North Tyneside Council’s equality work is shaped by its Equality and Diversity Policy and Corporate Equality Objectives and delivered through its Embedding Equality Programme.
The business case for the Authority’s equality work is based upon the latest research and is separate to the ‘moral case’ for equality and diversity, for example to make the organisation more inclusive as it’s the right thing to do.
As a public sector organisation the additional legal duties the Authority is subject to under the public sector equality duty is a key factor in our business case, however research shows that the following internal and external factors are also important.
Internal factors:
- Being an inclusive employer increases the attractiveness of the Authority to potential employees from a diverse background, ensuring we attract the best talent, increasing recruitment and helping with retention.
- Being a diverse and inclusive organisation decreases discrimination and the associated reputational risks. It also supports creativity and fosters a positive image of the organisation among both current and prospective employees. (McKinsey & Co, 2020).
- Having leaders with a strong and visible commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion helps to create an inclusive environment that increases morale, productivity and leads to a more harmonious working environment.
- Organisations with higher gender diversity and/or ethnic and cultural diversity on executive teams are more profitable and outperform competitors.
Critical factors identified in an organisation’s success are a systematic approach to equality, diversity and inclusion, and bold action on inclusion (McKinsey & Co, 2020). Benefits are only achieved if multiple areas are considered, a diverse workforce, equality policies and procedures and an inclusive culture are all required for the benefits of equality work to be felt. This demonstrates the need for the Embedding Equality Programme.
External factors:
- A diverse workforce that understands the needs of its customers/ communities is more likely to develop innovative solutions to the issues its customers/ community faces. This improves relationships with those customers/communities, increasing satisfaction and decreasing complaints and associated negative reputational risk.
The ability to evidence that consideration has been given to equality, diversity and inclusion (including via Equality Impact Assessments) early in policy/project development, reduces the risk of mistakes being made, legal challenges, negative reputational consequences and the need to rectify mistakes later with additional cost.
In summary, embedding equality, in addition to being the right thing to do, makes ‘business sense’ with a range of benefits felt internally and externally.