This policy applies to all Evri employees, casual workers, agency workers, recruitment applicants and contractors (collectively referred to as employees). It does not form part of any person's terms and conditions of employment and can at any time be reviewed and changed at the organisation’s discretion.
This document supersedes all prior equality and diversity policies and procedures.
Evri is committed to promoting equality and diversity and promoting a culture that actively values difference and recognises that people from different backgrounds and experiences can bring valuable insights to the workplace and enhance the way we work. Evri aims to be an inclusive organisation, where diversity is valued, respected and built upon, with ability to recruit and retain a diverse workforce.
Evri is also committed to compliance with relevant equality legislation, including (but not limited to) the Equality Act 2010, Codes of Practice and relevant best practice guidance. This policy pursues and builds on the statutory position to ensure effective policies and practice of promoting equality. Evri aims to proactively tackle discrimination or disadvantage and aims to ensure that no individual or group is directly or indirectly discriminated against for any reason with regard to employment or accessing its services.
Equality can be described as breaking down barriers, eliminating discrimination and ensuring equal treatment, opportunity and access for all, which is supported and protected by legislation. Diversity can be described as celebrating differences and valuing everyone. Each person is an individual with visible and non-visible differences and by respecting this everyone can feel valued for their contributions which is beneficial not only for the individual but for Evri.
Evri is committed to ensuring that:
All Evri's employees will be treated fairly in an environment which is also free from any form of discrimination with regard to: caring responsibilities, part-time or fixed term employment, membership or non-membership of a trade union or spent convictions.
Evri will not tolerate processes, attitudes and behaviour that amounts to unlawful discrimination. The following forms of discrimination are prohibited under this policy and are unlawful:
Discrimination because someone associates with someone that has a protected characteristic is also prohibited.
Evri recognises the importance of monitoring, reviewing and reporting on its equality and diversity policy and practice and to measure progress in meeting our policy statement.
As an employer committed to diversity and equality Evri recognises its success depends on creating a working environment which supports the diverse make-up of its employees with supporting policies and procedures to create a framework of balance.
The company is committed to helping its employees fulfill their potential at work whilst finding the right work/life balance by offering flexible working hours and opportunities to job share where appropriate.
Evri has a framework of policies, such as Flexible Working, Additional Leave and Career Break policies, to help employees understand their options to ensure the correct work life balance.
Evri undertakes monitoring that not only meets statutory requirements but also aims for best practice. This is used to inform and improve our employment practices. If, through monitoring, any discrimination is identified, the company will take corrective action to eliminate it.
Evri takes all complaints, including those relating to equality and diversity issues, very seriously and has a grievance and disciplinary policy in place to deal with such matters. Please refer to these policies for further details. If you believe that you have suffered discrimination you should raise the matter in accordance with our grievance procedure.
Evri aims to be an employer of choice and through its People Strategy aims to ensure its workforce can make a valuable contribution while ensuring we support our workforce’s health and well-being in the workplace.
All employees have a responsibility to guard against any form of discrimination and avoid any action which goes against the terms or spirit of this policy. Therefore all employees must ensure that there is no discrimination in any of their decisions or behaviour. All employees must:
Evri will not tolerate any behaviour that breaches our equality and diversity policy and any such breaches will be regarded as misconduct that will be dealt with in accordance with our disciplinary procedure. Serious breaches, such as unlawful discrimination, harassment or victimisation on grounds of a protected characteristic, may amount to gross misconduct and lead to dismissal from employment without notice.
This policy should be read in conjunction with the Bullying & Harassment policy, Disciplinary and Grievance policy and guidelines where appropriate.
This document will be reviewed annually. If there are any changes prompted by legislation or case law, it will be reviewed to ensure compliance.
This policy is owned by Human Resources.
Updated May 2021