Workforce Equalities Report 2022 to 2023

Fair and inclusive place to work

The council’s Fair & Inclusive Action Plan (FIAP) was co-created in 2019.

Read our Fair & Inclusive Action Plan.

We collaborate with a range of stakeholders from across the organisation and at all levels to agree our fair and inclusive priorities. 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.

This report meets our obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty within the Equality Act 2010 and evidences the progress we are making towards being a fairer and more inclusive place to work. 

The report identifies successes from the actions we have taken already and provides recommendations for future work.

New ways of working in a changing environment

Like other councils and businesses across the UK, we’ve developed our ways of working flexibly and some of our staff now work in a hybrid way. Attracting diverse talent is a priority for the council and flexible working remains an important incentive for many applicants. We will continue to develop our ways of working as well as our recruitment strategy to overcome issues in recruiting, retain our diverse workforce and work together better for the city.

In 2022 to 2023, although pandemic restrictions were scaled back, the council continued to operate in an environment of constant, unpredictable change. Economic pressures remained high in our city and for local government across the UK. 

More than ever, our relationships with stakeholders across the organisation are crucial so that we continue to collaborate and prioritise the most important actions to take. We will review our progress regularly and ensure that any actions are effective, maximise impact and use our resources as efficiently as possible.

Terminology

We recognise that terminology and language is evolving continuously. The terminology used to report our workforce data reflects language used by and agreed with our employee networks.

We are committed to continuing our learning as language changes over time. However, we understand that views differ and not all people will feel comfortable with the same language. 

Census 2021 data was published in late 2022. Office for National Statistics states that “caution should be applied when using these figures for planning and policy purposes”, as the 2021 Census was conducted in a period of unparalleled and rapid change.

Our corporate workforce profile targets now reflect the latest economically active population data for the city and the 2022-23 data below is reported against the new targets.

The table below shows changes in our workforce diversity since last year as well as progress since the Fair and Inclusive Action Plan was implemented in April 2019.

All figures reported are based on known data at 31 March 2023.  Figures do not include staff employed within schools. 

Table 1: 1-year and 4-year changes to BHCC workforce profile 

The data label LGBTQ+ has been agreed with our LGBTQ+ Workers Forum.  Please note the figures reported include sexual orientation data only and not data relating to gender.

The composition of our workforce 

• LGBTQ+ staff are more than proportionately represented in all pay bands when compared with 2021 Census data 
• Disabled staff are now under-represented in all pay bands when compared with 2021 Census data.  They are more likely to be employed in lower and middle pay bands than in the upper pay band 
• The Mean (average) disability pay gap in hourly pay is 5.3%
• Although representation of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and White Other staff within the council is increasing at a faster rate than the city’s local economically active population (see Appendix II), these groups are not proportionately represented when compared with 2021 Census data.  They are also more likely to be employed in the lower pay band than in the middle and upper pay bands
• The Mean (average) ethnicity pay gap in hourly pay is 4.8%. This is a decrease of 1.3% on the previous year
• Men remain under-represented in all pay bands when compared with 2021 Census data.  They are more likely to be employed in the lower pay band than in the middle and upper pay bands
• Women continue to do well at the council.  There are more women than men on all contract types and across all pay bands. This has been a trend for more than six years and is likely to be a reason for the council’s 2023 negative gender pay gap
• The Mean (average) gender pay gap in hourly pay is -6.5%. This means on average females are paid more than males  
• Around 35% of the council’s total workforce are employed in part-time roles.  Of the part-time workforce, approximately 80% are female and 20% are male 
• 15.6% of all new starters identified as BME, 12.5% as White Other and 8.9% as disabled.  This is compared with 8.2% of leavers who identified as BME, 9.3% as White Other and 9.3% as disabled
• 44% of all staff have been employed by the council for 10 years or more
• 7% of staff with 10 or more years’ service are from BME backgrounds.  This compares with 16% of staff with 2 or less years’ service from BME backgrounds
• The proportion of BME staff on permanent contracts has increased for the last five years, but the percentage of BME staff on temporary contracts remains higher than their percentage in the workforce
• Less than 8% of staff are aged under 30; almost 16% of staff are aged 60 and over 
• BME females are more likely to be employed at M8 and above than BME males.  This reflects data for all female staff
• 29.5% of LGBTQ+ staff tell us they have a disability
• There are no BME staff who also tell us they have a disability employed at M8 and above 

