Diversity policy and how to use

What does Diversity mean at Arriva?

At Arriva, diversity means valuing difference in our employees and customers. Diversity is about recognising and accepting that all types of people can be successful at work. Diversity involves more than just different types of people; it includes different ideas, skills, outlooks, views & attitudes.

Arriva positively welcomes all employees and customers. This gives us an advantage over other companies as it helps us become an employer of choice and secure the best employees, which enables us to offer a better service for our customers.

We recognise, understand and appreciate the differences in people, for example, skin colour, religion, where you were born, men and women, gay /lesbian, how old you are, which school you went to, what you like and don't like, what you believe in, what things are important to you, however this is not an exhaustive list of differences.

To help us value difference in our employees and customers, we have defined what diversity does and does not mean:

Diversity is:

  • Essential to Arriva’s success
  • Something that affects us all
  • About valuing and welcoming difference
  • About more than minority groups; it includes different ideas, skills, outlooks, views and attitudes

Diversity is not:

  • Optional or "nice to do"
  • Political correctness
  • Compliance with the law or paying ‘lip service’
  • About achieving numbers or targets
  • Something that does not affect you

Arriva has included diversity behaviours within its performance management process (Working with others). This means employees in Arriva have their performance reviewed against diversity behaviours each year as part of their performance review with their manager.

Why is Diversity important to Arriva?

Diversity is essential to Arriva, based on the following reasons.

  • Demographic changes* in the UK and Europe indicate that by the year 2010:
    • The population will be ageing and there will be less people of what we have traditionally called “working age” across all European countries
    • Only 40% of jobs will be full time in the UK.
    • Ethnic minorities will make up 25-50% of the workforce in UK metropolitan areas
    • The number of women employed will grow by 3% in Europe (men remaining static)
    • In the UK Only 20% of the workforce will be white, able-bodied, male and under 40

These demographic changes mean that we must embrace diversity to be able to recruit enough people and the best people.

  • People prefer organisations that employ people like themselves. It is important to note that, by the year 2010, UK ethnic minorities' buying power is estimated at £15 billion, EU ethnic minorities' buying power is estimated at £318 billion. Arriva could lose out on this business if we do not embrace diversity
  • There are several pieces of legislation aimed at protecting people at work and it is Arriva's policy to comply with all such legislation. Much of this legislation is now coming via the European Union and affects all of the countries in which Arriva operates.
  • It is very costly to discriminate against different types of people. A company can be ordered to pay significant sums of money if they discriminate unlawfully.

Arriva's diversity policy

The Arriva definition of diversity clearly states that diversity is not only about compliance with the law. Our policy is to always comply with the legislation aimed at protecting people at work. Our aim is to create an environment in which all employees are valued and can be successful at work and in which compliance with the law occurs as a result of our genuinely valuing differences in employees.

Use of Arriva Diversity Policy

The Arriva Diversity Policy should be used within the business as follows:

  • As an overarching policy document that will preface local equal opportunities and / or diversity policies
  • To be included within employee handbooks, induction packs etc
  • As a framework for businesses / HR teams to work within when developing presentations or training and development on Arriva's Approach to Diversity for internal or external audiences
  • For communication to external partners when dealing with recruitment advertising / employment agencies etc.

Source: the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry.