Be Kind Movement Equality and Diversity Policy

Aims

Be Kind Movement has been established with the aim of building emotional intelligence skills in children and your people through the education of kindness.

Diversity

Our charity welcomes individuals from all origins and walks of life. Our core activities and initiatives meet the needs of our key beneficiaries (children and young people) and indirect beneficiaries (staff at educational establishments).

Be Kind Movement is committed to treating all people equally and with respect irrespective of their age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic or otherwise offensive and inflammatory remarks and behaviours are not acceptable. These constitute harassment and will not be tolerated within the charity.

Discrimination

Be Kind Movement does not discriminate against or harass people including current and former employees or volunteers, job applicants, beneficiaries, partners, customers, suppliers and visitors. This applies within the workplace, and on work-related trips or events including social events.

The following forms of discrimination are prohibited under this policy and are unlawful:

  • Direct discrimination: treating someone less favourably because of a Protected Characteristic;

  • Indirect discrimination: applies to everyone but adversely affects people with a particular Protected Characteristic more than others, and is not justified;

  • Harassment: includes sexual harassment and other unwanted conduct related to a Protected Characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating someone's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them;

  • Victimisation: retaliation against someone who has complained or has supported someone else's complaint about discrimination or harassment;

  • Disability discrimination: direct and indirect discrimination, any unjustified less favourable treatment because of the effects of a disability, and failure to make reasonable adjustments to alleviate disadvantages caused by a disability.

RECRUITMENT

Recruitment, promotion, and other selection exercises such as redundancy selection will be conducted based on merit, against objective criteria that avoid discrimination. Our recruitment procedures are reviewed regularly to ensure that individuals are treated equally based on their relevant merits and abilities.

Vacancies generally are advertised to a diverse section of the labour market through digital platforms, and avoid stereotyping or using wording that may actively discourage particular groups from applying.

We take steps to ensure that our vacancies are advertised to a diverse labour market and, where relevant, to particular groups that have been identified as disadvantaged or underrepresented in our organisation.

Interview questions are designed to elicit responses based on merit, qualification and skills, and without intention to discriminate on grounds of a Protected Characteristic.

Job applicants are not asked questions relating to their health or disability before a job offer is made. Limited exceptions include but not limited to:

  • Questions necessary to establish if an applicant can perform an intrinsic part of the job (subject to any reasonable adjustments).

  • Questions to establish if an applicant is fit to attend an assessment or any reasonable adjustments that may be needed at interview or assessment.

  • Questions to enable positive action.

  • Questions relating to equal opportunities monitoring (which will not form part of the selection or decision-making process).

 Where necessary, job offers can be made conditional on a satisfactory medical check.

 Working in the UK

We are required by law to ensure that all employees are legally entitled to work in the UK. Assumptions about immigration status are not made based on appearance or apparent nationality. All prospective employees, regardless of nationality, must be able to produce original documents (such as a passport or driving license) before employment or volunteering starts, to satisfy current immigration legislation. The list of acceptable documents is available from UK Visas and Immigration. 

Monitoring

To ensure that this policy is operating effectively, and to identify groups that may be underrepresented or disadvantaged within our organisation, we may choose to monitor applicants, the following: ethnic group, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion and age as part of the recruitment procedure.

Provision of this information is not mandatory, and it will not adversely affect an individual's chances of recruitment or any other decision related to their employment. Furthermore, this information is removed from applications before shortlisting and kept in an anonymised format solely for the purposes stated in this policy. Analysing this data helps us take appropriate steps to avoid discrimination and improve equality and diversity within our organisation. 

Disability

If you are disabled or become disabled, we encourage you to tell us about your condition as soon as possible so that we can support you as appropriate.

 If you experience difficulties at work because of your disability, you may wish to contact Be Kind Movement to discuss any reasonable adjustments that would help overcome or minimise the difficulty. Be Kind Movement may wish to consult with you and your medical adviser about possible adjustments. We will consider the matter carefully and try to accommodate your needs within reason. If we consider a particular adjustment would not be reasonable, we will explain our reasons and try to find an alternative solution where possible.

Be Kind Movement do not currently have physical premises and all work is undertaken remotely. In future, should we have physical premises, we will monitor the physical features of our premises to consider whether they might place anyone with a disability at a substantial disadvantage. Where necessary, we will take reasonable steps to improve access

Dealing with discrimination

We take a strict approach to breaches of this policy,  and will deal with it in accordance with our Disciplinary Procedure. Serious cases of deliberate discrimination may amount to gross misconduct and will result in direct dismissal.

Be Kind Movement does not tolerate victimisation or retaliation against staff who complain about discrimination. However, making a false allegation deliberately, and in bad faith will be treated as misconduct and dealt with under our Disciplinary Procedure.

Review

Policy reviewed: 16th July 2020

To be reviewed every [XX] years by [XX]

 

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