Name of best practice
The Stonewall Workplace Equality Index
Entity
(Type of entity implementing the initiative)
Charitable Organisation – offering a charter mark for employers to opt-in to and receive a score based on their submission and action plan
Purpose
The Workplace Equality Index is branded as the UK’s leading benchmarking tool for LGBT inclusion in the work place.
Employers conduct a self-assessment of their organisation against 10 criteria domains and are scored. In addition to the self-assessment, employers are required to prepare an ‘action plan’ of how they will improve them polices, culture and practice to promote LGBT inclusion. The top 100 employers are ranked and published to highlight their success.
Target
(youth LGBTI+, adult LGBTI+, schools, labour market)
Labour Market
Kind of intervention
5. Other (voluntary self-assessment by employers against 10 criteria domains of LGBT inclusion in the workplace)
Objectives
The aim of the workplace equality index is for employers and organisations to conduct a review of their performance across 10 domains (policies & benefits; employee lifecycle; LGBT employee network groups; allies and role models; senior leadership; monitoring; procurement; community engagement; clients, customers and service users; additional work). Organisations that submit are required to have their employees take part in an anonymous survey to assess their experiences, knowledge and perceptions of their employer)
Description of the implementation
Since launched in 2005, the workplace equality index has received c.400 – 500 submissions from employer organisations in the UK per year. The applying organisation is required to submit an application where it self-assesses itself against the 10 criteria domains and to have employees complete an anonymous survey to help triangulate the self-assessment with employees experiences.
Resources needed to implementation
Subscription fee (unknown, but substantial) to undertake self-assessment and subscribe to work place equality scheme
Staff to prepare self-assessment and develop, implement and monitor progress against the action plan
Results of implementation
Each year, the workplace equality index publicly publishes a list of the top 100 employers and these organisations are then eligible to advertise their ranking within this index on their promotional, recruitment and advertising materials. Inclusion on the index has become a coveted ‘chartermark’ for employers across industries (including the civil service, public health service, universities, financial institutions, the military, private/public companies). It is regarded as the gold-standard in external evaluations of an employer’s commitment to LGBT inclusion in the workplace
Facilitators
Serve as a baseline to measure the current state of organizations and to be able to create plans for equality and non-discrimination
Social mobilization demanding an advancement of the rights of the LGBTQ+ population
Barriers
Failure to identify benefits for the organization
Specific human and financial resources for this purpose
Reference website of Best Practice: The Stonewall Workplace Equality Index: Website