About Us

Diverse leaders pledge

As a group of seventeen organisations, we are inviting you as industry leaders to join us in making a pledge to help make the built environment sector more representative through recruitment, progression and advocacy.

The built environment industry has identified the need to overcome chronic discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, age and socio-economic background to create a strengthened, resilient and representative workforce.

Diversity is an asset to any organisation, with a diverse workforce a business can expect diverse and dynamic solutions and outputs, appealing to broader audiences and ultimately becoming a more successful and profitable business. A McKinsey & Company global study from 2019 found that ethnically diverse companies are 36% more likely to have financial returns above national industry medians and gender diverse companies are 25% more likely to do the same.

We recognise that diversity and inclusion are multifaceted issues and that we need to tackle these subjects holistically to better engage and support all underrepresented groups within our industry. To do this, we believe we also need to address honestly and head-on the concerns and needs of people from underrepresented and non-traditional backgrounds and increase equity for all. Collectively as industry leaders we agree that we must do more.

For us, this means committing to measurable goals over the coming years that we believe will catalyse change, enabling engagement, action and progress around diversity and inclusion within the workplace, fostering collaboration across the built environment industry as a whole.

Diverse Leaders Pledge - free to sign up

We invite you to commit to the following pledges and identify actions to achieve each one.

It is free to sign up to our Diverse Leaders Pledge to make it available to the widest possible audiences and organisations big and small, no matter the budget.

All organisations who sign up to this pledge will be asked to publish a set of tailored actions based upon those outlined below. Actions must be measurable and will be tracked on an annual basis.

The baseline actions below represent what is expected from all organisations but we accept that this is a process and so encourage organisations to adopt at least 3 actions from each of the 3 pledge areas and publicly state which actions they will be undertaking in the coming months and years.

We recognise that the challenge for micro businesses is significant and so a tailored approach to tackling this issue is preferable. Further guidance on setting out and achieving your specific goals can be found on the NLA Diverse Leaders Resources page

I/we sign up to the Diverse Leaders Pledge

Sign the Diverse Leaders Pledge here

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO SIGNING UP

Step 1 From the list of pledge commitments, identify at least three from each section that your organisation will sign up to

Step 2 Add your contact details

Step 3 Submit

Step 4 You will receive an automatic email with a copy of your pledge and a media pack containing information to help you publicise your pledge actions

Please get in touch with grace.simmonds@nla.london if you have any questions.

Diverse Leaders Pledge PDF

Diverse-Leaders-Pledge-v4.pdf

PLEDGE ONE – RECRUITMENT

We commit to an equitable, transparent recruitment process. We will set a target for our overall diversity of staff that is relative to our area demographics (see NLA Diverse Leaders Resources page). In the case of London’s working age population, 38% Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and 52% female as of April 2020, as well as an action plan to achieve this target.

ACTIONS:

- We will identify a target for the diversity of the organisation relative to our area’s working age population.

- We will identify a timeframe within which to achieve our diversity target.

- All job advertisements will be publicly advertised where they are most likely to attract diversity of applicants with a salary range for that role and applications from underrepresented groups publicly encouraged.

- We will review our recruitment process to mitigate bias, for example by implementing blind applications where possible and ensuring that applications are reviewed by more than one assessor.

- We will interview a set percentage of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and female candidates for all positions in line with our area demographics

- Hiring decisions will be tracked in diverse terms and used to assess which part of the process could be improved. The anonymised data on applicants will be tracked throughout the hiring process and used to assess areas of improvement.

- Feedback will be made readily available to all interview candidates.

PLEDGE TWO - PROGRESSION

We commit to closing our gender and ethnicity pay gaps. We will work towards senior leadership being representative and in line with staff diversity targets.

ACTIONS:

- We will measure and publish our gender and ethnicity pay gap and set targets and an action plan for closing them. This includes regularly reviewing staff pay in line with an equal pay policy.

- We will provide baseline data for workplace diversity monitoring and track our progress against this

- We will appoint a ‘Diversity Champion’, who provides visible leadership on diversity within the organisation, and drives the delivery of the action plan

- We will commit to zero tolerance of harassment, bullying and discrimination of any kind. We will implement a clear procedure for reporting grievances which is open beyond line management structures.

- We will embed mentoring, reverse mentoring and/or sponsorship within our organisation.

- Opportunities will be made available to have different voices of the organisation represented externally. We will send balanced representation to organised networking events, with senior representatives responsible for making introductions and assisting junior representatives in establishing new connections

PLEDGE THREE – ADVOCACY

We commit to promoting diversity of practice and practitioners.

ACTIONS:

- We will sign up to the Future of London Speaker pledge.

- We will support groups advocating for fairer, more inclusive practice, whether this is financially, by working in partnership with them, by reviewing our own practice, or by outwardly advocating ourselves.

- We commit to tell the stories of diverse people and provide a platform for better representation.

Sign the Diverse Leaders Pledge here