NHS Grampian Staff Equalities Network – Speak Up Week 2024
“Why an inclusive workplace is vital for a ‘Speak Up’ culture to flourish”
As the saying goes, “if you don’t think that representation is important, you’re probably already well represented’ and for many of us it’s probably hard to imagine what it feels like to not see people like us reflected in certain areas of society or our institutions. Notably, under-representation most often exists where decision making takes place, resulting in a negative impact for those who are not part of the conversation and can lead to not all things being created equally.
For example, thanks to national policy, most of us can take for granted that Christmas and Easter will be a Public Holiday, and as such, there will be measures in place to compensate those who need to work. For those with a different religious or cultural celebrations, such as Eid or Diwali, there will be no public holiday nor compensation, and those colleagues will likely need to use annual leave to spend time with loved ones at this special time, and in this way may be disadvantaged as a result.
This is one example we can all empathise with, but when decisions or policies repeatedly result in certain groups of people having less ‘advantage’ than others, it can leave our colleagues feeling marginalised. In addition, unconscious bias can compound this by negatively impacting our assessments of people, especially when it comes to decisions around recruitment, career development and even disciplinary processes. Evidently, unconscious bias towards someone’s disability, gender, ethnic or cultural background can lead to unintentional exclusion, but by being aware of this, we all have the opportunity to make a difference right now, today!
We know that diversity in teams and organisations encourages creativity through the wide range of skills, views and perspectives it can harness, and this can only be a good thing for our organisation. When people experience their work in this way, they will be more likely to feel valued and safe, and therefore more confident to ‘Speak Up’ knowing they will be listened to and supported.
Recognising the importance of diversity in leadership and decision making roles is one of the key ambitions of the NHS Grampian Staff Equalities Network. In August 2022, as part of a recruitment round for Non-Executive Board Members, NHS Grampian undertook a progressive and creative approach, embedding a range positive actions in to the recruitment process, particularly inviting shortlist candidates from a diverse range of backgrounds and lived experience.
“Positive action is a lawful means of addressing inequality and disadvantage for groups of people who share a protected characteristic. Positive action should be proportionate action that aims to reduce disadvantage, meet different needs and increase participation”
The inclusive approach taken has been recognised by the Ethical Standards Commissioner and a good practice case study of this work is available to read here. The ambitions of this approach were realised in the successful appointment of Hussein Patwa to the NHS Grampian Board on 19th June 2023.
We know that greater diversity in decision making and leadership roles will support our organisation to be more inclusive, a place where people can bring their authenticity and make their best contribution. In this kind of environment we will all feel more confident to speak up about things that need to be challenged, or when things don’t feel right. But more importantly we will be better able to ‘listen-up‘ which requires the growth and maturity we must all practice, but can only be realised when every contribution truly matters.
The Staff Equalities Network is now delighted to welcome Non Executive Board Member Hussein Patwa to our meeting taking place on Wednesday 20th November, 2-3 pm on MS Teams. During the session, Hussein will speak with us about how the approach impacted the experience from his perspective and the difference that the positive actions can make.
If you would like to join our Staff Equalities Network or would like the link for this session, please email gram.staffequalities@nhs.scot
Everyone is welcome
Published: 13/09/2024 11:30