This Form Sets out the 25 Questions of the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index and Should

SUBMISSIONDOCUMENT 2013

This form sets out the 25 questions of the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index and should be used to complete your submission to the Index. Please indicate for each question which criteria your organisation meets and answer any relevant follow-up questions.

Once complete, this form should be uploaded to our secure online form accessible via. Many questions will contain prompts to submit supporting evidence, which can also be submitted via the secure online form.Please ensure that all evidence is correctly labelled and referenced in your submission.

The deadline forsubmitting to the Workplace Equality Index is Friday14 September 2012. This deadline is final and Stonewall will be unable to accept submissions after that date.

Detailed information on how to fill in the Workplace Equality Index can be found in 'Guidance for Participants' which can be downloaded from the Stonewall website at the address above. If you need further help, please contact the Workplace Team on 020 7593 1868 or email us at

Part A: Your Organisation

Organisation name:

The University of Sheffield

Industry/sector:

HE

Number of employees in the UK:

Staff - 6,110 (2011/2012). Students - 25,805 (2010/2011).

Regional location(s):

UK-wide / London / South East
Cymru / North East / South West
East of England / North West / Yorkshire & the Humber
East Midlands / Scotland / West Midlands

Part B: About You

Name:

Julie Campbell

Job title:

Senior HR Adviser (Equality & Diversity)

Address:

The Arts Tower, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN

Telephone:

0114 22 9144

Email:

Part1: Employee Policy

1. Which of the following do you have in place to tackle discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) staff?
A / Organisation-wide policy that bars discrimination based on, and specifically referring to, sexual orientation
B / Strategy linking equality and diversity for LGB employees to your organisation’s aims and values, including identifiableobjectives or milestones
C / Board or CEO equivalent are accountable for these policies and have reviewed the diversity policy, strategy or action plan
D / We do not have any of the above in place
1A / Provide the relevant sections of your policy below, or a link to the policy:
The University of Sheffield has an institutional equality and diversity strategy - Excellence Through Inclusion (ETI). The drive behind this strategy is to embed equality and diversity into all daily activities, and to support the Univerity's over-arching Mission, Vision and Identity.
Our vision for the ETI is to make a positive difference to the culture of the University and beyond, to create a corporate culture that is inclusive at all levels and in every system and process, and ultimately to create a motivated and diverse university community where staff and students demands the highest standards from each other and work together to maximise the benefits of difference.
Our objectives focus on:
- recruiting and nurturing talent from all backgrounds, which include reaching out to the LGBT community via advertising jobs on the Stonewall Champions website, supporting the Starting Out Guide and distributing it widely, and sponsoring Sheffield Pride where available job vacancies are included on the stall, as are student prospectuses
- to build positive relationships with all stakeholders, both internal and external, and meet their needs and expectations, evidenced by the support the University gives to the LGBT staff network, ongoing and very positive working relationships between Human Resources and the Student Officers, and membership of City wide and regional networks, including LGBT specific networks
Our measures support our commitment to culture change. Our strategy states that we will measure our success by:
- the extent to which we involve and engage people in the implementation of our strategy
- the achievement of a positive and inclusive culture
Absolutely key to our equality and diversity work is our statement that we will work with and listen to people from across the University and beyond, to hear and help them tell the positive stories about what we have achieved already through inclusion and what we should be doing in the future. We are doing this in a number of ways for LGBT staff, students and other stakesholders:
- we have a visible and active LGBT network that includes profiles of staff
(see
- we publicise LGBT staff who have achieved accolades elsewhere;
- we ensure LGBT staff are included in consultations and projects. For example, recent consultations on the strategy and the development of University wide equality objectives were attended by the chairs of both staff and student LGBT networks, plus other LGBT staff, and their comments have directly led to collaborations over Sheffield Pride and filming LGBT staff and students;
- we advertise opportunties to get involved in consultations and projects on a University wide basis, and additionally via the LGBT networks
- we run specific storying projects for LGBT people.
Of particular note are a recent collaborative project between the University's Department of History and Sheffield's Gay Choir 'Out Aloud', to document and showcase LGBT voices from the community, culminating in a multi-media performance which will be shown as part of a city wide, week long celebration incorporating performances, talks, exhibitions and activities on all topics this September, 2012. This is the 'Festival of the Mind', which is open to all and is free. To tie into this, a collaborative film between Human Resouces and the Students Union to hear LGBT voices talking in particular and specifically about the University, about support for them, and about what they would say to their younger selves, will also be launched.
For details of the Storying project with the city, Festival of the Mind, and the staff/student storying collaboration, please see the links below:
-
-
- hr/equality/involved/lgbtnetwork/storyinglgbt-tuos
The ETI strategy can be accessed at:
The staff LGBT pages at:
The student LGBT pages at: and at
To ensure our ETI strategy can be delivered, we have a robust framework of policies and guidance in place. All of our policies are fully inclusive of LGBT people, and the more pertinent ones are listed below.
For staff:
(Paragraph 2)
Code of practice on harrassment:

