An inclusive culture

We value our employees and we have been awarded the Investor in People standard.

All employees are required to ensure that their personal conduct within the Group reflects our EDI values. We have a thorough mandatory EDI training programme and offer EDI sessions across the year. These include mental health, autism awareness, dementia awareness, menopause awareness, learning disabilities and physical disabilities amongst others.

Awareness campaigns and network groups

The Group supports events and key dates to celebrate and raise awareness of diversity throughout the year. Colleagues are encouraged to shared lived experience and differing understanding of the world through our internal communications channels. You can read some of their stories here.

We also have several employee-led networks:

  • LGBTQ+ 
  • Roots
  • Carers
  • Menopause

As part of our commitment to Time to Change to help eradicate mental health discrimination, we have trained volunteer mental health first aiders.

Insight into belonging

As part of this ongoing EDI work, we recently launched a new mechanism for colleagues and non-executive directors to better understand how inclusive people felt Progress Housing Group was as a place of work.

Our most recent survey indicated areas for improvement, which generally consisted of increasing our diverse workforce, increasing our awareness and training, and improving our listening and identifying individual needs. Following analysis of the survey results, the following actions were suggested to enhance inclusivity to the Group: 

  • The promotion of both unseen disabilities and impairments in general, including hearing impairments.
  • The high volume of respondents who have experienced some form of mental health illness indicates some form of training in mental health awareness would be beneficial.
  • More information on why we are requesting personal information and how and why this information is being used may increase reassurance and understanding and increase uptake in providing this information.
  • Expand visibility of the activity taken by the Group in support of diversity and inclusion to increase understanding and awareness of employees, non-executive directors, and customers as a whole.
Gender pay gap report

The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017​ came into force in April 2017. 

Progress Housing Group employs people with a range of skills in various professions focused on improving people’s lives nationwide. Our strong belief in equality and diversity underpins all of the Group’s activities.

We want employees to be proud to be part of their organisation. Gender pay gap reporting is required for all companies with over 250 employees.

On 5 April 2022, only one member organisation within Progress Housing Group employed more than 250 employees, and that was Progress Housing Association Ltd.

You can read our gender pay gap report here.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

Achieving Board Diversity

 

As an employer, we are actively encouraging diversity at board level through our award winning programme; we are attracting more diverse talent to our organisation, and we continue to seek opportunities to open up conversations around race, diversity, representation, inclusion and belonging to ensure important issues are discussed, and consideration is given to how we can constantly improve.

Through mentoring, coaching, and training, our Board Diversity Programme (in partnership with the Housing Diversity Network) aims to identify the next generation of influencers from all walks of life, supporting and developing them into candidates who are board-ready and promote diversity of thought, experience, and skills across the housing sector.

In its first cohort, the programme successfully appointed 11 candidates, seven of whom were female and five who identified as being from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic group. The innovative diversity project won Highly Commended both at the 24 Housing Diversity Awards and the Chartered Institute of Housing ‘Housing Heroes’ Awards.