We believe that people are at the heart of our work and that individuals matter. For this reason, we seek to provide opportunities for people to realise their potential. We are also committed to valuing diversity and promoting equal opportunity.
The British Council is strongly committed to Equal Opportunity & Diversity.
Equal opportunity is focused on legislating against unjustified discrimination and the fair treatment of specific groups. It’s about treating people fairly, identifying and removing barriers that get in the way of this and redressing existing imbalances, so that groups which continue to be disadvantaged gain access to opportunities for full participation in the workplace and in wider society. Diversity is focused on making effective use of the differences and similarities between people. It’s about creating working environments that value a range of differences, believing that understanding and managing these can lead to organisational and societal benefit.
We believe the best way to manage diversity is to ensure that it is built into all processes and functions, considered as part of all policy decisions, and present in the planning of all programmes from start to finish. This is what we mean by mainstreaming diversity. We also use various methods of training in order to ensure all our staff have EO and Diversity training and development. Click here for more information on Equal Opportunity and Diversity
The British Council regards staff health and well-being as essential to business performance. We believe that in all that we do we must acknowledge our duty of care to ensure a healthy and safe place to work for our staff, customers and visitors. There are clearly documented procedures for what to do in the event of an emergency and/or security alert and staff are made fully aware of this. Our premises are all fit for purpose and conform to the highest standards of health & safety.
An essential feature of our health and safety policy is the presence of clear information on individual responsibility for health and safety within the organization. Members are supported through provision of regular training on Health & Safety standards as well as through regular monitoring through the Health & Safety Advisors who are based in all our main offices.
Travel within the country as well as internationally, is a business and operational need associated with a number of our programme activities and services. The underlying principle of the British Council’s travel policy is to ensure that members are reimbursed for expenditure which they incur when travelling necessarily on British Council business and that they are not left out of pocket. All members, regardless of grade or position, are entitled to the same level of expenses, means and class of travel and accommodation. Staff is expected to stay in hotels of reasonable standard and is reimbursed at a flat rate for meals and personal incidental expenses.
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