Guidance

Voluntary reporting on disability, mental health and wellbeing: DIT 2019

Published 30 October 2019

Introduction from Susan Caldwell (DIT Health and Wellbeing Champion) and Chris Barton (DIT Disability Champion)

In the Department for International Trade (DIT), employee disability, health and wellbeing is a core priority and is central to our ambition to become one of the UK’s most inclusive employers.

DIT was formed in July 2016 to help businesses export, attract investment, negotiate market access and free trade deals, and champion global free trade. Over the last 3 years, the department has grown rapidly and developed a new International Trade Profession that builds on the trade expertise we need across government, in the UK and overseas. Our services are provided in over 100 markets throughout the world.

We are a department with lots of staff working across the UK and overseas. This brings its own challenges and opportunities for delivering a consistently positive workplace experience to all colleagues. We are passionate about what we do, and we have prioritised getting the basics right (for example, in provision of workplace adjustments), supporting staff wellbeing, developing resilience and ensuring our leaders are equipped to be wellbeing and disability confident.

There is lots more for us to do on these issues, but as a department we can be proud of what we have achieved so far, and the plans we have for the future. We are very pleased to be participating in the Voluntary reporting framework on staff disability, health and wellbeing.

This report provides the Department for International Trade’s (DIT) latest report in accordance with the guidance for voluntary reporting.

What are we doing on disability?

As a department, we actively promote diversity and inclusion – this sits at the heart of our work and culture. We want an inclusive and diverse department. This supports our wider ambition to become one of the UK’s most inclusive employers.

DIT is an active member of the Business Disability Forum (BDF). We have made a commitment to people with disabilities - this includes those who work for and with the department as well as those who interact with our work. In 2018, DIT also achieved Disability Confident Level 3, demonstrating our commitment in building an inclusive workforce and providing support for those with a disability.

DIT Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan

In June 2018, we launched the DIT Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan. This plan highlights a range of priority activities and policies designed to improve representation and inclusion for all staff with protected characteristics, including those with a disability. As part of this plan, we have committed to getting the basics right.

DIT is proud of the work it has done over the past year to increase its workplace adjustment offer to its staff. In May 2018, DIT introduced Civil Service Workplace Adjustment Service (CSWAS) and the workplace adjustments passport. Since then, DIT Human Resources (HR) have work closely with a range of stakeholders to introduce a more simplified workplace adjustment implementation process for staff and line managers.

DIT has held regular initiatives throughout the year to promote the support available and the use of workplace adjustments passports. In addition, part of our focus was to ensure that we make the process of procuring adjustments as simple as possible, so DIT HR have produced a workplace adjustment catalogue which outlines the steps to follow for all adjustments. We also work with IT, estates, health and safety and communication colleagues, as well as line managers and colleagues across the department to ensure that we embed our work on disability confidence.

We are looking to continuously review our processes to ensure they provide all colleagues with the support they need.

DIT Disability Network

The DIT Disability Network is a very active and important staff network. It works closely with the DIT HR Directorate to provide support for colleagues with a disability and to help us all become increasingly disability confident both individually and as an organisation.

The network includes an additional 12 disability subgroups including but not limited to the:

• Visual Loss Group
• Hearing Loss Group
• Neurodiversity Network
• Working Through Cancer Network

Mentoring and development

DIT is also invested in building the diversity of our talent pipelines. We provide mentoring and reverse mentoring opportunities specifically for colleagues with a disability, and our senior leaders provide direct support to help them increase self-confidence, grow in their current role and become ready for new jobs and career opportunities. In addition, we proactively promote corporate talent and development opportunities. This year we are looking to engage in DELTA, which is a new accelerated development programme that supports the development of staff with disabilities or long-term health conditions at grade 6 and 7 with the ambition and potential to become future leaders of the Civil Service.

DIT data on disability

DIT was created in 2016 and since then the number of employees has increased significantly.

In 2018 (as at 31 March 2018), 11% of DIT employees declared themselves as living with a disability. In 2018, the average across the Civil Service was 10%, as reported by the Office for National Statistics.

Across DIT, we are making a continued effort to improve self-reporting on diversity. In the 12 months to July 2019 we have increased the average self-reporting rate for all protected characteristics to 64%.

The Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan includes the prioritised activities DIT will continue to focus on over the next 12 months to improve disability representation and support.

Note

The above data only includes staff who are able and expected to self-report on official enterprise resource planning systems. Fast streamers on Cabinet Office payroll, contractors and local staff working overseas are not included.

The representation data for DIT has been calculated in line with the methodology used to calculate the Civil Service data. This supports comparability and is as a proportion of all those with a known disability status.

What are we doing on mental health and wellbeing?

DIT Health and Wellbeing Plan

In 2018, DIT hosted its first Health and Wellbeing Festival to coincide with World Mental Health Day. The event was supported by Jonathan Jones, Permanent Secretary for the Government Legal Department, and the Civil Service Health and Wellbeing Champion. Our directors took part in a session to raise awareness about mental health, and the Permanent Secretary signed the Time to Change Pledge on behalf of DIT.