The experiences of our workforce

We conduct a staff survey every two years and results from the 2021 staff survey were published in the 2021 to 2022 workforce equalities report.

The 2023 staff survey will show our latest progress and relevant results will be reported in the 2023 to 2024 workforce equalities report.

Headlines from the 2021 staff survey included:

• Results showed a 7% increase in positive responses to the statement ‘the organisation feels like a fair and inclusive place to work’, compared with 2019
• 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 
  • Although they responded less positively to all indices, there was an overall increase in positive responses from our disabled staff compared with 2019.  This indicates an improving picture
  • 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  

2022 to 23 casework data shows that: 

• disabled staff (11.5%) were more likely to have been subject to attendance management procedures when compared with their percentage in the workforce
• LGBTQ+ staff (17.8%) and male staff (52.5%) were also more likely to be subject to attendance management procedures when compared with their percentage in the workforce
• BME (11.3%), disabled (14%), LGBTQ+ (18.8%), male (64%) and White Other (11.3%) staff were more likely to be subject to disciplinary procedures compared with their percentage the workforce 

2022 to 23 Recruitment, Retention & Progression workstream activity included: 

• Commissioning an external review of senior recruitment and progression in a continued focus on diversifying the workforce at M8 and above
• Commencing review of secondment and additional payments policies including review of staff on 2+ years’ temporary arrangements 
• Hosting 4 x 8-week summer placements for Sussex Uni Career Labs interns
• HR Diversity Recruitment Consultant delivered a range of actions, including:
  • Resuming attendance at in-person jobs fairs including Ex-Offenders, Universities and Jobs Centre events
  • Developing and delivering bitesize inclusive recruitment sessions
  • Developing inclusive shortlisting questions guidance
  • Updating BHCC jobs pages 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 
  • Bespoke support of 67 recruitments 
  • Delivering 13 inclusive recruitment surgeries for 20 recruiting managers 
  • Delivering 14 ‘Working at BHCC’ insight programmes for 53 delegates  
  • Working with our City Employment & Skills Team to create content for virtual work experience and increase pre-employment opportunities 
  • Simplification of TribePad recruitment system and updating Recruitment & Induction Toolkit
  • Updating Disability Confident scheme ‘Offer of an Interview’ guidance  

Recruitment data shows that:

• Disabled, female and LGBTQ+ applicants are more successful at being shortlisted and hired than the benchmark rate.  This is a 3-year trend for disabled applicants and a 5+ years’ trend for female and LGBTQ+ applicants
• We continue to attract a higher percentage of BME and White Other applicants than to be expected when compared with the local economically active population (26.4% and 16.2% respectively)
• BME applicants are less likely than White British, White Irish and White Other applicants to be interviewed or hired.  This has been a trend for 5+ years
• A higher number of applicants (682) gave detail about their type of disability or health condition, than the number of applicants (533) who described themselves as disabled 

Retention data for under-represented staff in the workforce shows that:

• 15.6% of all new starters identified as BME, 8.9% as disabled, 45.4% as male, 12.5% as White Other and 28.3% aged under 30
• This is compared with 8.2% of leavers who identified as BME, 9.3% as disabled, 47% as male, 9.3% as White Other and 22.5% aged under 30
• Staff aged under 30, who are disabled, LGBTQ+, male and White Other backgrounds left the organisation at a higher rate than their percentage in the workforce 

