In 2022:
• Adding EDI to our risk register and for the issues to be considered at both senior management and trustee meetings. EDI is now a standing item at both senior management and trustee meetings. It has also been added to the risk register.
• Undertaking a survey of staff, trustees, members and other volunteers to understand the current make-up of our workforce and supporters. We have now completed survey of staff, trustees, members and our citizen science volunteers, and have done a follow-up survey of staff, which included data provided to the Race Report.
• Reviewing our recruitment/induction processes and implementing changes to make them more inclusive. This will be an ongoing process but we have made a number of changes to our recruitment processes. This includes changes in the way the JD is presented (learning from the Race for Nature Kickstart scheme), not requiring a degree where it is not really needed, and advertising more widely.
• Providing placements for three Kickstarters via the partnership Race 4 Nature. We have provided two Kickstart placements to date. The shortlists for these roles had no people of colour in them despite our best efforts. However, both placements focused on increasing our work to be more inclusive and reach a broader set of people, and we learnt a lot from the placements.
• Providing unconscious bias training for our staff. Most line managers attended the unconscious bias webinar, but for all staff we have decided to prioritise anti-oppression training in the coming year, which will include work on unconscious bias.
• Adding WCL anti-racism statement to our website and speaking out more about our work on diversity. Statement added. Diversity mentioned in our annual report and review, as well as at our national conference (including a panel discussion on EDI).
In 2023:
- Implementing Year 1-2 organisational actions from the WCL Route Map
- Continuing to implement improvements to our recruitment processes to encourage more applications from under-represented groups
- Implementing monitoring systems and contributing data to the RACE report
- Rolling out anti-oppression training for BCT staff
- Providing placements through the New to Nature role and a funded internship for Project Nightwatch.