Updated: Tuesday 10:54am, September 24th 2024
We have been thinking deeply about how culture enables us to achieve our mission, and how only by constantly evolving, reflecting and responding to the needs of those we serve can we truly be fit for purpose
Since I began my tenure as Chief Executive, I've often spoken of us becoming a foundation of not for social entrepreneurs, and yet we had not done the work of understanding how to make this happen, including whether we were reaching out to, making space for and enabling the leaders who are at the heart of our mission.
Over the past six months we have taken part in an in-depth equity audit and reflection examining the ways and degree to which our organisation is creating belonging, and becoming an organisation that embodies diversity, equity and inclusion. It was critical here that we not only used data but also reached out to past and present colleagues to hear directly from them about their experience of UnLtd. It was also important for us to understand how far we still had to go, to benefit from guidance on how we get there and to be clear on what to prioritise. I want to personally thank everyone who shared their experiences and confirm that we are acting on what you've told us.
The final report shares the process and findings of the audit, and our plan to respond to it. It clearly demonstrates that there have been bias and harmful behaviours and that we have made mistakes. We - I - also own the uncomfortable reality that our Black colleagues, in particular, have experienced microaggressions, racism and feeling that they did not belong, accompanied with a pressure to assimilate to fit into a white normative culture.
We are addressing these issues with urgency, while recognising the long-term and deep-seated nature of the systemic and structural barriers we need to tackle. We know we need to fundamentally change our working culture and rebuild a deep level of trust with our people.
If we are successful in our plan, we believe that we will begin to lead with belonging, and in so doing we will be challenging preconceived ideas of what success looks like. It is a long road ahead, and we will be sharing our learning with you regularly, so as to be properly accountable and make reparations for the injustice we have enabled. We anticipate that the next update will be in six months to give us time to embed change and progress. If you have any reflections based on our plans, I would welcome the opportunity to speak with you. Please reach out to me at marknorbury@unltd.org.uk. Mark Norbury, CEO.
In the last 3 years, we have shifted the dial on our actions regarding equitable funding and support. We no longer categorise communities as 'hard to reach,' we've deepened our understanding of the importance of lived experience for social entrepreneurs, and are proactively working in paid partnerships with Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Disabled members of the social enterprise community to ensure 50% of our funding and support reaches communities that we have historically under-served.
However, we had not turned our attention on ourselves, and as a result had not understood or addressed the challenges experienced by our staff team as a result of our actions, systems and behaviours.
Our actions, systems and behaviours have contributed to racial inequity and other unfairness, impacting on the experiences and progression of our employees, and the way we work with social entrepreneurs.
We had to confront this history and needed a thorough understanding of the experiences of employees across the organisation, with a particular focus on past and present team members identifying as Black, Asian or any Ethnic minority, and their journey at UnLtd.
We knew our approach needed a balance of data and stories to highlight where we've fallen short. We needed tools and support to take an active anti-racist and anti-discriminatory approach, recognising changes in behaviour and culture as equally important to systems and processes. We needed clarity on the changes we all had to make to ensure everyone at UnLtd feels included and belongs, with clear analysis of where we are and where we want to be.
We commissioned Inclusive Recruitment to undertake an independent audit of areas that could foster inequitable, unfair, or discriminatory treatment and behaviours within UnLtd. The overarching focus of the audit was to identify areas of concern, and build UnLtd's understanding of these areas, so they could be addressed.
Qualitative and quantitative data were used, including demographic data, surveys and facilitated listening sessions with current staff and leavers from the past 5 years.
This report describes the findings of the Equity Audit, and UnLtd's commitments and actions to address areas of inequity, discrimination, and prejudice.
The profile of staff at UnLtd is as follows:
The audit found that UnLtd's highest profile of employee is heterosexual female, aged 30-39, from any white background with no disability, a profile which has been fairly dominant for 5 years. Year on year, the percentage of white recruits is double compared to other ethnicities.
The next highest profiles represented are Asian ethnicity (17% of the organisation), and 40-49 years (32%) in age group.
An area of high concern is the experience of Black employees - they are the least often recruited, the highest proportion of leavers, and have the lowest tenure of any ethnic group.
The audit has shown that the recruitment process is inconsistent throughout UnLtd, with 28% of current employees thinking their experience was not inclusive. This covers issues such as accessibility, requiring standard cover letter and CVs, and missed opportunities for creating inclusive interviews.
Across UnLtd, a 'normative' culture has been created that excludes those who fall outside it.
Dominant behaviours are described as extrovert, present, available, working long hours and working at speed. There is a perception that they are favoured, rewarded, and recognised more than others.
The leadership team exhibit behaviours not conducive to belonging, for example, changing at speed and not creating enough space for employees or the organisation to catch up.
The combination of the majority profiles - outlined above in Finding #1 - with the work culture and expectations set by UnLtd's leadership team has formed a narrow normative culture for staff.
Under this culture, employees who identify outside of the majority profiles - such as LGBTQIA+, Black, Disabled, under 30 , and over 50 - can find it challenging and difficult to bring their whole selves to work. This results in employees feeling that they don't belong and fosters feelings of exclusion, both socially and professionally.
This normative culture means 22% of current employees feel UnLtd does not allow for open expression of ideas, opinions and belief without consequence. UnLtd should be authentic and open about which subjects are open to critical analysis to further our collective understanding, and which subjects are not open to debate.
The current staff did comment that they see a positive shift in organisational culture. This relative improvement is a good step, but not enough to address the challenges identified.
The majority profile and dominant culture also feeds into an environment where discrimination is not challenged adequately, and this lack of challenge creates a perpetual cycle of bias.
For Black colleagues, this includes consistent microaggressions - such as being called the name of another Black colleague - and Black men having the lowest length of service, and experiencing particular difficulty in fitting into the organisation.
When discrimination has been reported, the handling has been poor and lacking in established process and management training.
The discrimination includes an ethnicity pay gap, which was identified and rectified in 2020. Black and Asian employees with similar lengths of service in the same role were being paid on average 14% and 9% less than white counterparts. There should be no pay gap for people on grounds of their identity - while female employees are the majority, male employees are paid more.
Bias also appears in recruitment, finding that all white panels are less likely than diverse panels to recruit candidates identifying with minority profiles.
Understanding equity in an employee's life cycle is challenging when data are collected and recorded in different systems in different ways. Gathering data for the equity audit was difficult as data were often incomplete. Data on disability, religion, sexual orientation, and intersectionality for example were mostly missing, which impacted the ability to effectively understand experiences of these groups of people.
The systems also aggregate data related to ethnicity, which perpetuates a lack of understanding on the differences between ethnicities and the intersectional experiences of staff.
Pure statistical data isn't enough though, and anecdotal insight and lived experience is just as valuable and necessary. Much of the data for the audit was collected through listening sessions, conducted within peer identity groups. These spaces were powerful and offered psychologically safe environments to give honest feedback.
Data enables us to identify problem areas, but not root causes. Ongoing discussion, reflection and listening sessions will be required to build that understanding.
The findings show that we have allowed a culture at UnLtd that has enabled microaggressions, discrimination and racism, and unconscious bias to occur and go unchallenged.
These findings have uncovered dynamics and privilege that have been not easily visible to individuals in the organisation and has been difficult and uncomfortable to receive.
It is a priority for UnLtd to be an organisation where staff can bring their whole selves to work. We take full responsibility for the disappointing fact that we haven't created that environment for everyone. To ensure the most vulnerable and marginalised feel safe and supported at work, we will be making changes in our culture and behaviours, as well as systems and processes.
With clear insight into the issues, we are now better placed to take action on creating an equitable work environment. We have shifted how we approach our work, and will continue to be transparent with our staff, social entrepreneurs, and supporters about what we are doing, and what we are learning.
A key point on our ongoing equity journey is tackling the root causes of the issues raised in this report, so that we can become an organisation where everyone can flourish and feel that they belong.