Progression data shows that:

• Disabled, female, LGBTQ+ and White Other staff gained promotions at a higher rate than their proportion in the workforce (10.6%, 58.4%, 21.1% and 10.9% respectively)
• BME staff (9.5%) gained promotions roughly in line with their workforce profile 
• Bucking a 4-year positive trend, in 2022-23 BME staff were less likely to be seconded (6.2%) or to be in acting up arrangements (5.6%) when compared with their percentage in the workforce
• Disabled, LGBTQ+, male and White Other staff were also in acting up arrangements at a lower rate than their percentage in the workforce (5.0%, 12.4%, 38.7% and 4.0% respectively) in 2022-23 

Recommendations for 2023 to 24:

• Implement recommendations from the external review of senior recruitment and progression 
• Implement agreed changes to the secondment and additional payments policies
• Conduct a ‘deeper-dive’ analysis of recruitment data to understand ongoing barriers for BME applicants  
• Explore recruitment data for applicants who define their type of disability or long term health condition but do not state they are disabled 
• Explore the experiences of staff in accessing workplace adjustments 
• Work with the City Employment & Skills team to raise employer brand and engage applicants from diverse communities across the city

2022 to 23 Case study: Senior recruitment

Following a recommendation in the 2021 to 22 workforce equalities report, BHCC focussed on inclusive recruitment to roles graded M8 and above. At 31 March 2022, 6.9% of staff employed in the upper pay band were from BME backgrounds, 4.2% were from White Other backgrounds and 6.3% were disabled.  Actions taken to increase diversity included: 

• All recruitment to M8 and above roles supported by HR Business Partners​ and/or the HR Recruitment Consultant for Diverse Talent
• Ethnically diverse panels for M8 and above​
• Updating the senior recruitment guide for HR Business Partners
• Improving senior recruitment packs ​
• Where recruitment was led by an agency, used those that provided evidence for achieving diverse long lists
• Critical friend feedback on our recruitment process from a senior Black leader (NHS partner) following their active involvement in Health & Adult Social Care recruitment  

At 31 March 2023, we saw increases in representation as follows: 8.6% of staff employed in the upper pay band are from BME backgrounds, 5.4% are from White Other backgrounds and 6.7% are disabled.  

2022-23 Learning & Development workstream activity included:

• Continuing to use service-level 2021 staff survey responses and workforce profile data to identify development gaps and target fair and inclusive development initiatives
• Delivering the following training to support inclusion: 
  • disability, neurodiversity, mental health, sight loss and D/deaf awareness; creating accessible content and introduction to IT accessibility; racial awareness, racial microaggressions and active bystander training
• Refreshing our EDI eLearning offer, including new gender matters and trans and non-binary awareness
• Updating Personal Development Plan (PDP) documents to ensure pertinent career conversations
• Offer of 360o feedback report to all managers for use with end of year PDPs
• Updating new manager induction to include inclusive recruitment practice
• Delivering a Bi-awareness raising session to our Managers Network on International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia 
• Evaluating the pilot Diverse Talent programme to support BME staff to progress and commissioning a second Diverse Talent programme
• Offering access to the ’Reaching New Heights’ external development programme for BME social care staff
• Coaching and mentoring offer available to all staff
• Delivering interview skills workshops, ‘making the most of your 121s’, and ‘planning your career’ training 

In 2022 to 23, the council’s learning management system provider went into liquidation.  The council very quickly implemented temporary systems to deliver learning and development.  At the same time the council sourced a provider for a new permanent learning management system.  Although this meant some human resource was reallocated, the council was still able to provide the above fair and inclusive learning and development offer to staff. 

