diversity is a fact equity is a choice inclusion is an action belonging is an outcome
TPE is filled with brilliant people. Each of whom are unique, whether this be due to their background, personal characteristics, experience, skills or motivations. We value the differences each of our colleagues bring to TPE and how these differences can be powerful.
Overall, we want TPE to represent the communities we serve and operate in and most importantly, we want everyone to feel like they can be their true selves at work. To do this we have a strategy that looks at the following aims:
- To use equality, diversity and inclusion to build knowledge and confidence.
- Foster a companywide culture of inclusion.
- Make evidence led decisions.
- Consistently track our progress.
Eleven years ago Inclusive Employers founded National Inclusion Week with the aim of creating a dedicated annual event for inclusion in the workplace where inclusion could be highlighted, celebrated and discussed.
The theme this year, “Take Action, Make Impact” is then about taking considerate actions that make positive and lasting impact in your organisation. The aim with this theme was to inspire people to stop thinking and start moving.
The resources and activities this week will hopefully help to understand that you don’t need to be perfect when it comes to inclusion, you just need to start somewhere, and keep going!
Working towards and for inclusion is a continual process, but ultimately what we are seeking to achieve is ongoing and growing impact. If we can start to look at the progress our actions result in, you will soon see how a series of smaller actions can turn into one big impact.
Throughout this week we will be sharing some personal stories from our wonderfully diverse colleagues and to assist with our journey on understanding, appreciating and celebrating all our differences we will be sharing resources to help everyone understand more about individuality.
This week we will be sharing guidance on the Loop on topics such as:
- Inclusive language and terminology.
- Supporting breastfeeding customers onboard trains and in stations.
- Understanding neurodiversity and how to support neurodiverse colleagues.
- Understanding race and ethnicity, and how to have conversations about race.
As part of this we are asking you, our colleagues, to take action by doing one (or more) small thing that will make a big difference.
This year we have made fantastic progress and some highlights are:
- Winning the Diversity Award at the Rail Business Awards in February 2023
- Being shortlisted for Apprentice of the Year at the Women in Rail awards in May 2023
- Launched our LGBTQ+ Networking group for all colleagues to join.
- Started advertising all vacancies on a diverse job advertising platform.
- Supported and celebrated many international and national days such as International Women’s Day, Pride Month, International Day of Trans Visibility, Maternal Mental Health Day and more.
- Continued our development programmes for women and ethnically diverse colleagues to support the progression of colleagues with these identities.
Inclusive Employers are running a number of sessions which you can add to your diary now. All you need to do is register with Inclusive Employers here
Once registered, you can log in and add any event to your calendar for free as part of our membership. A link to the live session will be sent to your inbox. Please note: these sessions are not recorded.
Monday 25th Tuesday 26th
Take Action Make Impact: National Inclusion
Wednesday 27th
Thursday 28th Friday 29th AM
Week 2023 Launch 10am to 11.30am
Challenging Anti-Wokeness and Building the Case for I&D 11am to 12pm
Protect your Mental Health from I&D Burnout 11am to 12pm PM
Recruit Inclusively for a Diverse Workplace 10am to 11am
Cultural Awareness – influencing and being inclusive across different cultures 2pm to 3pm
Take Action Make Impact Best Practice Showcase 2023 12pm to 1.30pm
A lot of progress has been made for LGBTQ+ rights regarding issues such as marriage equality, but there is more to be done to support the LGBTQ+ community. For the most marginalised groups in the LGBTQ+ community, we are seeing backwards trends to progress. The trans community are facing laws being passed across the world to make inclusion and transition an even more difficult topic and process than it already is.
There are also rising numbers of trans murders and violence. Those who are part of the “silent letters” groups within the community also face discrimination, harassment and erasure. It is our responsibility to step up and take action to make sure everyone in the LGBTQ+ community feels safe and included at work.
At TPE we have a new LGBTQ+ Networking group. This group was developed in February and consists of colleagues who have come together to support each other, highlight the importance of LGBTQ+ inclusion and work on making TPE a more inclusive environment.
Currently the group meet monthly with exciting activities being planned in the coming year.
If you would like to join the networking group, please click here
We are asking you to consider taking one (or more) of the following actions for LGBTQ+ inclusion:
1. Add pronouns to your email signature – find out why here
2. Learn about the different identities of the LGBTQ+ community – link to Pride Guide
3. Sign up to a Behaviours & Bias session to understand how unconscious bias plays a play in your life at work. – Link to eHub
So, for me now, being part of the LGBTQ+ community is about celebrating my diversity, living without fear, and embracing who I am! As part of the LGBTQ+ community, I am always here to support those who are struggling, to help them to accept who they are with a safe space to talk.
Inclusion for me is a simple thing to say, but not a simple thing to fix. Inclusion needs to be an environment where every individual regardless of their background, identity or abilities are valued, respected, and empowered to fully participate and contribute. Recognising and embracing diversity in all its forms, including race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability and more.
I’d really like to see TPE holding roadshows / events promoting the work of the Diversity and Inclusion team. It would be great to have information packs providing support, contacts and information about the various services that are available to colleagues. Not just internal companies.
Being anti-racist is an ongoing conscious process of building awareness, self-reflection and action that focuses on challenging inequality on the basis of race and promoting inclusion, at both an individual and systemic level.
It involves us all taking deliberate action against racism, including racism that is very subtle.
It is about moving from being passive to active, it is not simply sufficient to avoid being racist, we need to be taking steps to challenge the status quo and subtle forms of racism. An anti-racist individual will constantly seek to challenge racist behaviour and actions in a respectful way, regardless of the power dynamic. They will take a stand and educate themselves and others.
Being an anti-racist is a choice. In being anti-racist, you are actively choosing to be inclusive with your actions and behaviours rather than being exclusive and passive through non-action.
Many people are still nervous about the concept of anti-racism. Some mistakenly associate it with demonstrations and unrest. Anti-racism is about direct actions to address the inequalities faced by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues in the workplace, alongside championing inclusion for these colleagues.
We all have a role to play in making TPE a welcoming environment for our customers and colleagues. To do this, it is important to understand race and ethnicity, appreciate how to have a conversation about race and familiarise yourself with appropriate terminology. To do this, we have created a guide named Understanding Race & Ethnicity. Take a look to find out more and be encouraged to have courageous conversations. Aside from this, we have also been developing our colleagues from ethnic minorities through the Reach Up and Reach forward programmes. These programmes are designed to help frontline colleagues build skills to become managers and managers build skills to become “head of” departments. These programmes have a 75% and 67% success rate respectively in colleagues getting a promotion, job move or secondment following completion of the programme.
We are asking you to consider taking one (or more) of the following actions for race and ethnicity inclusion:
1. Take time to read our guide available on Inclusive TPE on The Loop here
2. Challenge behaviours that are not inclusive – guide available on Inclusive TPE on The Loop here
How did you find the programme?
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I found the reach up program through the together weekly emails. From reading about it in there I contacted Nicola Buckley who pointed me in the right direction to be able to take part in the course.
What does inclusion mean to you?
Inclusion to me means everyone can have a fair and equal opportunity and to be treated fairly no matter their background.
What do you hope to see from TPE in the future in terms of inclusion?
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I would like to see more opportunities like the reach up course to be carried out as it is a great way in helping develop individual take the next step in their careers
Rail is an industry with an average staff turnover rate of just three percent in 2020 (compared with the UK median rate of 13.6 percent). As such, the UK’s rail sector has less experience than most of dealing with skills gaps – but its landscape is changing quickly. It’s estimated that by 2033, 55,000 roles in the industry alone will leave through retirement.
Right now, the data shows a huge imbalance. Of its quarter-million employees (including those working in passenger services, freight operations and the wider supply chain), only 17 per cent are female. That falls to 13 per cent in the commercial rail workforce, and again to 12 per cent in signalling and design – both areas with significantly higher average salaries.
We are focused to developing our female colleagues through our Step Up, Step Forward, Senior Women’s Development and Women in Rail mentoring programmes.
The Step-Up programme is designed for female colleagues who have aspirations of becoming managers. Similarly, Step Forward is designed for female colleagues who have aspirations of becoming “head of” departments. From these two programmes 60% and 75% of colleagues have received a promotion, job move internally or secondment following the programme.
The Senior Women’s Development Programme is aimed for women who have aspirations of being directors and the first of these programmes has been running throughout 2023. Finally, for the first time TPE has taken part in the Women in Rail mentoring programme where 5 colleagues at TPE have been mentors assigned with a mentee from across the rail industry and 5 TPE mentees have been assigned mentors from across the industry too. The programme was launched in March and is due to finish at the end of 2023.
We are asking you to consider taking one (or more) of the following actions for gender inclusion:
1. Learn about bias and inclusive recruitment with our guide available on Inclusive TPE on The Loop here
2. Think about additional training for yourself or members of your team, and speak to our L&D team to see where we can support development
What is the best thing about the Women in Rail programme?
The WIR programme has been a great experience for me so far. I have really enjoyed having a Mentor who I can reach out to. It has been encouraging to hear about their experiences and how they got to where they are now in their career.
What does inclusion mean to you?
Personally, for me, inclusion is about accepting and encouraging differences, enabling us to learn from one another.
What do you want to see from TPE in the future in terms of inclusion?
To continue to strive towards a workplace where everyone feels welcome.
What is the best thing about the Women in Rail programme?
