Corporate report

Inclusion and diversity report for 2019-2020

Published 25 August 2020

This corporate report was withdrawn on 9 February 2024

Page no longer current or required.

Tim Moss CEO Foreword

Here at the IPO we want our organisation to be built on fairness and opportunity for all, a place where we all respect and value each other’s abilities and talents. For this s to become a reality for all of our people, we want to operate in an inclusive, open environment, one where diversity is respected and our differences valued.

We will achieve this through our goals of:

• delivering Excellent IP Services,
• creating a World-Leading IP Environment, and by
• making the IPO a brilliant place to work

The IPO is committed to creating the best working experience for our people, and becoming a brilliant place to work is a key pillar of our corporate strategy. This is important to help ensure we attract the right people who are committed, who stay, and who will help us become the best IP office.

Having a diverse mix of people that bring different lived experiences and demonstrate diversity of thought is key to our success and to ensure we reflect the society we serve. However, we can only embrace diversity if we provide a culture and environment which is inclusive, supporting people to be their best, leading to engaged and well-motivated people. This must be underpinned by shared values and behaviours, resulting in a respect for difference and common purpose.

This report shows the great work that has been accomplished on inclusion and diversity for the period April 2019 - March 2020, with the focus this year on working inter-sectionally across our numerous network groups. I am very proud of our achievements including being placed 25th in the Top 100 Employers list for 2019 by LGBT equality charity, Stonewall, within the Top 5 across government, our Gold Award for Investors in People, accredited Silver in the Chwarae Teg Fair Play employer benchmark for gender equality and retaining our place as a Top Employer for Working Families in the Working Families index. We have also demonstrated our commitment to a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and harassment through our Respect at Work initiatives and continue to develop our mental health support offering.

However, we recognise we are on a journey to continually improve. As we move into this year we are dealing with worrying times as we all respond to the challenges we face from the coronavirus pandemic. Our people are having to adapt to working remotely and virtually whilst balancing supporting their loved ones and staying well mentally and physically. This challenge means our focus on ensuring our culture is positive for all and that our interactions with each other and behaviours are respectful, inclusive and supportive is even more important. The physical and mental wellbeing of our people will continue to be our top priority.

We also recognise there is significant work to do supporting greater diversity in STEM subjects which will help us address the issue we see in the overall Gender Pay Gap. In doing so we retain valuable skills in the workplace and give all our people the opportunity to meet their full potential.

Our Vision

Whether it’s a visible characteristic, or a less obvious part of you; we are all different in some way. We each experience the world differently and have stories to tell about it. People’s uniqueness belongs in IPO. We want people to be confident in being themself in work and their differences in identity and thought respected. Not just because it is the right thing to do but because it will help IPO to be a more innovative organisation that is a Brilliant Place to Work.

For this to become a reality for all of our people, we need to create an environment where our people feel that they belong - an inclusive, open environment, one where diversity is embraced and our differences valued. Here at the IPO we want an organisation whose behaviours reflect a culture of fairness and opportunity for all, a place where are interactions with each other are based upon all respect. We are focusing on embedding our culture of ‘One-IPO’, reinforcing our zero-tolerance approach to bullying and harassment, and helping to our transformation as an organisation.

Our approach to inclusive, principle-based leadership will make sure we are able to meet the needs of our people, and our legal responsibilities under the 2010 Equality Act.

What is Inclusion and Diversity in the IPO

Women’s Network

We set up our Women’s Inclusive Network in 2018 to support female colleagues and help them access all that the IPO has to offer.

We are a network for everyone who wants to make the IPO a brilliant place for women to work, and that generally means a brilliant place to work for everyone!

Hazel Thorpe

Senior Patent Examiner and Women’s Network Chair

Things we’re most proud of this year

Cara Moore Imposter Syndrome talk

• Imposter syndrome is a psychological pattern in which a person doubts their accomplishments and has persistent fears of being exposed as a “fraud”. Despite external evidence of their competence, they remain convinced they don’t deserve the success they’ve achieved, which they attribute to luck or timing, This can lead them to self-sabotage their opportunities

• Cara helped the audience learn techniques such as ‘voicing’ limiting thoughts to help put them in perspective, recognising and appreciating successes, asking for help when needed and being gutsy!

Voice Coaching with Cath Baxter, International Women’s Day 2020

• Cath spoke about adding more impact to our communication. She advocated communicating deliberately by pausing appropriately, focusing on our message and cutting fluff and ‘um’ bad habits ‘- and whatever’

• this was an interactive session. We identified our speaking habits and practiced her ‘tips’ there and then, using cards from the game ‘Articulate’. This was a lot harder than it sounds!

