES MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.