Winning for Women at Brent Council

Brent Council was winner of the 2007 Opportunity Now Award for the Public Sector 

In the 2001 census, Brent Council came out as the most ethnically diverse local authority in England and Wales. Diversity is therefore at the heart of everything we do. It runs through all our corporate and departmental plans. Progress on our equality and diversity objectives is monitored at the most senior level of the council – by a group including the chief executive [the Leadership Group].

We have worked hard to put in place a wide range of policies that make Brent an appealing and attractive place to work for women, and boost the numbers of women at senior level.

The work-life balance initiative has been key to getting gender equality in senior management at Brent Council. When we launched the work-life balance initiative in 2002, 30% of our senior officers, defined as earning 50k or above, were women. Today that figure is 50%.

Flexible working means every woman, from the most junior to the most senior, has choices available to her about how she balances her professional and personal worlds.

We have not always pursued gender equality by making a ‘special case’ for women - the work-life balance initiative, for example, belongs to everyone. But this means a value that is particularly helpful to women becomes part of the culture of the organisation.

Other key success factors include reserving spaces for women on our mentoring scheme, commitment from senior management - our chief executive Gareth Daniel is our gender equalities champion - and ensuring we are publicly accountable by publicising our efforts widely.

Our HR & Diversity department has been determined to keep the momentum going - this year we launched phase two of the work-life balance initiative with tailored support for parents and carers.

We know we are a better council because we do gender equality well. We have made it easier to recruit in a competitive labour market, and secured a workforce that is more representative of the population we serve. We have boosted our reputation, increased staff satisfaction, driven down turnover and sickness absence, and saved money. All these factors help drive up the quality of the public services we provide.

Quote from Val Jones, Director of HR and Diversity at Brent Council