MAKE THE EQUALITY CITY CARDIFF COMMITMENT

Equality City Business Pledge

Making Cardiff a city that affords everyone the same opportunities, unlocks the full benefits of inclusion and is free from all forms of discrimination.  

By signing this pledge, businesses in Cardiff:

·      Show their support for equality, diversity and inclusion

·      Recognise the important role that business can play, in partnership with others, to build a truly inclusive city

·      Commit to taking action to ensure their workplaces are inclusive and diverse

Equality City is a FOR Cardiff project which aims to culturally embed the concept and understanding of equality and diversity into working practices across the city, and support action towards wider changes in policy, planning and the public realm in relation to city life.

An Equality Driven Cardiff:

·      Is a city that is free from all forms of discrimination, affords everyone the same opportunities and is one in which all those living and working in the city feel seen, heard and valued

·      Is a city where there is fair and equitable representation among decision-makers, where equality is at the heart of all decision-making and where everyone has agency over their lives and the decisions that affect them

·      Is a happy, safe and healthy place to live, work and socialise for all

No single actor can make this vision a reality, but we can all play our part. As business owners and employers we can have a direct impact on those who work for us, those who use our services and the environment around us.

Equality and inclusion are not just social issues. The economic and business benefits have been well publicised. Greater gender equality could add over £13bn to Wales’ economy, businesses with diverse staff and leaders have been shown to be more successful and workplaces that embrace equality see lower rates of sickness absence and staff turnover. It’s simply good business to ensure that we’re benefitting from the widest possible talent pool and making our products and services attractive and accessible to as many people as possible.

Each pledge from a Cardiff business contributes to a more inclusive organisation and a more inclusive city.

Equality City Pledge Commitments

Effective workplace policies and strategies

 ·      Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy

·      Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

·      Discrimination and Harassment Policy

·      Flexible Working Policy

·      Proactive and transparent salary advertisement

Recording and reviewing the diversity of the workforce

·      EDI data collected during recruitment and onboarding

·      Calculating gender pay gap

·      Calculating ethnicity pay gap

·      Calculating disability pay gap   

Embedding an inclusive culture

·      Staff training on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

·      Tackling bias in recruitment

·      Recruitment and promotion processes regularly reviewed to ensure they are free from bias

·      Senior level sponsor or champion for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion 

Annually report on their pledge commitments to measure and share progress

The number of commitments we ask signatories to sign up to depends on business size and level of autonomy for decisions at a local level.

Which commitments should I sign up for?

We know that businesses in Cardiff are at different stages in their equality, diversity and inclusion journey. The Equality City Pledge is designed to enable business leaders to opt in for the commitments that are best suited to them, taking into account factors such as business size, existing legal and statutory requirements and level of local autonomy over decisions regarding workplace practice. 

As such, we are asking employers to make commitments based on the following:

-       Fewer than 10 employees: have an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion policy and sign up to at least two other commitments

-       11-50 employees: have an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion policy and sign up to at least three other commitments

-       51-249 employees: have an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion policy and sign up to at least four other commitments including one from each section of the pledge

-       250+ employees: have an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion policy and sign up to at least six commitments including one from each section of the pledge and gender pay gap reporting

-       Local branches*: sign up to all the commitments from the inclusive culture section

* This pledge is for local branches of larger organisations that are not empowered to make policy changes

Download the full Equality City Toolkit here.