In this article I will be investigating the Diversity and Inclusion landing pages and Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) pages of Irish public service and semi-state run companies. According to the CSO approximately 300,000 people are employed in the Irish public sector alone and that’s in addition to the thousands of people employed in semi-state bodies by the likes of RTE and Irish Rail. Since the adoption of Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014, all public bodies are required to promote equality, prevent discrimination and protect the human rights of their employees, customers, service users and everyone affected by their policies and plans. However, some are better than others. Here are some of the best examples I’ve found:
Ireland’s national police force, currently employs more than 14,000 people throughout the Republic of Ireland. Having recently committed to making the Irish police force more representative of the demographics of the Republic of Ireland in terms of all aspects of the society being included in the organisation. Here are some of the best points from their D&I landing page:
The first page has a welcoming message from the head of An Garda Síochána, Drew Harris, giving some thought on the overall D&I strategy of the organisation. The policy is very detailed (12 pages long), and goes into detail about each of their 5 strategic policies.
The contact information is excellent. Not only does the policy give an email, for anyone to contact, but they also give a phone number, and contact address for further correspondents too. There is a page in the policy that is dedicated to letting the reader know that there are alternative formats available (such as an audio version). The policy is available in different languages and lets readers know that they welcome further feedback on the policy. An Garda Síochána mentions other D&I policies that they have signed up to throughout the document, such as the the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission.
Ireland’s national postal service An Post has almost 10,000 employees throughout Ireland.
Their D&I landing page is easy to navigate and has clear sections to find relevant information.
Their website provides statistics on their overall workforce, and states exactly what their progress on their gender profiles and employing people with disabilities are. An Post has infographics of their overall representation of their workforce. They also provide information to their future workforce about Welfare at Work, such as ending Zero Hour contracts and outlining the mental health initiatives that they are committed to.
In February 2023, An Post was the winner of the Advancing Gender Equality Award at the inaugural National Diversity & Inclusion Awards, having achieved a zero gender pay gap for two consecutive years (2021 & 2022).
In March 2023 An Post launched a new Reasonable Accommodation policy, to accompany their refreshed Disability Inclusion policy – both of which are available in accessible format on their website.
The Central Bank of Ireland serves the public interest by maintaining monetary and financial stability, while ensuring that the financial system operates in the best interests of consumers and the wider economy. To achieve its mission and vision, the Central Bank needs people with diverse experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and thinking styles.
The Central Bank’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) strategy 2022-2026 outlines its direction and ambition over the next five years and builds on its commitment to building a workplace grounded in fairness, respect and belonging.,. The strategy details how the Central Bank is aligned to Business in the Community (BITC) Elevate Pledge and it is a member of The 30% Club. The Central Bank was also recently accredited Investors in Diversity- Bronze, from the Irish Centre for Diversity.
The Central Bank is open and transparent about its gender representation and pay gap, reporting annually on its progress to date and future plans to promote a balanced and inclusive workforce.
The Central Bank has five internal employee networks (BankAbility Network, Cultural Diversity Network, Parents and Carers Network, Rainbow Network, Womens Network) who play an active role in building awareness on a vast array of D&I topics and are important to the success of the Central Bank’s D&I Strategy.
The Central Bank has several Employee Networks. They have video explainers of what each network does and why employees should join. As a signature of the 30% Club, The Central Bank is open and transparent about their gender split in terms of employees and their policies to help to increase their female workforce in future.
Dublin Bus runs the bus transport service for the entire county of Dublin. Employing close to 4,000 people, Dublin Bus has recently had a high profile recruitment and employer marketing campaign, including taglines such as “get thanked for a living” or publicising the starting weekly salary of drivers upon joining.
CEO Ray Coyne (at the time) begins the policy document with a strong statement on what the company has achieved and what the company will be aiming to achieve going forward.
Putting both their aims and commitments together means that the company is saying what they want to do and showing the goals of their D&I initiatives in future.
The policy mentions both the hiring of people with disabilities and the access of customers with disabilities on their statement, which they are clearly investing in.
The policy clearly states “Make reasonable accommodation for customers with a disability, and offer flexibility in taking account of the practical implications of diversity of our customers across the nine grounds covered by the equality legislation”.
ESB was established in 1927, as a statutory corporation in the Republic of Ireland and the majority of shares are held by the Irish Government. They are the national energy supplier (particularly of gas and electricity) in Ireland. ESB is taking urgent and focused action to achieve net zero emissions by 2040 and putting in place the infrastructure and services to enable our customers and broader society to live more sustainably. They currently employ over 8,000 people in total in The Republic of Ireland and says ““At ESB, we are committed to creating and sustaining a culture of inclusion and belonging, where people engage, thrive, and feel connected to our strategy: Driven to Make A Difference – Net Zero by 2040” Paddy Hayes, Chief Executive, ESB (Gender Pay Gap Report 2022)”
Their “People Promise” begins with a very informative video about their values and how they build this into their organisational structure throughout the organisation. These values include being caring, courageous, driven and trusted. These values permeate throughout the company in their programmes and D&I initiatives as evident in the statement “Embrace diversity, uniqueness and individuality, so that you can be yourself at ESB and thrive”, understanding each employee’s story is unique, and enabling managers and innovators through the company to motivate, energise and support their team to reach their goals.