Harassment - What it is and what to do about it - Section on Sexual Harassment

For students:
(Paragraph 2, 3 and 4).
(Sexual Harassment section, bullet 1).
1B / Describe how LGB equality links to your organisation’s aims and values,indicatinganyobjectives or milestones relating to LGB equality:
The main drivers of the University are encapsulated in our Mission, Vision and Identity, supported by University Strategies such as the Human Resources strategy. Throughout all of these key strategies runs the desire and determination to create a supportive culture where everyone can flourish and reach their potential, and this is reflected time and again in goals, objectives and over-arching statements, aswell as in the activities we undertake to achieve that vision.
We have a number of KPIs driving performance across the business - of particular note are two of our staff related KPIs, which seek improvement in the percentage of staff who are proud of working for the University and percentage of female senior academic staff. The first one is a strong indicator of staff engagement, and in our most recent staff survey (2012) 86% of staff indicated they were proud to work for the University - this is an increase of 8% from the previous staff survey 4 years agoand is also 7 percentage points above the Universities (UK) benchmark norm (the response rate to the survey overall was 11% higher than the last staff survey). The second KPI on female academics is an indication of the University's willingness to set targets against positive action in order to change culture, and we are currently working with the University's Equality and Diversity Board on reviewing our Excellence Through Inclusion strategy, in order to set e&d targets across the University that may impact on these KPIs.
Useful links to the University Strategic Plan 2010-2015 web pages

The opening statement of the 'People' section of how we will manage our resources states:
"All staff, academic and Professional Services, have a role to play in delivering our academic strategy, so it is vital to create an environment where everyone can flourish and succeed.We will continue to promote and develop a culture of excellence, innovation, inclusion, commitment and respect. We will encourage openness and transparency. We will develop a diverse community of highly motivated, fully engaged staff with a strong sense of belonging."
Support for our students (our key stakeholders and customers) states how we will focus on support during "transitions across the student journey, integration into our diverse academic community, student wellbeing, and development of our students’ employability skills."
This is underpinned by a number of our goals:
Goal 3: "Attract and retain the best students, staff and partners." We understand that this can only be done if we have a culture that will attract, grow and engage people from all backgrounds. This is a key theme in our current Equality Objectives project, and is measured by our KPI of percentage of people saying they are proud to work for the University, and a KPI to in increase the percentage of students from low participation neighbourhoods.
Goal 10: "To nurture a community in which equality and diversity contributes positively to student and staff experiences." One of our priorities under this goal is to "Embed equality and diversity values and practices in all we do."
Underpinning our Mission, Vision and Identity are our Guiding Principles:

One of these is the Guiding Principle of 'Working Together'

'Solutions to important problems depend increasingly upon collaboration: between staff and students, across disciplines and in partnership locally, nationally and internationally. We aim to build inclusive teams, maximising the benefits of difference and drawing on the skills and potential of the widest possible range of colleagues' (Paragraph 1).
It is this framework, and the conversations the judges had with staff, students and visitors as they walked around the University, that contributed hugely to the University winning the Times Higher Education University of the Year 2011. See:
The HR team have also won a raft of awards, including runner up in the HR Excellence Awards 2011 for `Best Workplace Diversity Strategy´; Excellence in HR in Higher Education (`Talent Challenge´ category) for the Female Academic Progression work; the Times Higher HR Outstanding team award in 2010; and the UHR (Universities HR) Exceptional HR Achievement Award at the UHR 2012 Annual Conference. This demonstrates the HR team's long term and ongoing commitment to creating a culture and environment where everyone can be themselves and everyone can flourish. The new HR strategy (draft included in the appendices) very clearly illustrates our key drivers of attracting, engaging and growing staff, supported by a culture within which e&d runs throughout.
In addition, the Faculties have all created, or are currently working on e&d action plans, and there is positive work around increasing the numbers of female staff and students in Engineering headed up by Elena Rodriguez-Falcon, one of our most prominent LGBT members of staff and winner of a Northern Light Award. See: in Engineering

