Workforce Equalities Report 2021 to 2022

Fair and inclusive place to work 

This report meets our obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty within the Equality Act 2010.  More importantly, it evidences the progress we are making towards being a fairer and more inclusive place to work.  This report helps to identify successes from the actions we have taken and also provides recommendations for future work. 

The council’s Fair & Inclusive Action Plan (FIAP) was co-created in 2019, in response to a review carried out by external consultants, Global HPO.

Read the council’s Fair & Inclusive Action Plan. 

All the fair and inclusive work we do is in collaboration and agreement with a range of stakeholders from across the organisation and at all levels.  We use both quantitative data (numbers) and qualitative data (words) to ensure we can identify issues and successes as accurately as possible.  We use our staff survey and feedback from the trade unions and employee networks about the lived experiences of staff to help us make decisions and prioritise our workforce actions. 

Hybrid working and continued impacts of coronavirus 

In 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, staff working in a huge number of our services moved rapidly to being based at home, rather than in the office. No-one could have predicted that this would continue into 2021 and beyond.  The council has had to understand the impact of this on its workforce and one of the ways we did this is by including specific questions in the 2021 staff survey. 

We shared results from the staff survey with our Corporate Equality Delivery Group and our staff networks to ensure that the findings were consistent with what forum members were telling them.  In particular, the new ways of working had highlighted accessibility issues for some of our assistive technology users and the Disabled Workers and Carers Network has been able to help us identify actions in a new IT&D Accessibility workstream.  Going forward, the council must ensure hybrid working meets the needs of its diverse workforce and customers. 

Data-driven interventions and ongoing collaboration 

As economic pressures increase not just in Brighton & Hove but across the UK, we will continue to review our progress regularly and ensure the actions we take are effective and maximise impact. 

We maintain trusting relationships with key stakeholders across the organisation and collaborate with them to prioritise the most important actions to take.  In future, we plan to be able to take an intersectional approach to analysing our data to co-create meaningful, positive change. 

The composition of our workforce 

• The council continues to steadily increase the percentage of employees identifying as Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and White Other within the workforce but these groups are not proportionately represented when compared with the city’s economically active population 
• BME and White Other staff are not proportionately represented in the middle and upper pay bands and are more likely to be employed at Scales 1 - 6   
• The percentage of BME and White Other applicants for council jobs was higher than the local economically active population, at 21% and 16% respectively.  However, both groups remain less successful at being shortlisted and hired when compared with White British applicants 
• The percentage of disabled staff within the council workforce exceeds the target figure, but they are not proportionately represented in the upper pay band 
• Less than 8% of staff are aged under 30; almost 15% of staff are aged 60 and over  
• LGBTQ+ staff are proportionately represented at all levels 
• Female employees continue to do well at the council. In 2022 the council published a negative gender pay gap.  On average, females are paid 7.9% more than males 
• There is a higher percentage of female staff than male staff on all contract types and across all pay bands. This has been the case for more than five years and is likely to be a reason for the council’s negative gender pay gap 
• Around 35% of the council’s total workforce are employed in part-time roles.  Of the part-time workforce, 80.7% are female and 19.3% are male  
• Men are under-represented in the council’s whole workforce (42.4%) when compared with the local economically active population (53.6%)  
• 46% of all staff have been employed by the council for 10 years or more 
• 6.7% of staff with 10 or more years’ service are from BME backgrounds 
• The proportion of BME staff on permanent contracts has increased for the last four years.  However, the percentage of BME staff on temporary contracts is higher than their proportion in the workforce 
• In 2021/22, 12.2% of all new starters identified as BME, 14.6% as White Other and 10% as disabled 
• This is compared with 10% of leavers who identified as BME, 11.6% as White Other and 10% as disabled.   

The experiences of our workforce

• Disabled staff (20.5%) are much more likely to have been subject to attendance management procedures when compared with their percentage in the workforce (8.3%) 
• LGBTQ+ staff were slightly more likely (18%) to be subject to attendance management procedures than their percentage of the workforce (14.3%) 
• 84.2% of staff subject to disciplinary procedures are male 
• Staff identifying as BME (11.6%), disabled (12.5%) and male (84.2%) were more likely to be subject to disciplinary procedures compared with their proportion of the workforce (8.6%, 8.3% and 42.4% respectively) 
• 2828 staff completed the 2021 staff survey (see Appendix III) 
• A new index ‘Current Situation’ was added which consisted of five statements relating to staff experiences during the pandemic  
• Results showed a 7% increase in positive responses to the statement ‘the organisation feels like a fair and inclusive place to work’  
• When comparing against the whole council workforce, survey results found the following: 
• Staff identifying as Black/Black British (49 responses), of mixed ethnicity (71 responses), disabled (264 responses) or bisexual (119 responses) were less likely to agree the organisation feels like a fair and inclusive place to work  
• Disabled staff responded more negatively to all indices yet there was an overall increase in positive responses compared with 2019 
• Staff of mixed ethnicity responded more negatively to all indices except Wellbeing, where responses were the same 
• Staff who identify as Other sexual orientation (47 responses) responded more negatively to all indices except Managing Change and Current Situation 
• Jewish staff (21 responses) responded more negatively to all indices except Current Situation 
• Staff who identify as Black/Black British, of mixed ethnicity, disabled, bisexual, male (972 responses), or as Other sexual orientation are less likely to agree their performance development plan (PDP) review is held in a meaningful way  
• Muslim (22 responses), Christian (637 responses) and female staff (1637 responses) responded more positively to all of the indices 