Chwarae Teg deep dive exploring gender perceptions in the IPO

• Chwarae Teg led focus group discussions based on data from the Collaborating with Men survey in 2018

• this fleshed out our data and really helped us to understand the differences in perspectives from different genders

An Intersectional Approach: Diversity Network Chairs Panel Discussion

• we were thrilled to have an open and frank conversation in which people shared their feelings and aired their views. We discussed the issues around them and the concept of ‘Privilege’ in some depth

Men’s Network: we are also thrilled that we now have a Men’s Network

• this brings balance to our IPO Networks. We share many of the same issues (for example caring, parenting…). On several topics, we are two sides of the same coin, for instance: gender perceptions, women in STEM and the gender pay gap. Working together, we will have real impact

Lockdown and the current emergency

The current emergency and resulting lockdown affects everyone significantly and differently. It affects the women of the IPO who are trying to work in a house never intended to accommodate one or more home offices, or trying to keep the kids busy, or do schooling at home, caring for parents, and keeping enough food on the table.

But these aren’t just women’s issues. They affect everyone, regardless of gender, regardless of network. Some people will be affected more than others – those who have less privilege, and as privilege is invisible to those who have it, it may be difficult to see why some people are struggling more than others.

It’s more important than ever that we work in a way that tries to include everyone. A way that enables everyone to contribute to IPO objectives. We are working with the Inclusion and Diversity team and all the other networks to champion not just women’s issues - because they rarely are - but to support all our workers through this crisis.

Things we’ll concentrate on next year

• challenging gender perceptions by promoting the reverse mentoring scheme, providing a safe space to talk and supporting more inclusive meetings
• focus on intersectional issues. We will work closely with our i-Pride and Men’s Networks to make sure our gender work is inclusive and intersectional
• promoting women’s health & wellbeing, including better menopause awareness and supporting domestic abuse campaigns
• mentoring. We will do more to promote our Mentoring opportunities across the IPO. Making sure our whole organisation understands the value of being mentored
• work to develop confidence building sessions. We will promote more widely opportunities for our Women to attend Women in to Leadership events, and procure external speakers/trainers
• ensuring female representation in the right places, by working with teams across IPO and with the Government Science and Engineering Profession focus group on female representation in STEM

Katy Sweet

Examiner Assistant said…

I never used to consider myself a Feminist, after all hadn’t we (women) already achieved everything we needed to achieve? I had no concept of unequal pay (barely crossed my mind), believed that females ‘had it good’ in the UK (women’s rights or gender equality was something that was needed in ‘other’ countries) and figured that the cat-calling, unwanted attention and car horn beeping that I’d been subjected to since I was 11, was just “one of those things.

My views changed rapidly after the birth of my daughter when I suddenly began to see the world through her eyes. I began to get angry about the inequality that I now saw everywhere and the older I got, the more aware I became. Inequalities are everywhere, in every country and across all races, genders and pay scales. Last year, whilst on holiday with my family, I passed a man berating his son for crying, ‘All the little girls will laugh at you’, to which I yelled out ‘no they won’t!’ His son was no more than 3 years-old.

As a 37-year old Feminist, Vegan and Atheist, I am probably the least likely to be on anyone’s dinner party invitation list and yet I don’t feel that I need to hide any of ‘me’ when at work. I love the fact that the IPO has a wide variety of different networks that embrace each and every one of our beliefs.

This year, as part of their International Women’s Day celebration, the WIN hosted a number of talks and workshops on what inclusion means and the whole experience was both eye-opening and inspiring. Being an inclusive and diverse employer is good for everyone.

BAME

BAME is a network that was set up in 2017 to support our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues in the IPO.

Our aim is to ensure that the IPO remains a brilliant place to work for ALL people and that we continue to encourage people of BAME background to join us working at the IPO.

Michelle Llewellyn

Head of Finance Business Partners and BAME Network

Things we’re most proud of this year

• we participated in a cross-network panel discussion about privilege. It was challenging and thought provoking but we were extremely proud to be part of a panel that didn’t shy away from difficult questions
• we celebrated our second birthday with balloons and chocolates
• we forged more links with other BAME groups such as Public Health Wales to ensure that we are collaborating with other networks. This helps us to provide a more robust support to our staff, have access to greater local resources and have our finger on the pulse when it comes to local BAME issues
• we have assisted OGDs by sitting on recruitment panels for SCS roles. This helps us ensure that BAME staff are being given a fair chance at interview and confirms that the Civil Service are taking its commitment to BAME employee representation seriously

Black History Month

We celebrated Black History Month and the highlight was Dr. Ahmed Ali who was included in the list of 100 outstanding black Welsh people last year.

He came to the IPO to share with us his experiences of being a black research scientist and his passion for innovation.

Things we’ll concentrate on next year

• we would love to increase our membership for both BAME staff and allies. Without support, we cannot continue to do the work that we do
• improve our outreach to universities etc - especially those who have a high percentage of BAME students taking STEM degrees. We would love to show them why the IPO should be the employer of choice for them
• scrutinise our recruitment processes to ensure that no applicant feels disadvantaged by our interviewing and/or assessment panels or alienated by our onboarding practices

iBelieve

Of all the diversity characteristics, faith and belief tends to be the one we talk about least.