1C / When did the board or CEO equivalent last review your equality and diversity policy, strategy or action plan? How are they held accountable for outcomes? Please describe any action(s) taken:
The Equality and Diversity Strategy - 'Excellence Through Inclusion' - was reviewed in 2010, including consultations with staff (including the LGBT Staff Network), local and national organisations, and the University Council Level 'Equality and Diversity Board' (EDB). The resulting strategy, which includes a number of completed action plans (we are working with the remaining areas to develop their plans) went back to the EDB to be agreed (June 2010) and then to the University Council for discussion and to be ratified (July 2010).
In June 2011 the strategy was reviewed again by the EDB, who wanted to take a more active role in developing objectives that would directly contribute to a supportive and inclusive culture and support core University business. This led directly to a consultation meeting in December 2011 with a range of stakeholders - University Council members, members of staff including the Chair of the LGBT staff network and other LGBT staff members, students including Student Officers and the Chair of the LGBT student committee, members of the EDB, members of the University Executive Board, external speakers and guests, and other members of staff.
Please see Appendix 1C(a) for a plan of the Equality Objective Setting Session held in December 2011, and Appendix 1C(b)for the second Equality Objectives Workshop session plan from May 2012.
The role of the EDB is to ensure the equality strategy and related policies are implemented across the University, and to make recommendations to progress equality across the University. They are directly accountable to the University Council. The EDB is chaired by the Pro Vice Chancellor for Science, Professor Tony Ryan, and includes staff, external and student representation from across disciplines, grades and equality groups.


The review meeting in December was the beginning of a University wide project, championed by members of the EDB, to develop business focussed equality objectives. We are working with Simon Fanshawe, founding member of Stonewall and Chair of the University of Sussex Governing Body, to help the team focus on objectives that will make a positive difference to the University. The project has so far involved a number of focus groups and other data collection exercises, exploring three key themes of policy implementation, recruiting for difference and thecivic responsibilities of the University. The project is due to present draft objectives to the University Executive Board in October 2012.
Further details of the project can be found here:

2. Do you have an accountable team/person in place whose remit includes LGB equality and diversity?
A / Yes, we have a diversity team/person in place whose remit includes LGB equality and diversity
B / Yes, this team/person reportsto or has access to board/senior level management
C / Yes, this team/person has access to resources including a budget
D / No, we do not have a team/person accountable for LGB equality
2A / Provide a short description of the team/person and its duties relating to LGB equality and diversity:
Name: Gill Tait
Job Title: Assistant Director of Human Resource Management
Main responsibilities: Overview of business development, Equality and Diversity; Staff Development, Leadership and Management development.
Name: Julie Campbell
Job Title: Senior HR Adviser (Equality)
Main responsibilities: Equality and Diversity strategy - 'Excellence Through Inclusion' Equality and Diversity action (including LGBT); Support for the Equality and Diversity Board; focussed project work
Name: Sarah Woodhead
Job Title: HR Assistant (Equality & Diversity)
Main responsibilities: Support for Equality and Diversity events and projects, support for LGBT staffnetwork and events.
Below is a link to our web pages which gives details of the above:

This team forms the equality team within HR, and Gill Tait reports directly to the Director of HR Andrew Dodman, who is a member of the University Executive Board (UEB). The Equality Team also provide support to the EDB, and work closely with the Chair of the EDB Professor Tony Ryan, who is also a member of the University Executive Board. Both Andrew Dodman and Tony Ryan are champions of the Equality Objectives Project.
The HR equality team also works closely with the Chair of the LGBT staff network, Tom Reaney, providing administrative support and sharing good practice, and through the LGBT staff network, are making close links with the LGBT student committee. The HR equality team work with the Student's Union Women's Officer on a range of projects also, including our most recent collaboration on filming LGBT voices, and the Women's Officer is a member of the EDB. In this way, we have a framework that encourages collaboration and partnership working with LGBT people and our key stakeholders (students), and also ensures equality activities has a presence at University Executive Board meetings.
The HR equality team has access to the HR budget for equality projects, including supporting LGBT activity and sponsorship of Sheffield Pride, and also recently gave the LGBT staff network an annual budget for £500 to fund LGBT meetings.
2B / Describe the reporting structure, or explain how the team/person has access to board/senior level management and provide evidence where relevant:
As above the reporting structure to senior level management from the equality team is through the Director of HR, and the Chair of the EDB, who are both members of the University Executive Board. Additionally, we also work closely with PVCs across all faculties, and the Vice Chancellor is fully supportive of our work (for example, on faculty based equality and diversity plans, on Women in Engineering Initiatives, and on University wide activities and events).