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Cambridge City Council

Bronze award for council from the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion

26 October 2023

Cambridge City Council has been awarded bronze at the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (ENEI) annual Talent Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation (TIDE) awards, which were celebrated at a ceremony last week (on 18 October).

There were over 170 entries from ENEI member organisations across the UK. 16 gold, 43 silver and 44 bronze awards were given to organisations ranking highly on ENEI’s Talent, Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation (TIDE) Benchmark. The scoring is awarded based on eight categories including Your Workforce, Strategy and Plan, Leadership and Accountability, Recruitment and Attraction, Training and Development, Communication and Engagement, Procurement, and Other Employment Practices.

The categories the council scored especially highly on were Your Workforce (77%) and Recruitment and Attraction (76%). Some areas of work relating to these categories and the other six categories that supported the nomination include:

  • Annual equalities monitoring work: the council monitors multiple categories to identify where groups are under-represented or disadvantaged in employment, including attrition and turnover, and the recruitment cycle at different stages. Workforce diversity is also benchmarked against demographic data about who lives in Cambridge.
  • The council has taken action to identify and reduce bias in the recruitment process by reviewing job descriptions, person specifications and related guidance, to ensure they only include relevant criteria.
  • Improved retention rates over the last year for employees from diverse groups, and increased diversity in the workforce relating to recruitment.
  • The number of employees who have attended training related to equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging in the last year; and provision of education and advice programmes on employee wellbeing.

Robert Pollock, Chief Executive, said: “It’s fantastic to join the ranks of other organisations across the UK who are working, with the support of ENEI, to make our workplaces more equitable - where people of all characteristics are celebrated and included. It’s a process of continuously improving, challenging ourselves and engaging openly with staff at all levels. We can’t be complacent, and we have more work to do to better reflect the diversity of the people we serve in Cambridge.

“We are actively working on how best to encourage and facilitate two-way conversations with staff about equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB), and looking for opportunities to improve our internal communications. As well as the positives, the ENEI assessment identified areas where we can and should do better. These will be picked up as we develop our new People and Culture strategy.”