As part of the council's commitment to improve employee engagement and feedback from staff we have established a range of Staff Groups that give staff a voice to:
- Consider and challenge new ideas and initiatives
- Promote equality and fairness throughout the organisation
- Discuss topics that are important to them
The groups represent the diverse nature of our workforce and give staff the opportunity to have their say on issues affecting them.
Feedback from the groups has helped us to shape and design new approaches and review existing procedures to ensure that they meet the needs of our workforce.
We have the following focus groups established:
- Millennials (Age 22 to 36)
- Managers
- Employees
And the following staff networks
- Race Equality Network
- Rainbow Alliance
- Shine
- Menopause Network
- Carers Network
Here are some examples of the great work that has been achieved from the groups so far:
Race Equality Staff Network
The group have developed their own Terms of Reference: "The BAME Staff Network exists to create an enabling and fair working environment and policy framework for BAME colleagues while also encouraging all staff within the Council to understand the needs of BAME individuals within the community."
Rainbow Alliance
This group have helped to develop a new Trans Inclusion policy for staff as well as Trans Awareness e-learning which can be found on the My Learning Pages. These aim to enhance awareness and understanding of trans identities and the challenges that trans people can face.
Rainbow Alliance - the LGBTQ+ Staff Network SharePoint site: Rainbow Alliance
Contact: RainbowAlliance@cumberland.gov.uk
Shine Community
Did you know about the Council's Neurodiversity guidance? A member of the group, explains why it's important that the County Council has this guidance. "Neurodiversity is a relatively new term that many people may not know much about yet. It's important to have guidance in place which helps staff to understand more about it, and how to support neurodiverse people on a day to day basis.
"It is also important because the more people become aware of neurodiversity and then go on to understand it, then the easier it becomes to take steps to better support neurodiverse colleagues in the workplace as well as service users in the wider community"
Contact: Shine@cumbria.gov.uk
The group sessions are held either in person or via microsoft teams.
We are always looking for people who are open to new ideas, willing to explore practical solutions and who identify with or have an interest in the above groups.
The groups have helped develop the new People Management Equality and Diversity page.
Link to: www.cumbria.gov.uk/hr/equality.asp
To learn more, or if you would like to get involved, please contact
StaffFocusGroups@cumbria.gov.uk
or use the individual group emails.
International Pronouns Day began in 2018 and takes place on the 3rd Wednesday of October each year. For 2020, it will be Wednesday, October 21
Further information and resources can be found on the International Pronouns Day website. Link to Website: https://pronounsday.org/
A 5 easy step guide to using pronouns. Taken from the 'my pronouns' website.
1. What/Why - Often, people make assumptions about the gender of another person based on the person's appearance or name. These assumptions aren't always correct, and the act of making an assumption (even if correct) sends a potentially harmful message - that people have to look a certain way to demonstrate the gender that they are or are not. Using someone's correct personal pronouns is a way to respect them and create an inclusive environment, just as using a person's name can be a way to respect them.
2. How - When a person shares their pronouns, they are naming the pronouns that they want to be referred to. Usually, the "they/them" pronouns set is acceptable to use when you don't yet know if a person goes by another set or sets of pronouns. Just because a person goes by a certain set or sets of pronouns is not indicative of that person's gender. A person could be transgender or not transgender (also called "cisgender" - the vast majority of the population is cisgender) and might share the pronouns they go by.
3. Mistakes - You don't have to make a big deal out of your mistake or draw a lot of attention to it. You mostly need to fix it. You might have a follow up conversation with the person you referred to incorrectly to apologise or see if there's something else you can do to correct it moving forward besides doing better. Making it a bigger deal in the moment is not necessarily helpful.
4. Sharing - A great way to create and normalise space for people to share their pronouns is first to share your own. You can do this by saying, for example, "Hi, my name is Farida and I go by the pronoun 'she'" or "I'm Yoshi and I'm referred to by 'he/him' pronouns."
5. Asking - First, make sure that you have shared your own pronouns. Doing so is the best way to encourage other people to share their pronouns, to help make them more comfortable to share their pronouns with you. If you are meeting someone new one-to-one, you might say something like: "Hi, I'm Akeem, and I go by 'they' pronouns. How should I refer to you?"
If you'd like to know more and to hear stories from trans and gender nonconforming people about their lived experiences with pronouns, please check out some of the videos and links in the resources section of this website. Link to Website: https://www.mypronouns.org/
What it means to Employees
"As a member of Cumbria County Councils LGBTQ+ Focus group; I feel it is important to share that using the correct pronouns when addressing other professionals, colleagues, service users and the wider community, helps to support the person feel valued and acknowledged, but also supports the building of mutual respect". #International pronouns day 2020 - Julie Elder - Registered Manager CCC
"The use of gender pronouns, is a great first step to building inclusivity in the workplace environment. It's the starting process for increased awareness and education to something that many people may not have thought about before and an important part of people's identity that should be respected" Mohammed Dhalech (Pronouns: He/Him/His) Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager
The Trans Awareness eLearning course the LGBTQ+ focus group helped develop is now live and available to all Cumbria County Council employees.
You can access it at this link:https://cumbria.learningpool.com/course/view.php?id=1517
Or on the Intouch page - My Learning - in 'Course Search' field type Trans Awareness.