Corporate Responsibility

Equal Opportunities Policy

Foreword

It is the policy of Seymour (Civil Engineering Contractors) Limited that employees are recruited and employed solely on the basis of their suitability to fulfil the requirements of the post. Management will ensure that applicants and employees are not discriminated against on the grounds of race, creed, physical disability, gender, or sexual orientation. Managers will monitor and record any instances of apparent discrimination and investigate the circumstances to ensure that where required, corrective and preventative action will be taken. We will endeavour to ensure that all employees are aware of their obligations towards other employees and all persons who come into contact with the organisation, whoever they may be, from whatever background.

Statement of Intent

It is the aim of Seymour to be an equal opportunities employer. The company commits itself to promote and develop equal opportunities and will keep under review its policies, procedures and practices to ensure that they accord with the principles of equal opportunities and are consistently applied.

The aim of our equal opportunities policy is to ensure that no present or future employee or job applicant receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of race, colour, creed, religion, ethnic or nationality, sex, marital status, disability, sexuality, or social status, or is disadvantaged by any conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be necessary.

In the promotion of this policy, Seymour will endeavour to meet in full the statutory requirements of the Race Relations Act, the Sex Discrimination Act, the Codes of Practice relating to these and the measures relating to the employment of people with disabilities.

Recruitment and Selection

The intention of the recruitment procedure is to ensure the most appropriate response to any vacancy within the company. Seymour wishes to ensure the highest quality of candidates and will advertise within the organisation. Use will be made of job centres, the media and appropriate external vacancy advertising outlets.

The selection process will be carried out according to the objective, job related criteria. The effectiveness of the policy will be determined to a great extent by this aspect of the employment procedure. Seymour will endeavour through appropriate training to ensure that employees making selection decisions will not discriminate in making these decisions.

Training and Promotion

Seymour will provide equal access for training and promotion and will endeavour to provide appropriate training to enable staff to perform their jobs efficiently and pursue career development opportunities.

Training and guidance for implementation will be given to all senior members of management to increase their awareness of their role in the implementation of the policy; and training and guidance in appropriate techniques will be provided for staff involved in recruitment and selection. Equal opportunities information is incorporated in the company's induction training course.

Discipline and Grievance

Direct discrimination and instances of sexual, racial, or other harassment will be treated as disciplinary offences and will be dealt with in accordance with our company discipline procedure.
An employee who has in good faith taken action under the Race Relations Act or Sex Discrimination Act, or complains about racial, sexual or other abuse and/or discrimination, shall not for that reason receive less favourable treatment than any other employee.

Particular care will be taken to deal effectively with all complaints of discrimination, victimisation or harassment. All employees have the right to seek redress for their grievances and Seymour will ensure that this right is made known.

Complaints by staff will normally be processed through the agreed grievance procedure. It is recognised, however, that employees often find it difficult to approach their immediate supervisor or foreman in cases involving discrimination or harassment. The first point of contact in incidents of this nature may therefore alternatively be the Operations Director. If the employee remains aggravated, then formal grievance procedures should be followed.

Cultural and Religious Needs

Seymour will endeavour to take measures to ensure that existing policies and procedures are modified to accommodate any particular cultural and religious needs of staff which may conflict with existing work requirements, wherever such measures are compatible with the safe and efficient running of the company and its service.

Monitoring

Seymour will create and maintain employment records in order to monitor the progress of this policy. This will involve the collection and classification of information regarding the ethnic origin, sex and disability of all current employees and job applicants.

The ethnic origin, sex and disability the distribution of employees and the success of employees and the success rate of applicants over a period of time will be examined periodically.

The results of such monitoring will be used to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of the equal opportunities policy. If necessary, adjustments will be made to the policy to ensure that equal opportunities are afforded to all applicants and staff.

If employees or others, provide evidence that the policy is ineffective then the claims will be investigated and appropriate action taken.

The policy will be subject to regular review by the Management Team.

Chris Short, Managing Director