Hi, I’m Steve, and I’m network chair of the iBelieve network. There are many different facets, elements and quirks that make up who I am - I’m a Patent Examiner (but please don’t hold that against me!), I consider myself to be neuro-divergent, and I love training to be the greatest Pokemon master of all time! But of all of the little things that make me unique, I consider that my primary identity is found in my faith as a Christian, and specifically in my relationship with Jesus. I love that iBelieve allows me to learn more about the philosophies that others have about why we’re here on this Earth, and I also love that it gives me the opportunity to better explain many misconceptions that people have regarding Christianity.

All of us have shared principles and values which frame our everyday lives but many people feel a bit uncomfortable talking about their faith or belief. Equally, asking other people about their beliefs can also feel difficult – asking questions can risk feeling intrusive, or patronising, or even ignorant. The role of the iBelieve network is to support those conversations to help us feel comfortable talking about faith and belief at work including those of us who have no religion or belief.

Stephen Williams

Things we’re most proud of this year

From small beginnings, interest in the iBelieve network has steadily grown throughout the year and we are proud of these achievements:

• launch of a Yammer Group for Faith and Belief in June 2019 to kick off the conversation
• hosted TED talks event covering diverse beliefs to mark Inclusion Week in September 2019
• hosted panel discussion on “Belief in the Workplace” to celebrate Inter-Faith and IP Inclusive Weeks in December 2019 and to encourage staff to feel comfortable bringing their beliefs to work
• sponsored IPO Carol Service with the support of the IPO/ONS choir in December 2019 to explain the Christian message of Christmas
• launch of iBelieve network in February 2020 to promote the message that the network encompasses not just faith but also non-religious beliefs that shape the way in which people live, such as ‘Ethical Veganism’, ‘Environmentalism’ and even ‘Atheism’

Things we’ll concentrate on next year

• to facilitate respectful discussions on faith and belief by hosting events explaining diverse viewpoints on topical issues
• host panel discussion ‘iBelieve: in the beginning…’ where the evolutionary scientific principles will be explained alongside the Judeo-Christian creation story and the Islamic creation account
• to raise awareness of major festivals in our diverse belief systems

iCan

The iCan Network has been set up to support and provide a voice for colleagues with disabilities.

Its aim is to help colleagues access all the information and services the IPO offers promoting equality for all.

We raise awareness of issues faced by individuals and groups due to their impairment and help to improve access, facilities, benefits all employees, customers and users of our services.

Doug Adams

Guide Dogs Visit

• We raised awareness of the issues faced by Guide Dog Owners and provided guidance on how to approach individuals who rely upon their dog
• rules of engagement were covered and behaviour around the dogs in and out of harness
• we held discussion around the training of the dog, the cost, time and expense of training, the boarding, health and wellbeing of the dog and how they match the dog with the individual to ensure a suitable partnership

Hearing awareness

• we provided a series of stands with leaflets and information relating to the various types of hearing loss that affect individuals. Information on where to obtain help and assistance to receive tests, hearing aids and other helpful devices for individuals or family members

• two colleagues provided training classes around their hearing impairments. It has enabled iCAN to take on some ideas and suggestions on how to improve accessibility at meetings by trying to limit the number of people in attendance, provide round tables where possible, summaries regularly and always face the individual without masking your face to enable lip reading. We are also looking at providing speech text upon videos produced along with sign language

Sports day for disabled (have a go day)

• we held a have a Staff have a go sporting event which included boccia, football and goalball. The games had been designed or adapted to allow individuals with impairments to participate. We held Visually Impaired football and Goal Ball. Staff were able to participate in blindfolds and play with a ball adapted with ball bearings, or bells so they could hear the ball. It was fun and proved popular but very challenging having to rely upon you other senses. We participated in Boccia, a game for all abilities which proved to be very enjoyable and competitive yet extremely friendly

Diabetes Awareness talk – ‘One bloody drop’

• Paul Coker, founder of the website “One Bloody Drop”, provided an inspirational and informative talk about the challenges he has faced since his childhood diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1977. He shared his experiences of how he overcame obstacles and the personal challenges he set himself

Review and Contribute towards Policies such as Disability Leave and accessibility for all in relation to training provisions.

• we have been at the forefront of improving current working policies by working closely with a variety of Networks, Trade Unions reps and business reviewing and aiding implementation relating to accessibility for recruitment

• we worked with HR to review and suggest improvements for the Disability Leave policy and guidance notes for managers
• we have worked with our Talent and Learning team to make learning for all more accessible.
• we have worked with HR, IT and Accommodation to centralise recording the number of staff with adjustments such as specialist ergonomic furniture, agreed reduction of targets or reduction of hours and or specialist IT software or equipment
• improvements to accessibility for all

Things we’ll concentrate on next year

• improve awareness of the disability passports and check to make sure they are fit for purpose
• an accessible shopping and service providers day (Paint the office Purple). Purple Tuesday which is the second Tuesday in November. It is a day for organisations and disabled people to celebrate the purple pound and positive change together
• provide another Disability Friendly Sports Day
• 3rd December celebrate International day for persons with disabilities by providing a blog and or video to help promote the excellent work our colleagues produce and celebrate their ability not the “DIS”ability

Men’s Network

The Men’s Network was set up as a way of making sure that help such as our counsellor service was being accessed equally by men as it is by anyone else.

With staggering figures around suicide, stress and an increase in reported domestic violence, the network seeks to give support to men and explore opportunities to increase equal opportunities by working in partnership with the women’s network.

Guy Robinson

Deputy Director and Men’s Network Chair

• the launch of a Men’s Network. The network was developed by a small group who were keen to ensure their male peers had an outlet and a support network.They wanted a formal way of supporting and collaborating with other gender networks to ensure inclusion was being driven by all
• sponsorship of a 2 day event celebrating International Men’s day. The focus of the event was to encourage men to feel like they were able to participate in discussions around depression, suicide and domestic violence

Things we’ll concentrate on next year

• campaign highlighting individuals personal experience in dealing with stressful moments of their lives - illustrating that we all go through hard times and that there are places to seek advice
• offer assistance directly to people that might want to talk about personal issues.
• setting up ‘safe space’ events in places like the wellbeing suites so issues can be aired, discussed and explored without fear
• developing talks and content that might help to manage mental health and avoid stress, suggestions include: living with and working with women going through the Menopause; or living with partners that had suffered previously in abusive relationships
• review of the Men’s Network’s name, agree objectives and a vision

Daniel Hughes

Trade Marks Examination Team Leader said…

I have seen a huge shift in my lifetime from a period where men didn’t discuss how they were doing or how they were feeling to a time now where as a society we are more encouraged to do so. I think some men might find that more difficult to openly talk about than women and I think it’s really good the IPO now have a mens group to look to enable those conversations. 3 out of every 4 suicides in the UK are men…

I’m sure most of us know someone that has taken their life when it appeared to us they had everything. If I or the group can help anyone by providing an outlet in the workplace to have those open chats the group has done it’s bit. Not just restrictive to being a mental health chats group for men either, we want to discuss other issues that are effecting men in our workplace and how we can work with the other IPO networks to ensure we have a fully diverse and inclusive work place.

Carer’s Network

Every day 6000 people become carers in the UK.

It can happen to any of us, sometimes very suddenly. Many carers don’t know how or where to get help. It can be frightening and lonely. The IPO Caring for Carers Network wants IPO staff with caring responsibilities to know they are not alone, there are people who understand the difficulties they face and we want carers to be able to access the help and support available at IPO.

Karen Powell

• we have continued to provide signposting, guidance and a kind listening ear to carers who have reached out to us
• we held a series of events to mark Carers Week 11 - 17 June 2019, including an information and advice stand run by Carers Wales, a drop- in coffee session, and an information stand promoting the Carers Passport
• we have worked more collaboratively with the Health and Wellbeing Team, for example we worked together to publish a story to raise awareness of diabetes by sharing the story of an IPO Carer
• we have shared honest and real personal stories of life as a carer to ensure our carers know they are not alone and raise awareness. The Chair of the network shared a timely personal blog about Caring and Coronavirus at the start of the UK outbreak of COVID-19

• we published an internal video blog to dispel some of the myths around the caring role, with feedback such as ‘Great blog Karen, will help so many people :)’ ‘thank you for sharing and providing some support to us who have caring responsibilities.’ ‘Thank you for always being so honest with your caring experiences, it’s a comfort to know that people aren’t alone’

• we will ensure that all carers in IPO are aware of the network and feel able to access the advice, signposting and support they require: we will do this through informative articles on our Intranet and Yammer, blogs and coffee drop-in sessions (whether in the office or virtually)
• we will promote awareness and the use of the Carers Passport to all IPO carers and managers: we will do this via managers briefings and Intranet articles. The purpose of the passport is to enable a carer and their manager to discuss and document the flexibilities needed to support the carer in combining caring and work. The aim is to minimise the need to re-negotiate these flexibilities every time an employee moves post, moves between departments or is assigned a new manager
• we will raise awareness of the difficulties carers experience with the aim of increasing understanding and making carers feel more valued: we will do this by sharing more personal stories from IPO carers
• we will continue to provide channels for carers to offload their concerns, share their experiences, provide support to one another and easily access professional advice and guidance from relevant agencies and charities: We will do this via coffee drop in sessions, training session (such as Dementia Friends) and providing contact details for other IPO Carers who are happy to have a one-to one chat
• we will spread the workload for the steering group: we will achieve this by delegating tasks evenly, seeking more steering group members who are willing to be hands-on, and making more use of the Inclusion and Diversity central team

Peer 2 Peer Network

Now in its fourth year, the Peer 2 Peer network is a self-led support group in the office.

