Author: Shaun Williams, Executive Director of Engagement and Advancement
There was no UEB meeting last week due to the Easter closure, so no blog last week.
Today’s UEB started with a quarterly meeting of the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Committee, on which all UEB members sit. There was a very good conversation about how the University could become a more inclusive employer. Is the best route to achieving a genuinely inclusive organisation signing up to various kite marks and charters with the aim of improving gender equality, race equality and our approach to other protected characteristics*, as we currently do? Or is there a risk that, although this certainly demonstrates a commitment, raises awareness and results in some improvements, it does not necessarily embed enduring behavioural and cultural change, and to ensure this we would need to adopt an approach which ensures all protected characteristics are addressed by a fully inclusive approach?
It was agreed that it was the right moment for the organisation to develop a more integrated Diversity and Inclusion strategy, and a business case to support its development will now be written and submitted to the 10-Year Plan Board for consideration.
The Committee also noted the results of the recent Employee Diversity survey, covering questions relating to the Race Equality Charter and Athena Swan. There was a 42 per cent response rate, which is considered a high response for a survey of this nature. Overall, the survey’s results suggest that ethnic and gender profile do not appear to be a key factor in attracting people to work at the University, and that generally, people feel they are treated fairly in relation to ethnicity and gender. The full report will be cascaded to the Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team to consider next steps, and will be used by the Race Equality Charter working group when they next formally convene. Further work with our internal partners will be required more fully to understand the results.
The Committee also noted the draft 2018 Equal Pay Review. The University is committed to equal pay for work of equal value, founded on a reward system which is transparent, free from bias and based on objective criteria. Equal pay reporting is concerned with identifying and eliminating unjustified inequalities between the pay of specific groups of people performing equivalent work. The review, which will be published later in the year, concludes overall that there are no significant equal pay gaps (using the Equality and Human Rights Commission definition of that term) by gender, ethnicity or disability within our pay grades. Alongside this, as recently reported, there remains an overall gender pay gap at the University. Gender pay gap reporting differs from equal pay reporting in that it measures the difference between the average pay of all men and all women working for us, irrespective of their job role or seniority, and our gender pay gap reflects the significant gender differences of occupations across the University and the lower representation of women at higher pay grades.
The main item for the UEB meeting itself was discussion of a proposed new Managing People Through Change toolkit, prepared by HR. This is in direct response to concerns raised by staff that, like most organisations, we can at times struggle to deliver and embed change, and that we can lack consistency in our approach. This toolkit will provide guidance and resources to support managers in managing and engaging their people more effectively and consistently, through a major or minor process of change. UEB strongly supported this initiative, which will now be shared with our unions.
UEB also considered a paper on Post-Brexit Immigration and Reimbursement of Visa Costs. UEB is acutely conscious of the impact on our EU staff and students of the continuing uncertainty around Brexit. We already support new employees from outside the EU with their visa application costs, and have provided support and information for EU employees applying to the EU Settlement Scheme. As the Brexit situation evolves, we will consider whether any additional support measures may be appropriate ahead.
As part of a regular analysis of other universities, there was an analysis of the strategy and performance of Lancaster University, currently led by our future President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mark E. Smith. UEB noted Lancaster has successfully maintained its top 10 Guardian position over the last five years, in large part due to improvements in its National Student Survey scores.
Finally, a noting of the Council meeting agenda for 15 May, which will include the annual report on Health and Safety, and Professor Mark Spearing, President and Vice-Chancellor (Interim), reported that he and the Chairman had met last week with Ruby Wax, who starts as our new Chancellor on 1 May, and is looking forward to getting more involved over the coming months.
*Protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 are: age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation.