King’s College London’s continued commitment to shaping an inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ people at work was recognised today with a Workplace Equality Index Gold Award. King’s achieved 14th place in the Stonewall Top 100 Employer list which is compiled from the Workplace Equality Index, a benchmarking tool for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace and was ranked 2nd overall in the higher education sector.
The Workplace Equality Index is a scheme run by Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ equality charity, that allows employers to evaluate their workplace in 9 areas of employment policy and practice pertaining to LGBTQ+ inclusivity. Staff from across the university were invited to complete an anonymous survey about their experiences at work.
In addition, the university received special recognition for Proudly King’s, the Staff LGBTQ+ network which received a Highly Commended Award. This award comes as part of Stonewall’s Bring Yourself to Work campaign which highlights the importance of inclusive work environments.
“King’s prides itself on being a university with an ethos of inclusive excellence. We want our people to thrive. We want an empowering culture in which all our staff and students can be themselves, know they belong and that they will be treated fairly and with dignity. Creating an inclusive environment where our LGBTQ+ staff and students are able to achieve their full potential is an institutional commitment for King’s and it’s great to see our consistent and continued efforts recognised with this award. I want to personally thank our staff network, Proudly King’s, who have worked with us on shaping this success.”
– Professor Evelyn Welch, Senior Vice President (Service, People & Planning)
The university will be renewing its membership of Stonewall’s Diversity Champions Programme and will continue the Workplace Equality Index periodically as a helpful benchmarking tool.
“We are very proud of our vastly improved performance in the Workplace Equality Index. This achievement is the product of university-wide collaboration between Equality, Diversity & Inclusion experts, university leadership and Proudly King’s, the staff network which represents our thriving LGBTQ+ colleagues and their allies. We can always do more to champion equality, diversity and inclusivity, but we have built solid foundations by developing robust policies and procedures and working together as a King’s community.”
– Paul Webb, Chair of Proudly King’s, King’s staff LGBTQ+ network.
King’s participates in Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index and Diversity Champions programme.
King’s EDI strategy 2019-2022 is available on the King’s website.