The group meet on a weekly basis welcoming all staff who would like the support of the confidential peer group. Meetings are participant led and can be on a topic of personal importance or on wider more general issues. It seeks to support staff who experience mental health issues from depression and anxiety to bereavement and eating disorders. The informal arrangement of the meeting group encourages members to join as and when they feel it would be beneficial.

The group is complimented by some of its members being Mental Health Advocates and having the support of the Staff Counsellors.

Dave Watts

Senior Business Analyst, Co-Chair of the Peer 2 Peer Network

Fionan Dutson

Project Support Manager, Co-Chair of the Peer 2 Peer Network

• bring and Share Christmas buffet and hosting group meals with our London colleagues
• sharing experience and offering guidance to ONS colleagues wishing to set up a similar network. The two groups are now working together to plan cross site activities
• supported other IPO networks offering advice and participated in Diversity and Inclusion Marketplace events
• attended regional MIND events offering our experience and sharing successes.
• continuing the weekly meetings using Teams while all colleagues working from home during Covid-19 pandemic, ensuring the group support is a consistent offering to staff at a most difficult time
• plan more cross site opportunities with ONS colleagues
• develop the Peer 2 Peer Teams site providing colleagues with a useful resource toolkit
• continue to offer the Peer 2 Peer group support remotely throughout the Covid-19 pandemic

Sarah Watson Inclusion and Diversity Officer said…

I’ve recently found myself facing some really difficult personal circumstances. On my return to the office I bumped into Fiona Dutson (Co- Chair of the Peer 2 Peer Network) who invited me for a coffee and catch up. She mentioned that she was heading to the Peer-2-Peer group meeting later in the week and invited me to go along with her. I went with no expectations, but was hugely relieved that participation in any part of the meeting was totally optional and it’s fine to just sit and listen.

The sessions are informal but strictly confidential and membership of the group is open to any colleagues experiencing mental health issues that feel they would benefit from the support of a non- judgmental environment with others that are able to empathise.It was a huge relief to hear others talking about the challenges they were facing to make me realise that I’m not the only one and that with the help and support of groups like this, I can get back to some semblance of normality.

iPride

If you believe in equality, fairness and inclusion, then you can’t pick and choose.

iPride will stand for all those who have shared experience in the realms of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. We will also be an ally to any of our colleagues who need support or encouragement.

• top 25 in the Stonewall top 10
• represented the IPO at Pride events in Cardiff, Swansea and Bristol
• took an active role in LGBT inclusion within the civil service, locally, as part of LGBT Civil Service Network Chairs South Wales; and nationally at LGBT Civil Service Network Leaders Forum. We also took an active role across all sectors through the LGBT South Wales Network Chairs group. From an Intellectual Property perspective, one of our chairs sits on the IP Out committee which is a Inclusive Community for LGBT+ people and their allies working in the Intellectual Property professions
• provided speakers at events for Stonewall and Public Health Wales, which included giving advice on trans inclusion
• organised a joint LGBT and Mental Health event with IP Out with talks from Jonny Benjamin, a prominent mental health campaigner and Jonathan’s Voice, a mental health chari

Things we’ll concentrate on next year

• a new plan for allies, to foster better engagement
• top 10 on the Stonewall index!
• greater visibility within and outside the civil service, linking up with others to greater effect
• more focus on intersectionality, working with other networks and outside the IPO
• providing speakers and panel members for LGBT+ events and conferences to share our experiences and learn from others

iThink

iThink is the IPO’s neurodiversity network for colleagues with autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and so on.

We are committed to making the IPO a brilliant place to work for those with neurodiverse conditions and supporting all colleagues to better understand how these conditions affect people. We run staff talks about colleagues’ experiences of living and working at the IPO with autism and dyslexia along with a number of other projects to make the IPO a brilliant place to work.

Nikki Dowell

• we worked with IP Inclusive (an initative to promote and improve equality, diversity and inclusion within the Intellectual Property community) and ASC Cymru to deliver a webinar about “Colleagues on the autism spectrum” (recording and slides from the webinar are available) in September
• a colleague with dyspraxia gave a talk on his experiences of that and some background on dyslexia as part of IP Inclusive week in November 2019
• we ran two lunch and learn sessions on autism in the workplace for colleagues in which a colleague with autism and his former line manager share their experiences
• we successfully trialled providing ASC aware training to a patent examining group and intend to roll that out more broadly in the coming year to any groups that want it
• we have contributed to office initiatives around improving interviews for those with neurodiverse conditions, improving the accessibility of training and other documentation

Things we’ll concentrate on next year

We aim to work with IP Inclusive and Chwarae Teg to deliver a webinars about neurodiversity.