The report recommendations have been grouped into 4 areas, which are shared below, alongside the actions already taken and future commitments for the next 24 months.
This journey is of critical importance to us. As we continue, we will be unapologetic in our encouragement of others to join us in the necessary work of being anti-racist, anti-discriminatory, and leading with equity.
The four areas guiding our recommended actions are:
Each pillar is focussed on what needs to be done internally and externally, and are outlined in detail below.
We've established an Equity Diversity Inclusion & Belonging (EDIB) steering group, which includes UnLtd trustees. Our EDIB plans and priorities have oversight from the UnLtd Board, with quarterly reviews of progress. Our Board and all Board Committees now have social entrepreneurs appointed to them. We are also developing guidance and training for EDIB ambassadors throughout UnLtd, and planning to roll it out.
Our aim is that 100% of all governance groups, grant and investment decisions involve social entrepreneurs.
We have an inclusion goal, aiming to distribute 50%+ of awards and support to entrepreneurs from marginalised communities. We will maintain this focus, and build on it with other actions, such as actively engaging social entrepreneurs from marginalised groups in outreach, assessment, award-making panels, and design of UnLtd's support offer. We will require all social entrepreneurs on our new investment fund to collect and report on equity and inclusion data. Finally, we will work with partners to acknowledge structural barriers and sign up to an Inclusion Charter.
At the end of each financial year, we will analyse the gender and ethnicity pay gap within the organisation to foster equity. Annually, we will also monitor and analyse the workforce diversity and demographics, while also reviewing the integration of equity, diversity, and inclusion into all management practices and processes. We will strengthen the breadth and depth of the data we have about our employees to monitor EDI issues. Data collection methods will be tested and established with social entrepreneurs, to be more equitable and inclusive.
We will annually address existing pay gaps for gender and ethnicity and share wider relevant workforce data.
We will proactively and publicly take a clear anti-racist and anti-discrimination stance, seeking to shift sector practice, with a specific focus around investment. Our communications, publications, and events will actively highlight social entrepreneurs from minoritised communities in an authentic and inclusive way. Inclusion and accessibility will be the standard across our events and in all future digital content.
We are reviewing our values through an EDI lens to help shape and deliver culture change and foster the behaviours we want to see. We have established an inclusive learning curriculum covering microaggressions, unconscious bias, allyship, power and privilege, with an ecosystem of learning and an online learning centre built with mandatory and voluntary training.
We have group development sessions underway for our leadership team, and a continuous learning and affinity group running for Black colleagues. Our all-staff Huddles have regular inclusion sessions for all staff to engage in EDIB strategy, planning and learning.
Our aim is that 85% of staff who do not identify with the majority profile at UnLtd, recommend UnLtd as a place to work.
Our commitment is that our EDIB plan is publicly shared to ensure accountability, and share learning with partners, funders and social entrepreneurs in a timely and transparent way.
Our recruitment will be improved to be consciously more inclusive. This includes investing more in attracting diverse candidates to UnLtd, with a particular focus on individuals who identify as Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQIA+. We will advertise through recruiters with explicit diversity focus and continue to be explicit about our values in the job description, advert copy and person specifications.
All interview panels will be intentionally diverse in experience, perspective and demographic profiles. We will scope out requirements for new e-Recruitment technology, which we will customise, test, implement and roll out to HR as well as organisation-wide training. We will build inclusion competence and capabilities of hiring managers to view the process through an inclusive lens, including mandatory inclusive recruitment training.
Our aim is to increase candidate conversation rates in recruitment so that our staff profile aligns with London population benchmarks, with a particular focus on individuals who identify as Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQIA+ groups.
These commitments and pillars will be rolled out as part of our core work, not in addition to it. We will be integrating these EDIB commitments into our delivery plan and organisational performance measures. We will report publicly on progress against these commitments every six months, starting in October 2021. We know that we've still got a lot to learn. If you would like to join us on our journey or tell us how we can improve, please get in touch at hr@unltd.org.uk.