The six pillars

The National Inclusion Standard collects evidence of activity under the six pillars of inclusion and diversity.

Pillar 1: Engage

Organisations should engage staff at all levels to ensure they have a good understanding of the organisation’s vision for diversity and inclusion and an awareness of the diverse needs of their colleagues, clients/service users.

Pillar 2: Equip

Organisations should equip all staff, managers and leaders through policies and training to build equality, diversity and inclusion into the work they do and the way they work and use this to help the organisation design and deliver more effective and inclusive policies, processes, services.

Pillar 3: Empower

Organisations should empower by involving staff through networks, team discussions, Trade Unions and/or other channels. They should be able to demonstrate how they value the contributions of everyone, including people from under-represented groups and by ensuring inclusion and diversity makes a positive difference.

They should empower by providing support and encouragement to staff to develop their careers and increase their contributions to the organisation through the enhancement of their skills and abilities.

Pillar 4: Embed

Organisations should build shared responsibility and accountability for achieving improvements by explicitly embedding inclusion and diversity into everything they do. This includes embedding inclusion and diversity into the organisation’s corporate strategy and any processes and policies to improve their ability to attract and retain the best talent.

Organisations should seek to embed inclusion and diversity to build a positive reputation internally and externally and to provide the best services for success.

Pillar 5: Evaluate

Organisations should evaluate inclusion and diversity progress to set relevant and achievable interventions/targets.

Pillar 6: Evolve

Organisations should evolve by continuously learning and drawing on best practice to devise innovative and creative interventions.