• we will investigate online resources on autism, dyslexia and dyspraxia to increase awareness of these conditions and how they affect people living with them for staff
• we will also investigate providing ASC Aware and other training via teams
• we want to continue our efforts to improve the interview process/recruitment for those with neurodiverse conditions, the accessibility of training and other documents

Robert Goodwill Associate Patent Examiner said…

The IPO of the UK promotes ‘diversity and inclusion’ as a concept for all its staff. This enables us, within the scope of workplace-etiquette, to bring our whole selves to work. It’s reassuring not to have to hide aspects of myself for fear of judgement which allows me to focus on the task at hand, usually patent examining.

The iThink network, the IPO’s neurodiversity network, provides neurodivergent employees, and employees who have neurodivergent family members, a place to network, provide mutual support, and discuss challenges encountered within the office as a result to being neurodivergent.

I’ve benefited from being a member of iThink and appreciate working in a setting where such networks are part of the office culture.

Inclusion and Diversity

We are all passionate about our responsibilities to support IPO and our people to deliver against this vision.

We are clear that our role is to enable our people-led networks and our I&D Steering Group to challenge the organisation to think inclusion first and deliver outcomes that ensure IPO is a fully inclusive organisation and employer of choice.

Inclusion and Diversity The Team

Francesca Burke

Nicola Smith

Corinna Roberts

Anne- Marie Switzer

Lesley Babb

• Disability Forum, Disability standard - 76% with Bronze
• Chwarae Teg Fairplay Employer benchmark achieved Silver 2nd Consecutive year
• Top 30 Working Families Employer 3rd Consecutive year (Top 5 in Government)
• Stonewall’s Top 100 Employers 2019 3rd Consecutive year (Top 5 in Government)
• gold in Mind’s Workplace Wellbeing Index
• gold accredited Investors in People
• All Wales Continuous Improvement Awards- Promoting a better Culture

Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths)

IIn 2019 we reported a mean pay gap of 21%, and median of 32%, in favour of men’s salaries when calculated using Government Equalities Office’s (GEO) methodology.

Whilst our concern isn’t one of gender pay (by grade there’s no more than 4% difference in base pay), there is an underrepresentation of women in specialist STEM roles in the IPO. 38% of our people are in specialist STEM roles. Although women make up nearly half of our workforce, the majority of them are in non-specialist roles. Our patent examining roles attract higher salaries due to their specialism, however, only 22% of these are taken up by women.

Although this issue isn’t exclusive to the IPO, we need to address any perceived barriers that are preventing women from pursuing a career in STEM. We are actively seeking to recruit more women into our specialist roles with the support of our STEM ambassadors and our Women’s Network. Work to date has covered:

• partnering with organisations such as Chwarae Teg (Welsh Gender Equality Charity) to review Job Adverts, Job Descriptions and our general approach to recruitment with a view to removing unintended barriers to women in STEM roles
• producing more targeted STEM content for social media channels and investing in a new website which gives an opportunity to show the IPO as an inclusive employer
• growth of our IPO Girls in STEM events
• a programme of work to raise the profile of Patent Examining as a career, seeking out more opportunities to speak at schools, universities and take advantage of media opportunities

• continuing a STEM based outreach programme in local schools and universities, delivering talks to students, aiming to inspire girls and women to study and build careers in these fields

• Senior Patent Examiner, Hazel Thorpe was announced as a Welsh Women in STEM awards finalist. We want to ensure our women are recognised for being at the forefront of innovation and are rewarded for that work
• using gamification (adding game mechanics into nongame environments) during recruitment campaigns to eliminate all sources of bias
• using challenge-based recruitment software in our IT areas to level the playing field, adding flexibility and fun to the process, ensuring selection is based on ability instead of confidence.
• a focus on the way we report against STEM jobs- ensuring we promote them more effectively, and are able to track more effectively the numbers we are attracting/ employing/promoting

Health and Wellbeing

As part of making the IPO a brilliant place to work our strategy commits us to support the physical and mental wellbeing of our people across all our activities.

We maintain a wellbeing roadmap which outlines the campaigns that we will get involved in during the year. Highlights from this year include the following activities:

• action on Hearing Loss’ provided free hearing checks
• Cancer Research delivered an informative talk for World Cancer Awareness Day
• we teamed with Screening Division Wales and invited staff to take part in cervical cancer prevention research
• Carers and Diabetes Week saw different staff members sharing their personal stories
• an annual flu jab programme during which over 200 staff took advantage of free vaccinations
• external speakers provided awareness talks on the signs and symptoms of sepsis, prostate cancer and ovarian cancer.
• action on Stroke provided free blood pressure checks.
• we gave away free fruit at regular fruit drops. Our free veg soup packs complete with recipe cards also continue to be very popular
• we continued to offer workplace massage sessions, weight loss group and various exercise classes
• Osteoporosis Assessment Service visited the office to provide part funded health checks
• we promoted Civil Service Active Wellbeing Week - advertising local walks and wellbeing services and giving people the opportunity to win daily prizes
• we advertised Bike Week and provided bike maintenance demonstrations and promoted IPO cycling facilities