ESB does an excellent job of laying out the benefits of working in the company, such as the pay structure, staff discounts on Electric Ireland bills, their flexible and hybrid working and commitment to a work/life balance. Their Gender Pay Gap reveals that “The median gender pay gap, excluding overtime, is -1.4%. ESB’s mean gender pay gap at 30 June 2022 is 10.9% (2021: 11.6%) When overtime is excluded, the gap reduces to 3.25%”.
The ESB has won multiple awards for their efforts in D&I including, Gold for the GradIreland Diversity in Recruitment Awards, and was nominated in the Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion Award by Chambers Ireland. The company is also accredited in the Diversity Charter Ireland and Engineers Ireland. While also working closely with organisations in D&I in Ireland such as The IBEC Diversity Forum, AHEAD, Connecting Women in Technology (CWIT), The 30% Club, Business in the Community and ASIAM.
Their Employee Resource Groups allows staff within the organisation to “find their tribe” while Bernie O’Connor Inclusion Specialist, ESB says “Building on the success and impact of BeMe@ESB, we are establishing All Voices – Employee Resource Groups – with a focus on Accessibility, Cultural Diversity & Ethnicity and Gender for Q2 2023”. In addition to these ERGs, the company also promotes programmes such as their Parenting Transitions Programme, Traineeship Programmes and Disability Awareness Training.
Iarnród Éireann or Irishrail.ie
Iarnród Éireann (irishrail.ie) is Ireland’s national train and (in Leinster) DART provider. They currently employ close to 4,000 people
Their opening paragraph begins with their commitment to D&I regarding employees or customers. The policy clearly states all employees are to be treated with respect to ensure fairness, equality and dignity, whether the employees are full time, part time or outsourced.
It clearly states that Irish rail will continue to improve its service for people with reduced mobility and provide more information on travelling with their service.
Iarnród Éireann also gives a specific contact email if you have any questions about their D&I strategy and were recently certified Silver in the Irish Centre for Diversity Investors in Diversity programme, and we were recently Highly Commended in the category Advancing Gender Equality at the National Diversity Awards.
NTMA is a state body which operates with a commercial remit to provide asset and liability management services to the Government. It has evolved from a single functioning agency managing the National Debt to a manager of a complex portfolio of public assets and liabilities. It currently employs close to 500 people.
The opening two paragraphs begin with a strong commitment to their D&I initiatives and an overview of what they are achieving in the area.
Their 6 employee resource groups provide information for inclusion and belonging of all staff at the NTMA. Each resource group advocates for a particular interest group and the company has a video where it explains some of the work that is being done in this area. Each video has buy-in from management saying how the area impacts on them and how they will support the resource group in the future. The video mentions D&I events, such as International Women’s Day, and events that promote the work they are doing in the resource groups.
The Public Appointments Service, through publicjobs.ie is the centralised provider of recruitment services to the civil service, which comes close to 350,000 people. While PAS does not do all the recruitment for this sector it does recruit for 18 government departments, the HSE , An Garda Siochana as well as to over 150 public bodies in Ireland. For full disclosure, I used to work on the marketing team of PAS, a number of years ago.
As some jobs in the public service require aptitude tests, PAS has put their accommodation for people with disabilities at the top of the landing page, which includes contact emails and a link to their accessibility page for the aptitude test you have to take. On that accessibility page, the organisation includes all the relevant information anyone applying for a job would need, but it also gives a contact person and her email for any follow up enquiries.
The video (which was produced during the pandemic) shows a range of people from government ministers to PAS representatives and public service employees discussing the EDI strategy and why it is so important
Through testimonials from some of the staff that they have hired, the company promotes their affiliated organisations programmes. This includes employees that they have employed from the Willing Able and Mentoring Programme that AHEAD runs. PAS also supports the OWL programme – the Orchestras Work Learning Programme., now in its third year. This programme is a supported work model for people with intellectual disabilities and the first of its kind in any national parliament in the world. It is run in conjunction with KARE and WALK disability support agencies.
A part of ED&I that is often overlooked is the employment of members of the Irish Traveller and Roma community. However, PAS specifically mentions their commitment to this community in their ED&I strategy and PAS are currently supporting, and participating in, the Department for Justice’s Traveller and Roma internship programme along with key partners the Oireachtas Service and the Department for Agriculture, Food & the Marine.
Most recent: Head of ED&I, CIPD Ireland HR Awards : Diversity Champion http://cipdirelandhras.awardsandconferences.com/2023-award-winners/
Other awards: https://www.publicjobs.ie/en/awards
Ireland’s national broadcaster, RTE has a number of different mediums, such as TV, radio and podcasts. The station’s D&I policy applies both to on air and off air staff and to the programmes the station puts out. They currently employ close to 2,000 staff:
Page one of the policy clearly lays out the priorities in terms of D&I. Their aims include: to be authentic, inclusivity, fairness and equality to all employees and the various audiences of RTE’s mediums.
They mark out their commitments to D&I in terms of representation on screen and behind the scenes.
They have clear targets in terms of recruitment such as; “A 50/50 gender balance across RTÉ as a whole and, where possible, within key levels of management. A 5% (rising to a minimum of 10%) of persons from a non-Irish background, 5% (rising to a minimum of 8%) of persons with a disability, A minimum preliminary goal of 4% of persons who identify themselves as members of the LGBTQI+ community”.
Their “Action Plan” clearly states how each objective and aim is going to be achieved. The policy mentions attracting people from underrepresented areas, such as migrants to Ireland or including more DEIS schools (schools in lower socio-economic areas of Ireland) to add their voice in their D&I representation on screen.
Focusondiversity.ie 