Stonewall names Roehampton one of Britain's top 100 LGBT-inclusive employers

• Thursday, January 30, 2020

The University of Roehampton ranks 89th on LGBT charity's annual list of inclusive employers, and 14th out of 54 UK education providers.

The University of Roehampton has been named one of the most inclusive employers in Britain by lesbian, gay, bi and trans equality charity Stonewall in its Top 100 Employers list for 2020. The University ranked in 89th place on this year's list, moving 99 places up from 2019 results.

This year's Top 100 was the largest ever with 503 employers entering, demonstrating their commitment to LGBT workplace inclusion.

In the past year the University has focused on strengthening a number of areas as part of its commitment to improve diversity and inclusion. These include:

• Enhancing policy content and staff benefits, which are inclusive and well communicated. (44% above the education sector average and 22% above the average for the top 100 organisations*.)
• Boosting governance and LGBT employee network group activity and engagement. (51% above the education sector average and 17% above the average for the top 100 organisations*.)
• Promoting wider community engagement and outreach activity. (21% above the education sector average*.)

Overall the University fared better against the education sector in 8 out of 11 categories.

As part of the Top 100, Stonewall collects more than 109,000 anonymous responses from employees on their experience of Britain's workplace culture and diversity. This year, 81 per cent of LGBT employees who responded to the survey said they feel able to be themselves in the workplace.

Professor Jean-Noël Ezingeard, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Roehampton, said: ‘This is a fantastic result for us and testament to the work being done across the University to ensure we are truly inclusive. To have moved up 99 places on last year's result is something which we are very proud of.’

Stonewall's 2018 Work Report revealed more than a third of LGBT staff (35 per cent) have hidden they are LGBT at work and almost one in five LGBT employees (18 per cent) have been the target of negative comments from colleagues because of their identity.

Sanjay Sood-Smith, Stonewall's Executive Director of Workplace & Community Programmes, said: ‘We are delighted to name the University of Roehampton as one of our Top 100 Employers this year. All the organisations in this year's Top 100 Employer's list are playing a huge role in improving the lives of LGBT people, and should be very proud of their work.

‘We still don't live in a world where everyone is able to be themselves in the workplace, as we know more than a third of LGBT staff (35 per cent) hide who they are at work. By taking steps to make their workplaces supportive and welcoming of all lesbian, gay, bi and trans people, organisations like Roehampton are bringing us closer to a world where everyone is accepted without exception’.

Stonewall's Top 100 is compiled from submissions to the Workplace Equality Index, a powerful benchmarking tool used by employers to assess their achievements and progress on LGBT equality in the workplace, as well as their wider work in the community and on service provision.

Each organisation must demonstrate their expertise in 10 areas of employment policy and practice, including networking groups, senior leadership, procurement and how well they've engaged with LGBT communities.

To see the full list, please visit: https://www.stonewall.org.uk/full-list-top-100-employers-2020

*Figures quoted from the survey results