Councillors yesterday (Monday 25 August) approved the approach to implementing a new four-year plan promoting equality and diversity in its workforce.
The Employee Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan 2025-2029 replaces the existing Council plan with important updates focusing on two specific employer outcomes:
Ensuring our workforce is as diverse and representative of the city we serve, with a focus on sex, disability, race and sexual orientation;
Ensuring employees feel their voice and experience is heard, valued and helps shape decisions that affect them.
Councillor Neil Copland, Convener of the Staff Governance committee, explained the rationale for the new action plan , saying: “Aberdeen is an increasingly diverse city and it is important that we reflect that in the workplace.
“We took into consideration feedback from our employees, employee equality groups and other sources of information, such as census data and internal staffing reports to inform our aim of ensuring our workforce is diverse and representative of all protected characteristics.”
Vice convener, Councillor Gill Al-Samarai, said: “Feedback from our Employee Experience survey underlined the council’s positive approach to inclusion and commitment to promoting diversity.
“We are never complacent, however, and our refreshed plan will focus on delivering inclusive communications with our staff based on a recognition of lived experience to improve employee participation and informed decision making.”
The Council, which has recently been reaccredited in Equally Safe at Work programme which addresses the barriers women face at work, developed the action plan with the advice and feedback of its partners at Grampian Regional Equality Council and also through engagement with trade union colleagues.
The action plan will be formally launched as a living document which is actively updated as new information becomes available.
