a) Our policy

1. The purpose of this policy is to provide diversity and equality to all in employment, irrespective of their gender, race, ethnic origin, disability, age, nationality, national origin, sexuality, religion or belief, marital status and social class. We oppose all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination.

2. All employees, whether part time, full time, temporary or whether working ‘flexible’ hours, will be treated fairly and equally.

3. Selection for employment, salary scale, promotion, training or any other benefit will be on the basis of aptitude and ability.

4. All employees will be helped and encouraged to develop their full potential and the talents and resources of the workforce will be fully utilised to maximise the efficiency of the organisation.

5. We actively promote equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills and potential and welcome staff from a wide range of backgrounds. This policy applies to all areas of work, including recruitment, selection for promotion and training.

b) Our commitment

1. Every employee is entitled to a working environment which promotes dignity and respect to all. No form of intimidation, bullying or harassment will be tolerated.

2. The commitment to diversity and equality in the workplace is good management practice and makes sound business sense.

3. Breaches of our diversity and equality policy will be regarded as misconduct and could lead to disciplinary proceedings.

4. This policy is fully supported by senior management and has been agreed with trade unions and employee representatives.

5. The policy will be monitored and reviewed annually.

c) The law

This policy will be implemented within the framework of the relevant legislation, which includes:

1. Equal Pay Act 1970 (Equal Value Amendment 1984)

2. Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

3. Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Gender Reassignment Regulations 1999)

4. Race Relations Act 1976

5. Disability Discrimination Act 1995

6. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997

7. Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000

8. Race Relations Act 1976 (Amendment) Regulations 2003

9. Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003

10. Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003

11. Disability Discrimination Act 2005

12. Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN ACTION

Our approach to equality and diversity is more than just a document but is part of our core values. The Managing Director, Ilan Sherman has a background in this area, having received intensive training in his previous work at Leeds City Council and the Mayor of London’s office. As a result, we aim to bring equality and diversity considerations into all aspects of our business activity, stretching from internal meetings, supplier considerations and even the models that we choose for our brochures.

There are numerous examples of this within our organisation which we can provide.

One example is in our inductions for new members of staff - we go through our company handbook and reiterate our commitment to every employee carefully as part of their induction.

CULTURE OF TRAINING TO MAXIMISE OPPORTUNITIES FOR EVERYONE

One of our key themes this year is ‘mind expansion’ – essentially the idea is that if we improve people’s knowledge every week we can build a highly skilled workforce and a culture of continuous improvement. But it is also very relevant to our Equality Policy to maximise the potential of every individual:

• All employees will be helped and encouraged to develop their full potential and the talents and resources of the workforce will be fully utilised to maximise the efficiency of the organisation.

Some of our most long-standing staff have had to completely retrain as they were purely factory workers originally. As our company has evolved, so have they, and we have invested significant time in upskilling them in warehouse work, embroidery process as well as numerous IT based training. It is actually extremely satisfying to see team members who previously feared a computer, now able to scan barcodes and run summary day reports from the ERP system!

Another example of our culture which embraces this area is our monthly ‘about me’ sessions which take place in our company wide monthly meetings. This is an opportunity for one member of staff to present to the entire Dencowear ‘family’ a little about themselves and an opportunity to get to know them more outside of work. This is not just for fun – it is a proven method to create more effective teams who are naturally going to be more at ease with each other and work better together.

As a result of the ‘about me’ sessions, we have over the last 12 months enjoyed learning and experiencing the joys of Eid al-Fitr, Chanukah and Baisakhi from staff across the Finance, Online and Sales Team.

ENGAGEMENT AND EMPOWERMENT OF STAFF

We have a very unique ‘linear’ structure of management where staff are actively encouraged to participate in the wider strategy of the business. Every single day there is a specific opportunity to express at the daily huddle any ideas or issues in the business. In addition, by creating project teams made up of individuals from all levels, there is a unique blend of ideas that get fed back to the board and actioned in a real and practical way. A good example of this is our Project Team dedicated to green initiatives made up of an apprentice, a senior manager, a finance team member and a junior executive. They were given full autonomy to create new ideas and initiatives to allow the company to improve our environmental performance internally.

This would not be possible without the culture of engagement that we pride ourselves on. One of our core values is ‘one big family’ and this is an example of how it works in practice.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR CONFIDENTIAL FEEDBACK

We are also aware, that despite the atmosphere of positivity and empowerment, there are occasions where staff may need to talk confidentially and sometimes an open forum is not the place to express that. Similarly, whilst we hold regular one to ones and appraisals, it could be that the line manager is not the best person to hear the feedback. For this reason, we have a really effective ‘buddy’ system whereby managers from other departments can be called upon to look out for individuals in another team and offer them confidentiality and counsel if and when required. We are also proud to say that in all of years, we have never had one single incident in the workplace of any member of staff raising an issue of discrimination. This is largely due to the history and culture of such a diverse workforce. The family of owners are from a minority group themselves so it is likely that the spirit of openness and equality for all has spread through the entire culture of the organisation.

In general we are extremely proud of the culture of equality and diversity we have created here at Dencowear, and we have been successful by respecting our people as individuals and treating everyone as an adult, encouraging them and investing in them to thrive as much as possible as people and as employees.