EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
As a small provider of housing, rather than just saying that we take our responsibility to EDI seriously, we want to demonstrate how we put words into practice. We are proud of our diverse community and strive to be an inclusive organisation that celebrates and reflects the lives of our staff, board and residents.
At SLHS, we understand that everyone that contributes to our small community and organisation, is an individual, with individual needs, hopes and dreams. Each of us has had individual life experiences that impact and shape their lives. These experiences are informed by the culture in which we grow up in, our gender, age, religion and sexuality, our own belief systems, any physical or invisible disabilities and our mental and physical health.
All these factors impact on the way we live our lives.
The people that make up our community and organisation are integral to our business and service delivery, so we take the subject of EDI very seriously. The different perspectives we gain from such diversity can lead to a much greater level of understanding, innovation and creativity, providing a more inclusive service our residents, staff and those that work with us.
EQUALITY
Equality means that as housing provider, we are always striving for a better balance in opportunities, resources, and decision-making processes for residents, employees and communities we work in.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission describes equality as:
"Equality is about ensuring that every individual has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents. It is also the belief that no one should have poorer life chances because of the way they were born, where they come from, what they believe, or whether they have a disability.
Equality recognises that historically certain groups of people with protected characteristics such as race, disability, sex and sexual orientation have experienced discrimination."
DIVERSITY
Being more aware of and proactive about the diversity of our community at SLHS will ensure we provide the right services and meet the right needs and aspirations of our residents and employees.
"Diversity is the different characteristics that occur in a group of people.
It is made up of the things that make us unique and different which could include cognitive skills, personality traits or the things that make up the protected characteristics such as:
race,
age,
gender,
religion or
sexual orientation."
INCLUSION
As an inclusive provider of housing, we strive to act transparently and fairly, building good relationships with our residents, employees and key partners. We endeavour to work collaboratively to achieve better outcomes for everyone.
Inclusion is including people in a way that is fair for all, values everyone’s differences, and empowers and enables each person to be themselves and achieve their full potential and thrive at work and in their homes and communities.
An inclusive workplace culture is one in which everyone feels that they belong through feeling safe in being themselves, that their contribution matters, policies and practices are fair, and a diverse range of people are supported to work together effectively.