Taking action and being accountable for the support provided to the IEW ensures that they are being treated fairly and equitably, have access to the resources they need to succeed, and can contribute to the organisation's goals to the best of their abilities. It also promotes a positive work culture and can lead to higher staff satisfaction, engagement, and retention rates. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of board members to ensure that staff members, regardless of their background or nationality, are supported and valued within the organisation.
The Race Equality programme has developed a series of Questions for boards that members can ask to challenge themselves and each other on how they are embedding race equality as a core part of the board's business:
- Eight questions for boards: A set of questions that emerged from our conversations with ethnic minority and white leaders as helpful and significant for boards to ask.
- Ten questions for governors: Ten questions that NHS governors can use to hold each other, the Council of Governors
(CoG) and the board – via the non-executive directors (NEDs) – to account on race equality. - Ten questions for white allies: Ten questions designed to enable boards to to ask challenging questions of themselves and each other, to encourage self-reflection, continuous education and catalyse action.
Click here to explore this topic further with a case study from Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.