Our 2021 staff survey data showed that:

• 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 2023 to 24 include the following:

• Develop our approach to fair and inclusive learning in collaboration with our EDI team, to support delivery of the Anti-racism and Accessible City strategies, including case study learning and an EDI resource hub
• Deliver a Future Leaders Diverse Talent programme
• Deliver a second Diverse Talent programme, following evaluation of the pilot
• Develop a menu of ‘stretch assignments’ to provide opportunities to staff who are not proportionately represented in the middle and upper pay bands

2022 to 23 Case study: Diverse Talent Programme

The council’s Fair and Inclusive Action Plan includes the activity: ‘deliver corporate positive action learning and development programmes for under-represented groups, using data analysis to ensure positive action is applied and communicated transparently across the organisation’.   

At 31 March 2022 our data showed that BME and White Other staff were under-represented in roles graded SO1/2 and above.  Working with colleagues in our BME Workers Forum we commissioned a pilot development programme for diverse talent, which was implemented as follows:

• Applications were invited from staff eligible to join the BME Workers Forum and employed in roles graded 3 to 6 
• A half-day career planning workshop was attended by staff who were interested in applying so they could decide whether the programme was right for them
• 15 staff participated in the 6-month programme 
• All staff who took part were allocated a sponsor from the Leadership Network
• 8 of the participants were promoted either during the programme or within 12 months of the programme ending
• All participants said the programme had increased their confidence in the workplace
• Comprehensive evaluation of the programme was conducted with participants and their sponsors to inform future initiatives 

2022-23, Accountability and Consequences workstream activity included:

• Embedding the restorative approach to reported cases of racism 
• Using specialist equalities-trained investigating managers for relevant cases
• HR Advisory Service holding regular meetings to discuss cases of racism
• Delivery of Industrial Relations training to line managers by the Industrial Relations Manager 
• Updating council and manager induction
• Updating casework management processes
• Commencing review of the council’s Dignity & Respect at Work policy 

The 2021 staff survey showed that that:

• 69% of staff responded positively to the statement ‘I believe the organisation takes the issues of bullying, harassment and discrimination seriously’

2022 to 23 casework data shows that:

• Of 69 disciplinary cases, 13 were related to a protected characteristic: disability (3); race/ethnicity (4), gender (6)
• 40.6% of disciplinary cases were in the Economy, Environment & Culture directorate
• Staff identifying as BME (11.3%), disabled (14%), LGBTQ+ (18.8%), male (64%) and White Other (11.3%) were more likely to be subject to disciplinary procedures compared with their proportion of the workforce.  However, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from this dataset due to the small amount of known data we have for disability (50 cases), ethnicity (53 cases) and sexual orientation (48 cases)
• The total number of attendance management cases recorded in 2022-23 was 101, compared with 295 in 2021-22
• 11.5% of staff involved in attendance management procedures identify as disabled.   This is a decrease from 20.5% in 2021-22 although is higher than their percentage in the workforce.  LGBTQ+ staff (17.8%) and male staff (52.5%) were also more likely to be subject to attendance management procedures when compared with their proportion of the workforce
• BME (8.5%) and White Other staff (6.1%) were less likely to be subject to attendance management procedures when compared with their proportion of the workforce 

Recommendations for 2023-24 include the following:

• Develop the restorative approach to racism guidance to include all types of discrimination 
• Develop the regular racism casework review meetings to explore all discrimination and from an intersectional perspective where relevant
• Review casework data collection
• Update the Dignity & Respect at Work Policy, including consideration of an anonymous reporting tool
• Improve the data reporting system for casework management 

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: Pace of change

Table 7: Workforce profile changes from 31 March 2014 to 2023

Table 8: Percentage of the workforce in each pay band and contract type by protected characteristics

Table 9: Recruitment data by ethnicity

All applicants for all vacancies

Table 10: Recruitment data by gender

All Applicants for all vacancies

Table 11: Recruitment data by sexual orientation

All Applicants for all vacancies

Table 12: Recruitment data by disability

All Applicants for all vacancies

Table 13: Recruitment data by type of disability

Applicants with detailed disability info for all vacancies