As the new Director of People at the National Housing Federation (NHF), it’s been a really exciting time for me to join the organisation, as we work to become the most diverse, and inclusive organisation we can be. It’s been fantastic hearing about some of the work that our members are already doing on equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), and I look forward to meeting many of you as we continue this journey together.
I’ve had the pleasure of working for a number of great organisations such as London Borough of Enfield, Ascham Homes, and Homes for Haringey. I have also worked in the Health and Social Care sector and I’ve seen how important it is to have a diverse workforce.
Earlier this year we launched our EDI data tool, created by the NHF, alongside a group of housing associations. The tool allows housing associations to compare whether their workforce is representative of the communities they serve. By being representative, we can deliver services that meet diverse needs, build trust within communities, ensure better business decisions and develop inclusive environments for people of all backgrounds. We understand that by creating inclusivity we also help people to realise their full potential.
We are looking for members to help us build a national picture so that we can better understand how our workforce diversity profile of housing association’s in England, compares to the communities that we support. By collating the data that you help us to produce we will be able to assess where we are as a sector and track our progress going forwards.
What we need from you
We want to be able to assess where we are as a sector to ensure that our overall housing workforce is representative of the communities that we work with, and track our progress going forwards. The starting point is data collection, therefore we are asking our members to use the data tool and submit the data you collect to us.
At the NHF, we are committed to improving EDI across the sector, but we can’t do it without help from our members. This initiative means that we would be the only sector to voluntarily produce such a picture, and that’s something we can all be really proud of, and many of our members have submitted their data already.
Why submit your data?
Submitting your data allows your organisation to contribute to something really worthwhile, and help the housing sector to be an emerging and transparent leader in creating inclusivity, and representation that mirrors the communities we serve. Understanding diversity within our sector is something we are all responsible for, and by contributing to our national project, you are ensuring your staff are included and your organisation is playing its part in this important project.
We also hope that this work will improve the quality of your data, as well as contributing to the first national picture of the diversity of housing association staff in England.
If you need more information about your staff, we have put together suggested questions to help complete the tool. You can also read our commonly asked questions for further information.
The deadline to submit your completed data tool is on Friday 8 October 2021. We will publish a report of our findings at our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Housing event in December, so to allow us time to evaluate the data I’m asking our members to submit data before our deadline.
