Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) has been rated one of the most gay-friendly employers to work for by gay rights organisation Stonewall.

by Newsdesk | 16th January 2014

The Trust was ranked 23rd in the charity’s annual Top 100 Employers List which showcases the achievements of employers submitting to the Workplace Equality Index.

As part of the submission, employees from across the United Kingdom were asked to complete a confidential survey rating their employer’s performance in LGB related matters. A total of 38 different industries from across the private, public and third sectors entered the Index this year, many of these being international private sector organisations with far greater resource than the public sector.

Organisations were required to not only explain what they do to improve their workplace for lesbian, gay and bisexual staff, but also to demonstrate how that has had a real and lasting impact on their organisation.

Robyn Doran, CNWL Chief Operating Officer, Equality and Diversity Lead and member of the LGBT Staff Network, said “We are immensely proud to be recognised for our work in creating an inclusive and supportive workplace for our lesbian, gay and bisexual employees. Getting to number 23 is not an overnight achievement; it is thanks to the efforts of our Equality and Diversity Team, the LGBT Staff Network and a commitment by the leadership team to demonstrate the kind of employer we want to be and our core values. We hope to improve upon this result year after year.”

Stonewall, Europe’s biggest LGB charity, praised the Trust for its efforts and cited its policy of delivering LGBT equality and awareness training.

Claire Murdoch, CNWL Chief Executive, said “This is a fantastic achievement! The nature of our workforce and of the populations that we serve means that, for all staff, responding to diversity lies at the heart of our CNWL identity. As a Trust, we are committed to ensuring that staff, service users and patients are treated with equal respect and dignity and warmth, irrespective of their diversity.”

The Trust’s employee engagement activities include strong and robust policies to tackle workplace discrimination, an advice, information and support service for LGBT staff, internal communication channels to raise employees’ awareness of issues affecting LGBT people, as well as training to equip staff to foster an inclusive working environment and reinforce the message that CNWL does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.