I have really enjoyed being paired up with my mentor as she is really knowledgeable and has suggested ways to deal with situations that she has been in the past to help me.
We meet every month and discuss what we have been up to over the previous 4 weeks and how we have completed the required tasks.
What does inclusion mean to you?
Inclusion is being part of a team and reaching out to others who can support you in any situation. If they don’t know the answer, they will reach out to others so that you get the answer you need.
What do you want to see from TPE in the future in terms of inclusion?
TPE has worked well to increase the levels of inclusion across a range of staff recruited, location of staff accommodation, training courses created, and reaching out to other staff for internal support.
TPE work well with external TOCs, community groups, and schools to educate and encourage more people to use the trains across the network.
The term “neurodiversity” describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in different ways. There is no one “right” way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences are not viewed as deficits. The term was created to promote the equality and inclusion of “neurological minorities”, such as autistic, dyslexic, and dyspraxic people and anyone with a neurological difference.
A recent report by the Office for National Statistics shows that autistic people are the least likely to be in work of any other disabled group and just 21.7% of autistic people are in employment. This is unfortunate because when the right support is put in place for neurodivergent employees, research shows that neurodiverse teams are 30% more productive than others. Neurotypical people also find that their morale is higher when they work with Neurodivergent colleagues.
Having a strengths-based approach to neurodiversity will not only help more neurodivergent people overcome barriers and thrive at work, but it will also make our organisations more inclusive and successful.
At TPE we are developing a new Neurodiversity Networking group. This group is in its infancy, and we are looking for colleagues who are neurodiverse, have a experience with neurodiversity or want to be an ally to colleagues who are neurodiverse.
This group will be a support for each other as well as assisting to advice the organisation on where we can make changes to become more inclusive to people who have neurodiverse conditions.
If you would like to join the networking group, please click here
We are asking you to consider taking one (or more) of the following actions for neurodiversity inclusion:
1. Sign up to our Understanding Neurodiversity training – link to eHub
2. Take time to read about neurodiversity with our guide available on Inclusive TPE on The Loop here
3. Join our Neurodiverse Network group – link to sign up form.
What does it mean to be a part of the network?
I’ve been a member of the TPE LGBTQ network since it started earlier this summer. We’ve never had networks like this before and I think it’s great to be involved. We’ve met a few times online and launched the network at this year’s Leadership Conference. I think it’s important for colleagues to bring their whole selves to work, because you’re not feeling you’re hiding anything. The more of us who normalise same sex relationships the better it is for society as a whole (in my view). I’m also a member of the fledging Neurodivergence network. I have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) which I believe helps me in my role but also comes with its challenges. The Neurodivergence network is an opportunity for those of us who identify as Neurodivergent to support each other and raise awareness, especially for managers in the business who may have a neurodivergent colleague without knowing it.
What does inclusion mean to you?
For me, inclusion is being able to bring your whole self to work, and recognising that people bring different strengths to the business. Inclusion is about allowing people to share their stories and perspectives.
I’d love to see the internal networks grow and for more colleagues to get involved. I think the work Harriet Harbridge, our Diversity and Inclusion Manager, is excellent. Harriet has provided the business with valuable diversity data to make better informed decisions. For example, something we are introducing at TPE is strengths-based interviewing which is a much more inclusive way of finding the right people for roles at TPE.
What do you hope to see from TPE in the future in terms of inclusion?
Merriam-Webster defines “include” as “to take in or comprise as a part of a whole or a group.” However, inclusion in practice isn’t always easy to identify or see.
Inclusion is more than adding people to a group or being picked for a team. Inclusion can be honouring diversity instead of ignoring it and responding to individual needs. Where diversity is acknowledging and celebrating our differences, inclusion is really making everybody feel welcome.
Inclusion can be:
• Being part of the conversation.
• Participating or being invited to take part in planning and other essential meetings and events.
• Having others listen to what you say, not just hear the words.
Though we often talk about inclusion and diversity in terms of gender or ethnicity, it goes beyond those boundaries. It also means including people of different ages, types of workers — contract, remote, part-time, etc. — and people with varying educational backgrounds.
We all have a role to play in allowing inclusion to be present and ensuring everyone feels like they can be their true selves at work.
To mark National Inclusion Week, a series of short e-learns will be available on eHub, called Express Inclusion. These e-learns will take no longer than 10 minutes per session and will help broaden understanding on a range of topics including:
- Why does visibility and representation matter?
- How do I know if I’ve crossed the line?
- How do I hear different perspectives
- How do I get my point across better?
- Understanding privilege
We will be adding more sessions to the series in the coming months. Please take time to complete the learning when is most convenient to you.
Take time to complete the actions suggested throughout this document or come up with your own actions to learn from National Inclusion Week
