Improvements and priorities

• There is a high level of agreement with all the suggested priority actions (more than 70%) to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
• There is a very low level of disagreement with any of the actions listed (6% or less). Around a quarter of respondents are neutral about the idea of employment fairs specifically for council jobs
• When asked to choose their top priority 27% of respondents choose ‘promoting opportunities for participation in public life to all’
• A further 24% choose ‘ensuring all policies and procedures meet the diverse needs of our current and future employees’

This chart shows that:
60% of respondents strongly agree that ‘ensure all our policies and procedures meet the diverse needs of our current and future employees’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
24% of respondents somewhat agree that ‘ensure all our policies and procedures meet the diverse needs of our current and future employees’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
15% of respondents neither agree not disagree that ‘ensure all our policies and procedures meet the diverse needs of our current and future employees’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
1% of respondents somewhat disagree that ‘ensure all our policies and procedures meet the diverse needs of our current and future employees’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
1% of respondents strongly disagree that ‘ensure all our policies and procedures meet the diverse needs of our current and future employees’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
54% of respondents strongly agree that ‘understand micro-aggressions and their impact on colleagues ’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
31% of respondents somewhat agree that ‘understand micro-aggressions and their impact on colleagues ’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
10% of respondents neither agree not disagree that ‘understand micro-aggressions and their impact on colleagues ’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
4% of respondents somewhat disagree that ‘understand micro-aggressions and their impact on colleagues ’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
1% of respondents strongly disagree that ‘understand micro-aggressions and their impact on colleagues ’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
53% of respondents strongly agree that ‘promote opportunities for participation in public life to all’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
32% of respondents somewhat agree that ‘promote opportunities for participation in public life to all ’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
14% of respondents neither agree not disagree that ‘promote opportunities for participation in public life to all ’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
1% of respondents somewhat disagree that ‘promote opportunities for participation in public life to all ’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
1% of respondents strongly disagree that ‘promote opportunities for participation in public life to all ’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
49% of respondents strongly agree that ‘research and identify ways to provide specific support for underrepresented groups, especially related to progression (promotion)’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
30% of respondents somewhat agree that ‘research and identify ways to provide specific support for underrepresented groups, especially related to progression (promotion)’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
15% of respondents neither agree not disagree that ‘research and identify ways to provide specific support for underrepresented groups, especially related to progression (promotion)’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
4% of respondents somewhat disagree that ‘research and identify ways to provide specific support for underrepresented groups, especially related to progression (promotion)’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
2% of respondents strongly disagree that ‘research and identify ways to provide specific support for underrepresented groups, especially related to progression (promotion) ’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
28% of respondents strongly agree that ‘set up employment fairs specifically for jobs at the council’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
44% of respondents somewhat agree that ‘set up employment fairs specifically for jobs at the council ’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
24% of respondents neither agree not disagree that ‘set up employment fairs specifically for jobs at the council’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
3% of respondents somewhat disagree that ‘set up employment fairs specifically for jobs at the council ’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life
1% of respondents strongly disagree that ‘set up employment fairs specifically for jobs at the council’ should be prioritized to improve equal access to job opportunities and encourage diversity in public life

This chart shows that:
27% of respondents would choose ‘promote opportunities for participation in public life to all’ as their top priority
24% of respondents would choose ‘Ensure all our policies and procedures meet the diverse needs of our current and future employees’
19% of respondents would choose ‘Research and identify ways to provide specific support for underrepresented groups, especially related to progression (promotion)’
17% of respondents would choose ‘understand micro-aggressions and their impact on colleagues’
13% of respondents would choose ‘set up employment fairs specifically for jobs at council’

What would encourage you to be more involved and consider working for the council?

Top level ideas

• Monitor diversity and improve representation at all levels. People in roles with ‘lived experience’ of the challenges facing the customers they serve
• Have ambassadors for sections of the community with protected characteristics who could encourage more participation or applications from those groups
• Consider applying a Diversity Code (like football’s FA) to embed diversity within an organisation’s workforce

Practical steps

• Improve the job advertising so it reflects a diverse workforce and uses simple language
• Create more motivating recruitment campaigns to combat negative perceptions amongst younger people
• Pay expenses and provide free parking for voluntary roles (not just at councillor level)
• Make it clear what adjustments or options are available for those who need them e.g. job share, time-off for frequent health appointments or ill health, alternative IT/software
• Simplify the application process for lower level roles
• Blind recruitment with names, age and sex removed from application forms when passed through from HR to the hiring team
• Assisted transport policies to help disabled accessibility