Leadership commitment  

Equality planning is a continuous process that must be managed. For the work to be truly effective, it must be supported by the organisation's leadership. 

The leadership must clearly state the objectives of and approaches to promoting equality and discuss these with the entire organisation. Discussions can also be held with the support of an external trainer. 

The leadership's commitment to equality can be seen in, for example 

• the resources allocated to equality planning and its implementation 
• the organisation’s values and strategy 
• a common understanding that promoting equality supports the personnel's wellbeing and the organisation's development. 

The organisation’s leadership monitors the implementation of the equality plan and adopts the necessary measures to address any observed discrimination and harassment.  

A diverse working group is key 

For this purpose, it is advisable to establish a working group whose members commit to both the objectives and development throughout the process. This may require building more competence and understanding. In the best case, the same working group also supports implementation. 

To ensure the equality plan is relevant, the working group should include participants with different backgrounds from both the organisation itself and its stakeholders. This can mean diversity based on age, gender and background, for example.

Inclusion can be seen in, for example 

• the diverse composition of the preparatory and implementation team 
• the range of selected measures 
• the planned measures. 

Including and consulting stakeholders is particularly important when preparing an equality plan related to the organisation’s external activities. Organisations dealing with customers from different backgrounds may find it wise to also invite representatives of different customer groups to participate in the planning.  

The working group can cooperate with external experts in case the group lacks the required competence in any subfield of equality. For example, expert services supporting equality work can be acquired from many organisations working in this field.