Practice teams urged to champion diversity
The BVA is encouraging workplaces to appoint an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Champion.
Veterinary practice teams are being encouraged to appoint an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Champion to promote open dis cussions about diversity and keep these important issues at the top of the agenda.
The call from the BVA stems from the Organisation’s position on Good Veterinary Workplaces, which recognises that good workplaces have teams that understand the obstacles to equality and diversity and are empowered to challenge discrimination of poor practice.
To help practices appoint EDI Champions, the BVA has created a template role description that individual workplaces can tailor to meet their needs. Among the suggested responsibilities for the role include reviewing workplace policies, raising awareness about the importance of diversity and organising celebratory diversity events.
“Our Good Veterinary Workplaces activity has really highlighted the importance of encouraging open and honest conversations about equality, diversity and inclusion, hearing all views and empowering everyone to challenge poor practice or suggest improvements where needed,” commented Malcolm Morley, BVA junior vice president. “Having an EDI Champion in your workplace is a great way to get colleagues talking about these important issues in the knowledge that their views are being heard and acted on.
BVA suggests that workplaces should appoint an EDI champion who should be ‘appropriately trained, resourced and visible in their advocacy, with the capacity to effect organisation change if it is needed.’
“We recognise given the breadth of the veterinary sector that workplaces may want to tailor the Champion role description to their specific needs and ways of operating, but we hope that our template provides a useful starting point for getting Champions primed and ready for the important tasks in hand,” Malcolm added. “We hope to see new EDI Champions springing up across the veterinary community in the months to come.”
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
