As a housing association with a social purpose, we are taking proactive steps to be a positive example of equality, diversity and inclusion best practice within our communities and the wider sector.
We are committed to being fair and inclusive, supporting diversity and providing inclusion for all of our customers, colleagues and stakeholders.
True diversity means representation of different races, abilities, genders, orientations, backgrounds and experiences – everyone should have a voice.
Our colleague network groups help us deliver our ambition to be a more inclusive organisation. The groups, which focus on three areas - race, gender and sexuality, and disability – support our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion group to deliver positive change across the organisation.
As we are celebrating Pride Month throughout June, we want to highlight the work of our Sexuality and Gender Equality (SAGE) group.
Our SAGE group work to improve colleague understanding and awareness of LGBTQ+ issues. They are key in helping us promote and maintain equality, diversity and inclusion, particularly around sexuality and gender.
The group have helped implement several policies, promoting greater inclusion for colleagues from the LGBTQ+ community.
One policy, which we were proud to implement last year, is around our approach to gender transitioning at work.
The process of transitioning genders is a big change. We want our colleagues to know we are here to support them through anything relating to their or their immediate family members' transition.
We are proud to be one of the few organisations in the UK to commit to supporting colleagues and their immediate family with gender transitioning. We are also one of the first organisations to include paid leave to support our colleagues during the process.
Our gender transitioning leave runs alongside our other family leave which includes maternity and paternity leave for people who give birth and the partners of people who give birth, as well as adoption leave, surrogacy leave, and assisted conception leave. We also offer shared parental leave for colleagues who wish to choose how to share the care of their child during the first year of birth or adoption.
By providing more varied, flexible alternatives to traditional maternity leave, we hope to support a more diverse range of colleagues and their families, promoting greater inclusion for all colleagues.
The SAGE group have also helped us promote inclusion at LiveWest by educating colleagues on pronouns and gender privilege. We encourage and support colleagues to add their pronouns to their email signature, if they are comfortable doing so.
The group explain that sharing your pronouns tells everyone you come across that you won't assume their gender. It is a simple step that cisgender people can take to normalise discussions about gender and help non-binary and transgender colleagues and customers feel seen and recognised.
Letting people know how we identify eliminates any confusion and minimises the chance of anyone being misgendered or ‘outed’.
We are committed to being inclusive of all gender identities at LiveWest and by sharing our pronouns we are working towards creating a safe workspace, so everyone can be their whole self at work with no need to hide any part of themselves.
We hope to continue improving equality, diversity and inclusion at LiveWest, ensuring all our colleagues feel valued and supported.
You can find out more about the SAGE group on our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion page.
To find out more about what it’s like to work at LiveWest, visit our Careers page.