What IEMA have done:
Recruitment:
- All candidates who attend an interview will receive feedback either directly from IEMA or via the recruitment partner.
- Two stage interviews by different interviewees to ensure that it is fair.
- All our recruitment adverts include an inclusivity statement, and we follow guidance to ensure that our adverts are inclusive in regards to the language we use.
- We undertake a salary benchmarking exercise every 3 years to ensure all our roles are paid competitively and we pay particular focus on gender differences to ensure that everyone is paid equally.
- We ensure for each role we recruit there are specific skills, experience and person criteria which form the basis for assessment in the interview process to ensure objectivity.
- We ensure our recruitment practices and assessments are free from bias or discrimination by having more than one interviewer in the process when making hiring decisions and we have clear objective selection criteria for each role.
- IEMA has adopted an approach whereby if we have two equally qualified candidates at final interview, and one is from a diverse or disadvantaged background and one is not, we would treat the former candidate more favourably by offering the job to them in order to encourage more diversity into the organisation.
Other:
- Added diversity to our internal risk register.
- Contributed time and funds towards research on the current diversity data in the profession.
- Contributed resources and funding towards the Diverse Sustainability Initiative.
- Ensured that interns receive full pay to encourage diverse candidates and offer a fair opportunity.
- Put together a guiding principles document for all staff to ensure that our organisation and its culture are as welcoming and inclusive as possible.
- Monitoring and improving the diversity of IEMA’s webinar panellists and event speakers to ensure that those given this platform are representative of different identities and cultures.
- Captured diversity data via our state-of-the-profession survey and created actions based on the survey results.
IEMA’s 2023-2024 commitments
Accessibility-
- Ensure that our virtual meetings and webinars are digitally accessible for our members and stakeholders by asking for communication preferences beforehand. By the end of 2024.
- Ensure that all our virtual meetings and webinars include closed captions by the end of 2024.
- Ensure that the sign-up process for new members is accessible to all by surveying new IEMA members. By the end of 2024.
- Ensure that all IEMA staff refer to a compulsory digital accessibility checklist before hosting a meeting/ presentation. By the end of 2023.
- Ensure that our digital transformation project addresses any concerns or limitations for those who may struggle with digital accessibility. By the end of 2024.
Representation-
- Begin capturing diversity data from applicants for steering groups to ensure that we are reaching a diverse audience. By the end of 2024.
- Ensure that our image bank contains images of different underrepresented groups, to ensure that this is representative of our membership. By the end of 2023.
- Ensure that where relevant, talks hosted by IEMA address worldwide problems and encourage members to consider the impact on underrepresented communities. By the end of 2023.
- Add a diversity statement to all our steering group advertisements and speaker advertisements. By the end of 2023.
IEMA staff-
- Ensure that ALL IEMA staff have received training in allyship, anti-racism and unconscious bias. All new staff will be required to complete compulsory e-learning on the above subjects to ensure that all staff support an inclusive environment. By the end of 2023.
- Ensure that staff are aware of the different disabilities, visual & hearing impairments, and neurodiversity so that the team better understand communication styles, how that might impact discussions/ emails and how best to be understanding and inclusive of this. By the end of 2024.
Recruitment-
- Continue to make efforts to ensure our job adverts are available and accessible to diverse communities and we will continue to explore groups and organisations to partner with that actively support marginalised or underrepresented communities. By the end of 2023.
- As we develop our website, our aim is to create a candidate landing page where we will be able to include our Diversity Policy and further details and insight about our culture at IEMA. By the end of 2024.
- We are keen to join the Government’s Disability Confident Scheme , committing to offer an interview to people who self-declare as disabled, if they meet the essential criteria to encourage more disabled workers into the workplace. By the end of 2023.
What IEMA are doing in response to the state of the profession survey (2022)-
- We will ensure that our ‘How To Series’ addresses topics that members have marked as barriers, such as ‘lack of self-confidence’ especially by women. By the end of 2023.
- We will trial a small-scale mentoring programme to support IEMA members of colour by the end of 2024.
- We will actively encourage more women and other underrepresented groups to speak at IEMA events by sharing speaker opportunities on a wider scale. By the end of 2023.
- We will ensure that the Green Careers Hub begins to address the ‘unclear pathways’ into the profession by sharing case studies by people in the profession and their journeys. By the end of 2023.
- We will ensure that we continue to host a networking session for underrepresented groups for IEMA members at IEMA connect, to allow the opportunity to network with one another and discuss barriers openly. By the end of 2023.
- Ensure that the Green Careers Hub is inclusive by embedding an EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion) strategy. By the end of 2023.
- Advertise the DSI’s people of colour network more widely amongst IEMA members. By the end of 2023.
Alongside our commitments, we will ensure that we take on board any feedback received via the DSI’s people of colour and LGBTQ+ network and continue to listen to feedback from our members.
We will also continue to submit our data through the RACE Report to ensure that we are transparent about our diversity data.