Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 18 May 2024 at 08:42
I am writing to you today to ask for your help and engagement in the next few months on some critical issues here at our Trust.
There have been some historical indications and feedback within the Trust of different and less favourable experiences for some of our colleagues who have declared themselves as either neurodiverse, disabled, lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
The Trust is wholeheartedly committed to both understanding why these differences in experiences exist, and to putting in place actions that will address the underlying causes of these negative experiences so that we can make EEAST an even better place to work.
To that end, we have recently commissioned an external specialist Equality and Diversity consultancy to act as a partner organisation for us to undertake some internal, confidential consultation.
These will only work if we have your engagement, your thoughts, your experiences so we can work together on what to do about any issues – so I ask you please to engage with these surveys if you can.
We have today launched two surveys, one for LGBT+ and one for Disability and Neurodiversity. Each survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete and has been developed by our external specialist partner organisation - McKenzie LLP. It is completed anonymously, in the strictest of confidence and will be returned directly to McKenzie - not EEAST - who will compile a summary of results and report these in an anonymised format back to the Trust.
You can complete each survey by clicking the links below.
Then, in March, all employees who identify in either – or both - of the above groups will be asked if they wish to take part in a short confidential telephone interview with McKenzie to detail their own personal experiences of working in the Trust as an employee who is LGBT, neurodiverse or who has a disability.
From the resulting report we will be fully engaging with our staff networks and taking steps to develop actions to help improve our workplace for all.
I hope you are able to engage with these surveys and give your thoughts freely. Your experiences are valuable and we need to know about issues so we can work together to address them.
Many thanks for your time.
From Dr Hein Scheffer Director of Strategy, Culture & Education