Celebrating a wave of success in our equity, diversity and inclusion TIDE mark assessment

Oct 10, 2024

enei TIDE silver standard mark

By Abby Hickling, Senior HR Manager, EngineeringUK

As part of our ongoing commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) here at EngineeringUK, we are a member of the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (ENEI) and complete their annual Talent, Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation (TIDE) assessment. This is an annual review by a number of organisations across the UK and assesses  against 8 different areas. We answer a series of questions within each of the 8 categories and provide evidence to back up the responses given. The categories are:

  1. Your Workforce
  2. Strategy& Plan
  3. Leadership & Accountability
  4. Recruitment & Attraction
  5. Training & Development
  6. Other Employment Practices
  7. Communication & Engagement
  8. Procurement

ENEI then evaluate the responses and make awards to a few organisation that they feel have done an exceptional job in making their workplaces more inclusive. We were given a Silver Award for the second year running in 2024. We were ranked third in our ‘not for profit/charity’ category and came first in this sector group in three categories:

  • Strategy and plan
  • Attraction and recruitment and
  • Communication and engagement

We also came first across all entrants across all sectors in the attraction and recruitment category.  I was particularly proud of this as we recently completed  a large review of the way that we recruit people to become more inclusive, looking at how we can reduce bias and encourage more applications from people with disabilities or other restrictions.  We looked at the language we use in job descriptions and adverts to be more concise, friendly in tone, using less jargon and ‘speaking’ in plain English. We only ask for qualifications when really essential for the role and think about where equivalent experience would be applicable. We purchased a new applicant tracking system which allows us to ’blind’ sift applications based on an anonymised review of responses to certain questions related to the role. We don’t look at the CV until this blind sifting has been done, as there is evidence around unconscious bias playing a role when reviewing a CV/cover letter.  We also ran training, specifically for hiring managers about good practice in recruitment, how to avoid bias and why and how to use our new processes. Being a Disability Confident employer, we offer an interview to anyone with a stated disability who meets the minimum criteria for the role and encourage people to share details of how we can make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process.  

Inclusion is really core to what we believe as an organisation, it is also vital to  having a fair and happy workplace. We all want to work somewhere where we are valued and respected and we want to be able to be our authentic selves at work. Diversity of people, experience and thought adds to our collective understanding, it makes us see things in a richer way and therefore improves our work.  It is easy for organisations and colleagues to unconsciously exclude or marginalise people, so inclusion needs active and conscious effort. One way that we do this is through assessments like the TIDE mark, so we check how inclusive our practice is and get ideas on how we can improve.   

I was delighted with our scores and the silver award. This really reflects the culture at EngineeringUK which is open, welcoming and values our differences. We have a typically take a consultative approach and have an active employee forum, EDI working group, as well as regular all staff training on topics such as anti-racism, disability/neurodiversity/trans awareness, being a high impact introvert, to name but a few.

We survey staff annually using an external organisation to ensure anonymity; to gauge colleagues’ opinions and include questions around inclusion and communication. The results are shared with staff and an action plan developed from these, which is followed up upon as the year progresses. We have regular all staff away days and meetings so we can get together to share information, as well as social events. We support carers and those with other demands on their time by having core hours and hybrid working guidelines allowing people flexibility in their working time and location. We are sympathetic to flexible working requests and a significant proportion of colleagues (including me) utilise a wide variety of working patterns, including compressed hours. This can make organisation slightly more complicated, but it is worth it in as it enables people who need flexibility to have this support.  We enhance family friendly leave and offer paid carers leave for those who need this.

I am proud of this achievement, but also think it fairly reflects the importance that EngineeringUK place on its staff and culture. On a personal note, being someone who has additional responsibilities outside of work I can say that I feel supported by the organisation and it’s a great place to work.

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