Diversity and our values

London is best served by a GLA that is equal, diverse, representative and inclusive.

The GLA’s ambition is to create a fairer, more equal city for all Londoners – whatever a person’s race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability or socio-economic background. To do this to the best of our ability, we must have a workforce that reflects London’s diversity.

The keys to our success include our knowledge of the lived experience of Londoners; the breadth of our perspectives; our reach into communities; and our capacity to innovate to bring about positive change. These all depend on us attracting and retaining amazing staff, at all levels and in all teams, who are collectively representative of the city we serve.

Being an inclusive organisation is central to our values. We want all staff to have the same positive experience of working, progressing and feeling they belong in the GLA. We want everyone to be respected for who they are, and to be able to have their voice heard. We are determined to eliminate our ethnic, disability and gender pay gaps, and we value highly the contributions of our many brilliant staff networks. We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation. We do not tolerate discrimination in any form.

But until our workforce is representative of London, and until every member of staff has the same positive experience of working here, we have more to do. We are committed to taking all possible steps to ensure that our workforce, in all teams and at all levels, fully reflects the diversity of London.

That means that, more than ever, we need to put equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of how we work and how we engage with each other. So, in 2022-23, we will:

• expect all managers to contribute proactively to embedding an inclusive culture at the GLA, and will hold them to account for this
• expect all staff to take personal responsibility for understanding and appreciating colleagues whose lives, for whatever reason, are different from their own
• ensure that our core recruitment, progression, learning and development, and other processes are fair to all current and prospective members of staff
• review the channels of communication, and spaces for discussion, available to staff to share their experiences of working at the GLA directly with senior management, and to ensure their voices are heard
• all take personal responsibility for accelerating our progress towards being an equal, diverse, representative and inclusive GLA in the coming year, by meeting our own objectives.

We will be a better, more effective organisation for being a truly inclusive one.

We want City Hall to be a workplace where every employee is treated with respect, and where there is no bullying or harassment. For example:

• we encourage and support different equality groups, who do everything possible to stop discrimination
• we have a general duty to promote equality through our policies and initiatives
• all staff attend a course to understand what diversity and inclusion means within their role, and how to challenge unsuitable behaviour at work
• we take accusations of bullying and harassment very seriously. We look into all complaints quickly, fairly and in strict confidence. If the complaints are backed up, we will take disciplinary action.

This dignity at work policy has the full support of the Mayor, Assembly, Head of Paid Service, senior management team and UNISON.

Find out more information about our commitment to equality.