We are proud to announce that in 2022 we have once again achieved FairPlay Employer award at silver level.

Background

At PSOW, we are committed to advancing gender equality.  During 2021/22, we continued to work with Chwarae Teg under the FairPlay Employer scheme. Chwarae Teg is a Welsh charity leading on gender equality, including in the workplace. Its FairPlay Employer scheme benchmarks organisations in terms of gender equality across four levels: bronze, silver, gold and platinum.

We are aware that, in a relatively small organisation, individual recruitment outcomes can make apparently large differences. Women among our job applicants consistently outnumber men by a significant margin. We also have in place a range of policies and training opportunities to remove barriers to employment or career progression by female staff.

Findings

Chwarae Teg conducted their assessment in March 2022. As part of the assessment, they considered our policies and procedures, as well as conducted a survey of our staff.

The response rate to the survey was 84%. This highlighted good engagement by our staff, as in the previous years. We are very grateful to all who participated for their insights.

The assessment covered 10 areas of our work. This year, we again achieved the Chwarae Teg FairPlay Employer award at silver level, scoring above our sector average in all the areas assessed:

  • Business diversity: 83.57 (Gold)
  • Flexible working: 83.17 (Silver)
  • Internal communication: 79.97 (Silver)
  • Working relationships: 83.67 (Silver)
  • Learning and development: 82.66 (Silver)
  • Recruitment and selection: 79.64 (Silver)
  • Performance management: 81.45 (Gold)
  • Organisational culture: 82.06 (Silver)
  • Reward and recognition: 83.6 (Gold)

In awarding us the silver level, Chwarae Teg said:

“This is a significant achievement and demonstrates the business commitment to making a difference to the recruitment, retention and progression of women working.  It also demonstrates an ongoing contribution to broader efforts to close the gender pay gap, ensuring that the economy reaps the benefits of diverse representation at all levels in the workforce.”

What happens next?

Based on the assessment results, Chwarae Teg identified some areas that we now need to consider:

  • communication across the organisation
  • diversity of the workforce
  • recruitment and selection
  • career progression.

We intend to consider these, alongside the staff consultations that will happen over the Summer, before preparing our detailed action plan.