All figures reported are based on known data at 31 March 2022. Figures do not include staff employed within schools.   

In 2021-22, Accountability & Consequences workstream activity included the following: 

• Implementing the new Attendance Management Policy  
• Delivering specialist equalities training for HR Advisory Service and investigating managers 
• Implementing the restorative approach to reported cases of racism  
• HR Advisory Service holding regular meetings to discuss cases of racism 
• Promoting the council’s virtual Fair and Inclusive Team online and via stickers in City Environment vehicles 
• Continuing to deliver Anti-racism and White privilege training 
• Appointing an Industrial Relations Manager 
• Moving the mandatory fair and inclusive briefings into council induction programme 
• Communications team supporting member equality leads to champion their work on relevant equalities issues 

Our data shows that: 

• Compared with 2019, there was a 3% increase in positive responses to the Fair and Inclusive index in the 2021 staff survey  
• Staff identifying as Black/Black British, of mixed ethnicity, disabled and bisexual are less likely to agree the organisation feels like a fair and inclusive place to work  
• 69% of staff responded positively to the statement ‘I believe the organisation takes the issues of bullying, harassment and discrimination seriously’ 
• Staff who are male, disabled, bisexual, lesbian or Other sexual orientation, Black/Black British, of mixed ethnicity or Other ethnic group, aged under 25 and employed in the middle pay band are less likely to believe the council takes the issues of bullying, harassment and discrimination seriously  
• Of 65 disciplinary cases reported, 13 were related to discrimination: race/ethnicity (8), gender (2), age (2), disability (1) 
• Similar to 2020-21, staff identifying as BME (11.6%), disabled (12.5%) and male (84.2%) are more likely to be subject to disciplinary procedures compared with their proportion of the workforce.  However, the small amount of known data we have for ethnicity (43 cases) and disability (40 cases) means it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from this dataset  
• The total number of attendance management cases in 2021-22 was 295, compared with 197 in 2020-21 
• 20.5% of staff involved in attendance management procedures identify as disabled.   This is an increase of 4.6% since 2020-21 and is much higher than their percentage in the workforce  
• LGBTQ+ staff (18%) were also more likely to be subject to attendance management procedures when compared with their proportion of the workforce 
• BME (4.2%) and White Other staff (8.0%) were less likely to be subject to attendance management procedures when compared with their proportion of the workforce 

Recommendations for 2022-23 include the following: 

• Evaluate the impact of specialist equalities training 
• Hold facilitated ‘Improving Practice’ workshops with the Disabled Workers and Carers Network steering group and HR Advisory managers  
• Hold regular workshops with the BME Workers’ Forum to maintain trusted working relationships developed through ‘Informing Practice’ workshops 
• Continue with regular discrimination casework review meetings 
• Review casework data collection 

In 2021-22, Learning & Development workstream activity included the following: 

• Using 2021 service-level staff survey responses to the fair and inclusive questions to identify and implement further targeted interventions, such as Anti-racism and White privilege training 
• Refreshing PDP documents to enable meaningful career conversations 
• Launching a Diverse Talent programme to support BME staff to progress 
• Increasing the disability-related training offer, including ‘disability in the workplace for managers and staff’, ‘neurodiversity in the workplace’, ‘creating accessible content’ and ‘D/deaf awareness’ 
• Coaching and mentoring offer available to all staff 
• Delivering interview skills workshops, ‘making the most of your 121s’, and ‘planning your career’ training 
• Offered access to the Black and Asian Leadership Initiative (BALI) external development programmes to social care staff 
• Delivering active bystander and racial microaggressions training 
• Delivering fair & inclusive sessions to the Leadership Network 
• Increasing fair and inclusive resources and eLearning offer to include ‘intersectionality’ and ‘allyship’  
• Carrying out data analysis to identify inequalities in staff accessing training  

Our data shows that: 

• Male staff are less likely to access training  
• Staff who are male, whose gender identity is different from the sex they were registered at birth, who are Black/Black British, of mixed ethnicity, disabled or aged over 55 are less likely to believe they have opportunities to grow and develop 
• Staff who identify as Black/Black British, of mixed ethnicity, disabled, bisexual, male, or as Other sexual orientation are less likely to agree their performance development plan (PDP) review is held in a meaningful way  

