News

As the year comes to an end, we reflect upon the many great achievements of the Equality, Diversity & Inclusivity (EDI) Working Group at RISE. 

Embracing the Mutual ethos and building staff involvement into the creation of policy and practice has proven hugely beneficial to the organisation. The role both of the Employee Council and the Service User Council have presented an encouraging beacon to other Mutuals and our Service User stories have moved, enlightened and entertained so many stakeholders, both current and prospective.

One development which we feel was particularly noteworthy: in March we received the news that RISE had been awarded the Diversity in Business Accreditation. This was a significant moment for us; it demonstrated that RISE had embedded a progressive and proactive approach to diversity and inclusion.

Our success with this project was largely down to the work of the EDI Working Group. The badge recording our accreditation that appears at the bottom of our email signatures may be small but the significance is big. It sends out an important message about who we are: the DiBA accreditation speaks volumes for how we operate, what our priorities are and the value we place on staff.

RISE are proud of the DiBA award and our EDI Working Group should be particularly proud of the part they played in achieving that goal.

The DiBA accreditation wasn’t the only achievement of the EDI Working Group this year, we have listed below some of the other great things they have been working on.

• EDI Phase 1 Training completed
• EDI Folder created – providing materials and supporting documents for all stuff for reference on EDI issues and policies
• Diverse culturally significant occasions recognised across the organisation
• EDI is now a mandatory segment in all team meetings
• Accessible Buildings brochure created for all RISE hubs
• Regular EDI working group contributors to internal newsletters
• EDI input into development of all relevant RISE policies and procedures
• Fundraising and active involvement with local charities and causes

We would like to thank and congratulate our EDI Working Group for all their hard work this year and the important achievements they have accomplished.