VIVID signs the Race at Work Charter

Leading housing association VIVID is proud to announce it’s now a signatory of the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter. The signing is part of its ongoing commitment to promoting greater diversity and inclusion within the organisation.

The Race at Work Charter is designed to foster a public commitment to improving outcomes of ethnic minority groups in the workplace. It consists of 5 principles to ensure organisations address the barriers to the recruitment and progression of people within ethnic minority groups.

Organisations, like VIVID, who sign up to the charter commit to: appointing an executive sponsor for race; capturing data and publicising progress; ensuring zero tolerance of harassment and bullying; making equality in the workplace the responsibility of all leaders and managers and taking action that supports ethnic minority career progression.

VIVID is taking proactive action to ensure all sections of society get equal visibility of its vacancies and the opportunity to successfully apply for them and is developing specific training for its recruiting managers to ensure there is no “unconscious bias” in the recruitment process. VIVID also run a diversity and inclusion group, which consists of a diverse and representative group of employees, who are willing to make time to prioritise work in this area, be knowledgeable and open to feedback and be willing to give visibility to diversity and inclusion (across all diversity strands), to help foster a culture of openness, awareness and understanding.

Last year, VIVID also published the findings of its Ethnicity Pay Report. The report highlights the organisation’s commitment to rewarding and paying its staff fairly and its aim to represent ethnicity at all levels across the business, in line with its customer base and local demography.

The outcomes of the report revealed great progress had been made over the last 2 years and that VIVID had closed its ethnicity pay gap by 10 percentage points from 11.8% down to only 1.8%.

Mark Perry, Chief Executive at VIVID, said: “Signing up to the Race at Work Charter means taking practical steps to ensure our workplace is tackling barriers that people within ethnic minority groups face in recruitment. We know that ethnic minorities still face significant disparities in employment and progression and that’s something we need to change to ensure that our organisation is representative of British society today and the communities we serve.

“I want VIVID to be an organisation where all parts of society feel we support them and where all our employees feel they have the opportunity to develop their careers. Signing and delivering on the pledges in the Race at Work Charter is part of this ambition. We’ll be reporting our progress back to Business in the Community in the coming months and look forward to continuing and prioritising our work in this area.”

Sandra Kerr CBE, Race Equality Director at Business in the Community, said: “We would like to thank VIVID for setting out their commitment to being an inclusive and responsible employer. By signing up to the charter they are showing that they aspire to have one of the most inclusive workplaces in the country. Together we can break down barriers in the workplace, raise the aspirations and achievements of talented individuals, and deliver an enormous boost to the long-term economic position of the UK.”

For further information on the Race at Work Charter, please visit: https://www.bitc.org.uk/race/