Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
Everyone has a place in a great team, we achieve brilliant things together!
We celebrate diversity and embrace inclusivity with open arms! Discrimination has no place here; not only is it against the law, but it goes against our core values of equality and fairness. We believe in creating a workplace where everyone belongs, feels valued and respected. We see promoting cultural diversity and inclusion as not just a duty, but an opportunity to make our company even better. By embracing different perspectives and backgrounds, we can enrich our work environment and better serve our customers. Every single person in our company plays a vital role in fostering an inclusive culture.
To further champion this cause, we established the ‘Building Inclusive Environment Group (BIE) in July 2020. This group is dedicated to researching and implementing initiatives that promote inclusivity throughout the company. Then in 2023 the Men In Early Years (MITEY) est 2019 and LGTBQ+ est 2001 groups joined forces to create a more connected BIE group. Tops Day Nursery proudly supports the MITEY campaign, a nationwide initiative aimed at recognising and appreciating the role of men in nurturing and educating young children. By signing the MITEY Charter, we affirm our commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment where all individuals, regardless of gender or identity, are valued and respected.
MITEY is a national network and campaign which Tops Day Nursery has supported by signing up to the MITEY Charter, a pledge for nurseries, pre-schools, and other settings across the UK to show support in valuing men and their contribution to the care and education for young children. Tops set up its own MITEY group in November 2019, in order to actively promote and create the opportunity for male colleagues to imbed strategies and ideas that the company can implement in order to promote males not only within Tops, but across the entire early years sector.
According to MITEY, the proportion of male staff in early year’s education is only 3%. At Tops, we have been continuously working hard to increase this number by promoting the importance of men working in the early years throughout our nurseries and when recruiting for new staff. Tops believe that a more gender-balanced workforce provides children with the widest range of experiences, skills and teaching styles that will benefit their learning and development.
Our Pledge
- Value men’s capacity to care for and educate children, both within families and as professionals
- Acknowledge that early years education should benefit from the talents of all, so we are actively seeking to create a workforce that includes men, women, and people with other gendered or non-gendered identities.
- View early years education as a critical context in which to address gender inequality and stereotypes, for the benefit of children and wider society.
- Value the benefits to children of being educated and cared for by a diverse, mixed-gender early years workforce.
We acknowledge that our LGBTQ+ colleagues are likely to be suffering more from mental health than those not from this community, and that many will have experienced verbal harassment, physical violence and/or bullying. Many may feel that they don’t have a voice, and its pointless to raise complaints. This group has been set up to provide an opportunity to express anything related to being LGBTQ+ at Tops Day Nurseries and to set up an action plan, fully supported by the Directors, in order to ensure that our LGBTQ+ colleagues are fully welcomed into our family, and that any blocks or concerns can be raised and addressed. The group will also have a function to educate everyone, even those within the community, so that working lives at least are a happy place to be for all.
Our Steps to support in the workplace
1. Develop a Clear Mission for Supporting LGBTQ+ in the Workplace
Communicate a clear mission to all of your employees, including managers and senior staff, through education and diversity training about our inclusion policies and strategies for supporting LGBTQ+ employees.
2. Take LGBTQ+ Discrimination Seriously
Established a strong anti-discrimination policy in our recruitment & promotion practices, and be sure all our employees know what is not tolerated in the workplace, and in cases of homophobic bullying, promptly recognise the problem and take action.
3. Develop Support Programmes for LGBTQ+ Employees
Mentoring, employee networking groups, seminars, and conferences all go a long way in becoming a more inclusive place to work. We support our employees with measures such as climate surveys, LGBTQ+ competency trainings, and employee resource groups (ERG).
4. Promote Allies of LGBTQ+ People
Driven initiatives to promote the allies of LGBTQ+ employees, who can act as support networks to help champion the message that diversity is part of our organisation’s mission.
5. Get Support from Senior Staff
If you would like to be involved in the group, please contact your manager or Sandy Kemish, Manager of the Administrators, who are leading the group also a member of the LGBTQ+ community – as you can see the group are already supported by our senior staff.
Any form of discrimination is strictly prohibited at Tops and is also illegal in the UK as per the Equality Act 2010, addressing discrimination is a societal issue and moral issue, and is one of Top’s missions to address as part of our quality vision. We can improve the service we offer by actively promoting and supporting cultural diversity and inclusion in the workplace environment, and we can even influence change in wider society.
Everyone within the Company is responsible for creating and maintaining an inclusive environment, however, in order to lead this across the Tops, the ‘Building Inclusive Environment Group’ was created in July 2020. The group will actively research and create new initiatives and ideas that the Company can implement in order to support inclusivity. It will also be responsible for ensuring that cultural diversity and inclusivity is embedded within Tops, setting expectations of what the Company stands for and commit to sustained action both short and long term.
Want to be a part of the change?
If you would like to join this group don’t hesitate to email the head of BIE, our CLO Micah
– The group get together for an hour every month.
