Our Vision

Our vision is to create a culture where everyone is valued, respected, celebrated and can thrive in an environment they trust.

The Inclusion Action Plan

The Inclusion Action Plan has been co-designed with staff and is based on a clear evidence base of need taken from our workforce data and the full staff survey carried out in September 2022.

Our Inclusion Action Plan aims to positively disrupt our practises and our culture to ensure we can become more inclusive and more equitable now and for the long term.

Our Inclusion Action Plan is guided by four firm principles:

• Engage – Co-designing with our workforce and being led by their insights, experiences and feedback
• Empower - Elevating different voices ensuring you’re able to participate in the development of inclusivity within the organisation.
• Equity - Developing a culture that supports representation at all levels and across all areas of the organisation
• Educate - Training and resources for all that encourage inclusive leadership, cultural intelligence and allyship.

It sets out a three-year approach, ensuring flexibility to pivot direction if required:

• Year One: Disrupting our policies and practises in order to drive more inclusivity, equity and diversity. Challenging our behaviours and mindsets and setting ourselves up for long term change
• Year Two: Building on progress, and maximising the capabilities of our digital HR systems to support and enhance the EDI experience of our employees, and ensuring consistent employee journeys across the organisation
• Year Three: Future-proofing the work that has been undertaken so far by ensuring robust checks are in place and consistently applying them to drive accountability. Seeking validation of our work through internal groups and external bodies.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We want to reflect the communities we serve at all levels of the organisation and diversity and inclusion are important to us as an employer and service provider.

At our heart is our shared commitment to excellent services for our community, it is what unites us. We want to promote a culture that truly values the benefits of diversity and celebrates all it brings to Waltham Forest.

Waltham Forest firmly believes that its people deserve to be the best they can be, working in an environment where everyone can be their authentic self and fulfil their true potential.

We continue to demonstrate our commitment to becoming an Employer of Choice through our actions, most recently reflected in the attainment of the prestigious Inclusive Employer Standard Bronze award and becoming a signatories of both the Mindful Employer Charter and Change the Race Ratio Pledge.

Our Values and Culture

Our values are at the heart of everything we do and will guide the way we work with each other, our partners and our communities.

Pride of Waltham Forest Awards 2023

At the end of 2023 we celebrated our brilliant staff and community at the Pride of Waltham Forest Awards 2023 - watch a short video of our amazing staff winners.

 

Our Employee Network

The Council has established strong employee networks to proactively support with its diversity and inclusion agenda:

• Race Equality Network
• Out in the Forest: LGBTQ+ Network
• Women’s Fellowship
• Differently Abled Forum
• Carers Network.

These employee-led forums proactively support with our diversity and inclusion agenda. They continue to embed allyship into the fabric of our organisation through cross cutting staff events and training that celebrate the intersectionality of our workforce, (ranging from Tea and Talk’s with Diversity and Inclusion thought leaders to in person joint community events celebrating important calendar dates such as Black History Month.