Workforce cohesion case studies

Bradgate Bakery employs an incredibly diverse workforce and recognises that a broad based skills pool enables them to remain competitive and successful in a highly demanding chilled food manufacturing market. 65% of Bradgate Bakery’s workforce lives in and around the LE4 postcode. Located at the heart of the community, offering long term, sustainable employment opportunities is supported by English language training for new staff that need assistance. This helps the local economy and community cohesion. The company has developed its own culture that encourages all workers to leave their religion, politics, culture and prejudices at the factory gate. As part of this culture they:

• support workers to develop their language skills so no one is excluded or isolated;
• collectively celebrate all the major religious festivals- Christmas, Diwali and Eid;
• have mixed teams on the production lines so the staff cover for each during the festivals.  

At BT, people networks are a vital part of the corporate infrastructure. The company understands that people who belong to a network will have a more in-depth knowledge of the requirements of that minority group. There are many opportunities for BT and the networks to share that knowledge. Whilst the majority of network activity is undertaken in member's personal time, BT supports the chairs of networks to undertake a certain percentage of the role during working hours.

The networks are very influential in the service, marketing and product development roles of the business. For example the LGBT network, Kaleidoscope, has worked closely with the Retail Marketing group to identify possibilities within the LGBT marketplace for BT's products. Other networks have similarly influential roles. By talking to Able2 the disability network, BT can understand the issues uppermost in peoples' minds, for example a recent knowledge call on dementia awareness reflected the importance of this issue to a significant number of BT people, their families and BT customers.

BT believes that this dialogue offers an excellent way for BT and the networks to learn from each other and for the company to develop a deeper understanding of minority groups and the issues which they feel are important.

People Networks make a valuable contribution to facilitating interaction and understanding between different employees. The company has a very clear set of guidance on the governance of these networks to ensure they achieve their objectives and are working to improve the engagement of employees within a range of networks covering different faiths, ethnicities, interests and activities.

There are 10 People Networks which are open to all employees. Current estimations show that around 7-8,000 employees are engaged in networks with the largest being the Women's network with over 3,500 members.

Until recently, the UK had been experiencing the longest period of sustained economic growth. The company has noted that during this time although there are more people in work than ever before the number of people in the labour market must continue to grow. The company has recognised that they need to attract people who may be currently excluded from the labour market. 

As a response the Company has developed the Reaching Out initiative. This initiative has three strands- Searching wide, Selecting In, and Changing Lives. The aim of the initiative is to look in places that are often overlooked and beyond the normal comfortable recruitment routes.

"Deloitte" is the brand under which tens of thousands of dedicated professionals in independent firms throughout the world collaborate to provide audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management and tax services to selected clients. With 11,000 people across the UK and Switzerland, Deloitte has the broadest and deepest range of skills of any business advisory organisation.

Deloitte's internal diversity networks connect partners and employeed who share affinity indicators such as gender, race, religion and sexual orientation. With more than 2,500 members, these groups provide their people with a shared sense of belonging, help them balance their working and non-working lives - and help build bridges between their workplace and the world outside the firm. Diversity means more than focusing on attracting and retaining women and people from ethnic minorities.

Building communities is one of its three corporate values of this international business.

The Four Seasons Hotel in Ireland has taken a proactive approach to diversity management in light of the 365, full and part-time employees from 56 nations.  Activities include a welcome pack for new arrivals, support for settling in – advice on accommodation, assistance to secure PPS (NI) number and work permits where required. They hold national theme days in the employee restaurant and social activities including cultural evenings such as Asian dance, Lithuanian food and music, Irish dancing and Chinese New Year Celebrations.

During Ramadan a room is allocated in the hotel so Muslim workers can break their fast together. Also a payer room is made available. Work shifts are adjusted so that they are able to fast with breaks planned to coincide with sun rise and sun setting.

The Hotel was the winner of the inaugural Hospitality Diversity Awards in 2005.  The aim of the award is to reward cultural integration, recognise the work done to welcome international workers to Ireland.

Royal Mail Group is unique in reaching everyone in the UK through its mails, Post Office and parcels businesses – which directly employ over 176,000 people in the UK. Every working day Royal Mail processes and delivers over 75 million items to 28 million addresses. These items pass through a network of 70 mail centres, 8 regional distribution centres and 3,000 delivery offices. Then a fleet of over 30,000 red vehicles and 33,000 bicycles help them to deliver them to their final destination.

Royal Mail Group is totally committed to diversity in the workplace. They have a Head of Diversity & Inclusion based in each business unit specially dedicated to promoting diversity and implementing activities and policies across the business to support this. 

They have a very comprehensive website dedicated to diversity. The website is one step in making a truly diverse workforce benefit both their customers and the organisation.  The website aims to celebrate their rich mix of people and encourage employees to learn more about each other’s diverse ways of life. It has a number of interesting features like ‘Test your knowledge on cultures and religions by answering the 20 multiple choice questions’ in a protocol section and a section on ‘Steps to take towards better understanding’. 

The TUC and the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) have been working jointly, ever since the London bombings in July 2005, in support of workplace justice and against Islamophobia.

They have done a number of things including:

• publishing a joint statement in 2006 pledging to work together to encourage more Muslims to join trade unions, encourage better community relations and combat Islamophobia, both within workplaces and in society at large;
• MCB Secretary General Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari addressed the TUC congress in September 2006, and the TUC General Secretary was guest speaker at the MCB's Tenth Annual General meeting in June 2007
• joint seminar in April 2007 on the theme of employment and Islamophobia;
• The 'Building Community alliances' joint-event of the TUC Organising Academy and the MCB brought together representatives from unions and London mosques in March 2008;
• In August 2009 Radio Ramadan bulletins - Promoting Muslim engagement with Unions

Workers of BME heritage are more likely than white colleagues to be disciplined at work, to experience harassment and to work in junior or temporary positions.  This has impacted negatively on cohesion levels within these organisations.

More than 30 years of legislation to outlaw race discrimination has not, in itself made enough of a material difference to protect these groups of workers, but the Race Relations (Amendment ) Act 2000 has opened up new doors for Black workers, trade unionists and for Unison, one of the leading unions for public sector employees, to deliver equality.

Unison’s Challenging Racism in the Workplace course harnesses the full force of the law to improve the quality of Black people’s working lives and to improve relations between workers and employers in order to deliver equality in the workplace.