Inclusion, Diversity and Team working

Question 1

What is the RICS Inclusive Employer Mark?

Answer 1

• CJ part of RICS Inclusive Employer Quality Mark – drives changes in membership by encouraging all firms to look at their employment practices and have inclusivity at the heart of what they do

Question 2

Describe CJ Diversity and Inclusion policies

Answer 2

• EDI part of business plan and critical for the business to built its talent pipelines and remain competitive
• By increasing diversity, it will attract a greater number of talented people, encourage better team collaboration, improve performance and customer satisfaction and increase retention, profits and achieve success
• Zero tolerance of discrimination and have built key EDI KPIs into the People Strategy 2025 – in recruitment - 50% of graduates are female, increase BAME number to 10% by 2025, educate staff in EDI, support EDI groups including Women in Property

Question 3

Describe the main principles of the Equality Act 2010

Answer 3

The Equality Act 2010 explicitly states that it is against the law to treat anyone less favourably or unfairly compared to someone else because of personal characteristics (named in the act as protective characteristics)

Protected from discrimination in certain situations - workplace, education, transport, public bodies, business organisations that provide services, healthcare providers

Question 3

Name the 9 protected characteristics of the Equality Act

Answer 3

– age, sex, race, religion, pregnancy/maternity, disability, sexual orientation

Question 4

Define Diversity and Inclusion

Answer 4

Diversity is the recognising of peoples differences and acknowledging the benefits of having a wide range of perspectives in decision making
Inclusion - where peoples differences are valued, and used to enable people to thrive. Where people believe they belong, without havign to conform, where their contribution matters and able to perform to full potential

Question 5

Define unconscious bias

Answer 5

bias refers to the associations that are made between different qualities and social categories such race, gender or disability and are judgements that are made without conscious awareness. These automatic preferences or stereotypes are a major contributor to a lack of workplace diversity (gender bias/confirmation bias)

Question 6

Describe a diverse workforce

Answer 6

One that is diverse in terms of ages, ethnicity, religious beliefs, gender, sexual orientation

Question 7

Benefits of a diverse workforce

Answer 7

• Increases skills and knowledge
• Improves creativity and innovation – wider and more unique pool of ideas
• Problem solving – varying perspectives and viewpoints is able to reach solutions quicker and come up with unique ideas than a team that shares similar backgrounds
• Easier recruitment
• Helps understand clients better – diverse staff
• Reduces conflict and inequality in workforce

Question 8

Why is teamworking important in a workforce

Answer 8

• Lead to better productivity, reduced costs and profitability
• Teammates learn from each other, and during work can play to each persons strength and qualities
• Teamwork promotes strong working relationships – communicate better, work cooperatively and support and motivate each members of the team
• Teams innovate faster – tackling a project within a team, benefits from multiple perspectives, skillsets and experiences at once

Question 9

Key skills for creating an effective team

Answer 9

• Listening – to other peoples ideas
• Respect – treat team members with respect and support their ideas
• Communication – effective communication to allow team members to work together
• Reflection – identifying strengths and weaknesses of a team and the team itself
• Sharing – information to create a positive team environment
• Taking accountability
• Sharing workloads
• Team members giving each other credit – recognising the contribution of others – trust, collaboration and respect