Case Study: Equity, Diversity & Inclusion audit

WWT is a global charity for wetlands and wildlife. Their mission is to restore wetlands and unlock their power. They have about 500 employees and 1000 volunteers across 10 sites in the UK plus conservation sites in Cambodia and Madagascar. Employees cover a wide variety of roles across conservation, retail & support services.

The challenge.

WWT has a strong, purpose led organisational culture with generally strong attitudes towards equity, diversity and inclusion. However, ethnic diversity was low compared with UK averages and this was particularly evident at their London Wetlands Centre where the local area has ethnic diversity levels much higher than the national average. As a charity they are bound by the governing principles of existing for the benefit of the public and wider society. Therefore, they saw a need to make their workplaces and working practices more inclusive in order to increase equity and diversity. This was also a requirement of many of their funding bodies.

Workwell were appointed by WWT to carry out an EDI audit, from which to set a baseline and recommend a plan of action.

What we did.

• A review of all HR policies, employee data, and EDI training.

• Six one to one interviews with Executive Leadership Team.

• Bespoke all employee and volunteer survey.

• Six online focus groups, mixed teams.

• Analysis of all data, then data synthesis together, development of themes, recommendations and action plan.

The result.

We found strong attitudes towards the importance of EDI amongst senior leadership and the majority of employees that we engaged with. Survey data revealed higher than expected diversity in some characteristics. Volunteer participation in our engagement was fairly low compared with employees. We identified differing attitudes and levels of support between sites. Perception of current levels of diversity was strong amongst those volunteers who engaged with us, and accordingly this group saw less need for EDI efforts.

We recommended a series of practical, procedural and behavioural solutions and change, split into short, medium and longer-term. This included: embedding EDI into cultural change across the whole organisation; developing and communicating a clear business case for EDI to support change management in less motivated groups; developing a strategic approach to EDI training; reviewing hybrid working policy and behaviours to increase connection and sense of belonging; reviewing inclusive workplace design; and working to improve self-disclosure levels.  The overall focus was on low cost initiatives to respect the financial situation of a charity.

"Debs and Simon undertook a comprehensive EDI Audit of our organisation’s workplace. It was complex and sensitive work which they took forward in a professional and efficient way, drawing on a range of methods to understand the workplace and its people in depth.

They created safe spaces for open conversations about difficult issues and colleagues reported that they had ‘felt heard’. Importantly, they transformed the results of the audit into clear and tangible recommendations and next steps, well and truly launching our EDI journey in a very positive way. We thoroughly enjoyed working with Workwell.”

Dr Julia Newth, Head of Ecosystems & Social Dimensions, WWT