Recommendations for 2022-23 include the following: 

• Develop training to improve awareness and language related to gender identity and sexual orientation 
• Increase specific disability-related training such as Blind awareness 
• Provide development to Managers Network to deliver fair and inclusive aims, including information about the importance of PDPs for some staff groups 
• Develop a menu of ‘stretch assignments’ to provide opportunities to staff who are not proportionately represented in the middle and upper pay bands 
• Develop training to support delivery of the Anti-racism and Accessible City strategies 
• Review mandatory induction briefings 

In 2021-22, Recruitment, Retention & Progression workstream activity included the following: 

• Commitment to ethnically diverse panels for all roles graded M8 and above  
• HR Diversity Recruitment Consultant delivered a range of actions, including 
• Updating jobs pages on external website to improve accessibility, including conversion of information to html format; ensuring our processes are clear to applicants with every job advert having links to supporting guidance  
• Targeted social media advertising of vacancies to professional networks and local community newsletters where relevant 
• Bespoke support of 94 recruitments  
• 8 inclusive recruitment surgeries for 23 recruiting managers  
• 15 ‘Working at BHCC’ insight programmes for diverse talent attended by 111 delegates.  Sessions included stand-alone workshops as well as course modules for city partners including Voices in Exile who work with refugees and migrants and the council’s Adult Education Hub who deliver Next Steps programmes for ESOL learners  
• Working with our City Employment & Skills Team to create content for virtual work experience and increase pre-employment opportunities  
• Produced and updated guidance to support recruiting managers, including: writing inclusive job adverts, ethnically diverse panels, candidate assessment forms, shortlisting and giving constructive feedback to unsuccessful candidates 
• Presence at online Universities careers fairs and Job Centre Plus jobs fairs with support from recruiting managers including Social Work, Sustainability, Housing and Building Surveyors  
• Implemented a new process to check compliance with recruitment training 
• Implementation of the IT&D accessibility workstream to address issues identified by disabled staff including assistive technology users 

Our data shows that: 

• 74% of all managers who recruited had completed the mandatory recruitment and selection training 
• The percentage of recruiting managers who completed recruitment training following notification of non-compliance was 56%, against a target of 100% 
• BME and White Other applicants are less likely than White British and White Irish applicants to be interviewed or hired 
• Overall, disabled applicants are slightly more successful at being shortlisted and hired than applicants who tell us they do not have a disability 
• The exception is for vacancies graded M8 and above.  For those roles, disabled applicants are less likely to be made offers than applicants who are not disabled  
• The percentage of BME, White Other, disabled and LGBTQ+ staff on secondment is higher than their proportion in the workforce  
• BME staff accessed acting up opportunities at a higher rate than their percentage in the workforce 
• Disabled staff accessed acting up opportunities at a much lower rate (2.7%) than their percentage in the workforce (8.3%) 
• Of the staff who achieved promotion in 2021-22, 9.6% identify as BME and 9.6% as White Other; this is higher than their proportions in the workforce 
• The percentage of disabled and LGBTQ+ staff gaining promotions remained at a similar level to 2020-21.  However, it is at a lower rate than their current workforce profiles  
• Staff aged under 30, who are disabled, LGBTQ+ or are from BME or White Other backgrounds left the organisation at a higher rate than their proportion in the workforce 
• 12.2% of all new starters identified as BME, 14.6% as White Other and 10% as disabled 
• This is compared with 10% of leavers who identified as BME, 11.6% as White Other and 10% as disabled.   

Recommendations for 2022-23 include the following: 

• Focus on senior recruitment and progression, including career pathways for existing staff and review of processes  
• Conduct a ‘deeper-dive’ analysis of recruitment data to identify ongoing barriers for BME and White Other applicants   
• Develop bitesize inclusive recruitment sessions to support managers with specific stages of the recruitment process 
• Develop guidance on how to write effective shortlisting questions 
• Review current policies for secondments and the extension of acting ups 
• Resume attendance at in-person jobs fairs 
• Work with the City Employment & Skills team to support and engage young people at the Youth Employment Hub  

Table 1: Numbers of staff by ethnic origin

Table 2: Numbers of staff by sexual orientation 

Table 3: Numbers of staff by disability

Table 4: Numbers of staff by age 

Table 5: Numbers of staff by religion

Table 6: Percentage of the workforce in each pay band and contract type by protected characteristics 

Table 7: Staff survey index names and scores  

Table 8: Recruitment data by ethnicity 

All applicants for all vacancies 

Table 9: Recruitment data by gender 

All Applicants for all vacancies 

Table 10: Recruitment data by sexual orientation 

All Applicants for all vacancies 

Table 11: Recruitment data by disability

All Applicants for all vacancies 

Table 12: Recruitment data by type of disability

Applicants with detailed disability info for all vacancies