In 2019, DIT launched its first Health and Wellbeing Action Plan. This supports our ambition to build an outstanding department and become one of the most engaged, diverse and inclusive departments in Whitehall. We are committed to being a leading employer in health, wellbeing and mental health. Our wellbeing activities are motivated by a desire for our employee experience to be engaged and inclusive.

We work in partnership with UK Export Finance (UKEF) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to deliver a plan that reaches across our global footprint.

The plan responds to internal priorities and government standards, including the core and enhanced standards as set out in the Thriving at work review of mental health by Lord Dennis Stevenson and Paul Farmer. Mental health forms a key part of the health and wellbeing plan, whose aims include:

• building wellbeing confident leaders to create a positive wellbeing culture
• encouraging a local health and wellbeing culture and an open dialogue on mental health
• preventing and managing stress at individual, manager and organisation levels
• building resilience within teams, individuals and the organisation to help us all cope with change and uncertainty

To support embedding a positive wellbeing culture, DIT has rolled out wellbeing confident leaders training to 90% of leaders. We want to create visible and effective leadership through leaders who understand their personal impact and influence over the wellbeing of their team.

Information, support and services

We have developed an active network of 40 wellbeing advocates. These advocates model behaviours in line with the health and wellbeing plan - they actively support, promote and engage others in the Health and Wellbeing Team’s key messages. The department has over 50 Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAs) within the UK, and works in partnership with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to support staff overseas who have approximately 160 MHFAs.

It is important that our staff have a route to talk about concerns relating to mental health. We also support staff through one-to-one resilience coaching, and our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offers the opportunity to resolve issues or more serious problems, whether they are personal or work related. This support includes confidential counselling and support for issues within the areas of work, bullying, harassment, family, relationships, money and retirement.

Training and raising awareness

To support staff and managers, we have provided tools, information and training in areas including personal and team resilience, spotting and managing stress, and mental health awareness.

Since the launch of the plan, DIT has increased its efforts to raise awareness about the importance of health and wellbeing. During 2019, an internal communications campaign has promoted national campaigns, including Mental Health Awareness week and World Mental Health Day. Events have included activities such as personal blog posts from staff and senior leadership sponsors who have promoted the importance of speaking up about mental health.

DIT data on mental health and wellbeing

The Civil Service People Survey provides us with a measure of personal wellbeing levels, using the same national statistics that the Office for National Statistics use for the UK population.

For DIT there are 3 significant differences observed between 2016 and 2018, in relation to mental health data, which shows areas of improvement^{[footnote 1]}:

1. a significantly lower percentage of respondents answered negatively to question W04 in the 2018 People Survey compared to 2016 - this relates to levels of experienced anxiety
2. the average HSE index was significantly lower in 2018 compared to 2016
3. the average PERMA index was significantly higher in 2018 compared to 2016

Note

The HSE index and PERMA index were not automatically calculated in the 2016 data, but instead were calculated manually using the completely identical methodology as described in the 2018 Technical Guide. Margin of error bars (or 95% confidence intervals) are shown in the bar chart to display the amount of uncertainty associated with the survey estimate for a particular group. This uncertainty exists because of variability within the sample and because not everyone responded to the survey. If the margin of error bars between groups overlap, then we cannot be confident that the difference between the two figures is a ‘real’ difference.

What are we doing next?

Through the activity outlined above, we have developed a clear baseline of our data and developed our offer around disability, mental health and wellbeing. However, there is more we wish to do.

Our focus on disability over the next 6 months will be to:

• continue to establish a committed and disability confident department, with a focus on improving line manager disability confidence
• continue the effective provision of workplace adjustments across DIT
• provide guidance and support to talented individuals with a disability, enabling them to reach their potential and succeed
• measure DIT progress against the Business Disability Standards

Our focus on mental health and wellbeing over the next 6 months will be embedding a positive wellbeing culture within teams.

We will also be introducing new approaches to support employee mental health to deliver:

• support for employees on financial wellbeing
• more sociable and connected DIT workplaces, helping employees live sociable and connected lives

1. Data source: Civil Service People Survey 2018 Personal Wellbeing: The Office for National Statistics measures and publishes data on personal wellbeing across the UK on a quarterly basis. The statistics relate to 3 positive wellbeing measures – life satisfaction, sense of purpose (‘activities in life are worthwhile’), and happiness, along with one negative measure ‘anxiety’.

   PERMA Index: Since 2016 we have been monitoring an index of ‘flourishing’ by combining 5 Civil Service People Survey questions related to 5 dimensions of flourishing - positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment.

   HSE Proxy Stress Index: the proxy stress index is a combination of 8 Civil Service People Survey questions which reflect the HSE Stress Management Standards and gives a measure of the conditions which can lead to (or reduce) stress in the workplace. The first results were published in 2018. ↩