Mental Health

• Rock Choir delivered an interactive singing session for Mental Health Week
• we took part in the Green Ribbon Campaign and staff shared maintaining good mental health hints and tips
• mental health first aiders have received further training, which includes mental health version 4 and suicide intervention skills
• mental Health first aiders visited teams across the organisation to promote their services.
• we ran further mindfulness sessions
• we collaborated with universities to better understand the challenges that new graduates face when entering the world of work.
• provide a series of ‘Pessimism & Perfectionism’ workshops by Wellbeing Republic
• Staff Counsellors continued to run stress reduction workshops.
• we continued delivering menopause awareness sessions for staff via a senior staff member who shared her personal experience.
• Samaritans delivered an informative suicide awareness session

Wellbeing Republic

• Nick Bloy provided a well-received all staff talk on the character traits that affect legal professionals. Due to demand we are arranging smaller workshops that look into this in more detail

Jonathan’s Voice:

• a charity set up in memory of Jonathan McCartney an IP Attorney. They have provided an all staff talk on male suicide in the legal profession and we will be working with them to review guidance documents and web pages

University of the West of England (UWE) & Nottingham University:

• we have held initial discussions with both organisations on what we can learn from their mental health initiatives with graduates

Vancouver Group:

• we’ve started to benchmark with other Intellectual Property offices in the Group (Canada and Australia). A report of mental health in our work places has been produced and we are now looking at what we can learn and how we can work with the Vancouver Group more closely

Mentors:

• we rolled out a programme where mentors from across the office support our new Patent Examiners

Training:

• training has been reviewed in light of best practice on mental health

Confident Wellbeing Leaders Training:

• mandatory training in positive psychology for SCS across government

Staff Counselling

At some point most of us will encounter issues, either personal or work-related which can affect our mental health and wellbeing. Colleagues, line managers and HR Advisors can offer support and guidance, but sometimes independent help is needed. Our Staff Counsellors are professionally qualified to offer therapeutic support to all staff. Much of the counselling work involves directly supporting individuals while they address problems that are either undermining their effectiveness at work or necessitating absence from work. As in previous years, most clients self-referred, indicating a high level of awareness of the service among staff. There has also been an increase in the number of staff who have been referred by line managers year on year, suggesting that various mental health awareness and training initiatives have been effective.

42% self-referred based on a personal recommendation.

22% found us via Intranet.

23% were advised to contact us by a line-manager.

Evaluation of the service

What did you think about your counselling experience

Staff feedback

The counselling I received was extremely beneficial, without it I don’t believe I would have been able to cope anywhere near as well.

Stay as you are. I wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you for your help and support.

I feel the counselling service is one of the best services the office can offer.

I’m now feeling much better and feel more equipped to deal with things going forward. Thank you!

I love the fact that we have the service as getting access to local counselling is really tough. I would definitely recommend to a colleague (and already have a couple of times).

The service is excellent, it’s great to have such a facility in the workplace. Could not be happier with the counsellor. They listen and only offer advice when needed.

Other work

The counsellors continued to work closely with the IPO Sustainability Team on a programme of work associated with the Mental Health Strategy. Staff Counsellors support the Mental Health First Aiders and Harassment Contact Officers and have links with the Peer-2-Peer support group.

Overall, our staff counsellors are a part of an evolving culture at IPO which aims to equip members of staff with the coping mechanisms and support networks they need to maintain good mental health. We recognise how much value our people put on these resources and have recently welcomed a new Counsellor to the team to ensure the quality of the service is maintained whilst a member of the team takes maternity leave.

Our staff counsellors

Ceri Davies staff counsellor

Jamie Palmer staff counsellor

Aimee Gregory staff counsellor

How we’ve developed our services for our customers

During 2019/20 we developed a customer strategy which explains how we plan to improve the experience of all our customers.

The customer strategy puts our customers at the heart of everything we do and highlights the importance of inclusive customer services.

Our User Research team are actively involved in The IPO’s Transformation Program to ensure that customers are at the heart of our future service offering, and helping support innovation and creativity in the UK. Whilst new digital services offer many benefits in terms of accessibility, we recognise that some of our customers will have particular needs which we must incorporate into our service design.

Our Information Centre assist customers with accessibility needs to use our services and in November 2019, we implemented a scheme inviting these customers to join our User Research Panel. This helps us evaluate accessibility of our services for all customers. In designing new services, we also use software plug-ins to simulate the effects someone with accessibility issues might experience. Particularly important with online services is the need to ensure that screen readers and “zoom” functions work correctly to support our visually impaired customers; not just on our own internet platform but also on a variety of other platforms and devices, including mobile phones.

In addition, we work with the Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) based in Neath, to test prototypes with real users affected with a whole range of accessibility needs. For example, in developing our new Digital Renewals service, which allows online completion of IP rights renewals, we have tested each iteration of the prototype with a range of users and have visited DAC to do rigorous evaluation. The Digital Renewals service is now being used effectively by many of our customers.

Sarah Whitehead

Head of Customer Strategy

Workforce data

IPO workforce

Disability Declaration Rate 79.5%

Sexual Orientation Declaration Rate 64.5%

Ethnicity Declaration Rate 71.6%

Religion Declaration Rate 64.4%

LGBT+

Heterosexual/straight 87.1%

Prefer not to say 8.47%

LGBT+ 4.42%

IPO age demographic March 2020

Gender

IPO Newport

Male 41.15%, Female 54.85%

Local Population Newport

Male 47.98%, Female 52.02%

BAME

IPO Newport

Non BAME 95.03%, Bame 4.97%

Local Population Newport

Non BAME 93.57%, Bame 6.43%

Disability

IPO Newport

Non disabled 93.34%, Disabled 6.66%,

Local Population Newport

Non disabled 83.38%, Disabled 16.62%

Working pattern

IPO Newport

Full time 80.14%, part time 19.86%

Local Population Newport

Full time 74.85%, part time 25.15%

Gender

IPO London

Male 39.13%, Female 60.87%

Local Population London

Male 45.62%, Female 54.38%

BAME

IPO London

Non Bame 57.14%, Bame 42.86%

Local Population London

Non Bame 33.42%, Bame 66.58%

Disability

IPO London

Non disabled 90% Disabled 10%

Local Population London

Disabled 88.% Non Disabled 11.90%

Working pattern

IPO London

Full time 86.96% Part time 13.04%

Local Population London

Full time 78.78% Part time 21.22%

Recruitment data IPO 2019/20

Recruitment by Gender

Recruitment by Disability

Recruitment by Ethnicity

Recruitment by Sexual Orientation

Recruitment by Age

IPO People Survey Findings 2019

Gender

• as last year, female staff are more engaged than male staff but the latter are 1% more engaged compared to last year

• engagement levels in the prefer not to say category stayed the same response numbers dropped from 90 to 83

Change from 2018

Ethnicity

• engagement figures for all staff have stayed the same compared to last year with those from a mixed minority ethnic background feeling more engaged that those from a white background

• those of Asian or Asian British (including Chinese) have increased by 6%

• 65 people preferred not to declare their ethnic origin this year (compared to 80 in 2018) and their level of engagement decreased by 3%

Change from 2018

Ethnicity Additional Data

• this year we have additional data beyond the grouped data broken down by individual ethnic categories
• many of the groups have their data suppressed due to data protection requirements but we do have data on the following groups with greater than 10 respondents

Change from 2018

Sexual Orientation

• engagement figures for LGBO staff have increased by 3% compared to last year despite engagement figures remaining the same for our heterosexual/straight population

• the number of people in the prefer not to say category has increased by one compared to last year but their engagement level has decreased by 1%

Change from 2018

Sexual Orientation Additional Data

• beyond the binary grouping on the previous graphs, we have additional data broken down into some of the specific LGBO orientations. We did not have this data last year for us to make comparisons with

Disability

• engagement figures for disabled staff have decreased by 2% compared to last year
• declaration rates have decreased: 165 declaring themselves as disabled compared to 190 last year
• we do not have data on the prefer not to say category this year but based upon the response rates below we can assume 103 preferred not to say compared to 90 last year.

Change from 2018

Working pattern

• similar trend to last year with those working part-time hours similarly as engaged as those working full-time

Change from 2018

Carers and those with Childcare responsibilities

• this year we have data on engagement by the above categories

Carer status

Childcare responsibilities

Reflections

Well, this year didn’t end quite as we expected!

Meanwhile our flexible working policies were flexed to the max! IT, together with the business, really pulled out the stops and got everybody working remotely as far as possible. HR ensured that our special and sick leave policies were inclusive and relevant and that we could give assurance to our people, confidence to our leaders and that we could keep the virtual doors open for our customers. Everybody was included.

Now how much of that would have happened if we were not already a great place to work, with Inclusion and Diversity a part of everything we do? Thankfully we’ll never know because this year we have built on past successes and have stretched ourselves further than ever before. We have reaffirmed our accredited achievements and reached out to tackle bullying and harassment and challenge discrimination through Respect at Work. We have started two new networks and we have talked about privilege and lived experience. We have evidenced improvements in rewarding performance fairly and we have collaborated with the Unions, BEIS, the Government Professions, external partners and IP Inclusive to push great to be brilliant.

We have used the evidence for the gender pay gap in our STEM roles to build an ambitious plan to shrink it, and learned that there is still more to do to stop bullying and harassment. These are our two big challenges for next 2020/21. We have made ambitious plans and to achieve them we all need to play our part. Inclusion isn’t optional and it isn’t about minorities or characteristics. It’s about everyone playing to their strengths and playing their part. The fact that we’re all different and yet share things in common allows us to check our progress and drive our ambition but inclusion is us and is our brilliant strength.

‘That’s why we now put the I before D.’

Ben Buchanan

Deputy Director, Chair of the Inclusion and Diversity Steering Group