Choose a theme:

  • Standard
  • Dyslexia
  • High contrast

Equality Works London

Shepherdess Walk Buildings
2 Underwood Row
London N1 7LQ
Tel: 0207 251 4939

Equality Works Manchester

10th Floor, Bridgewater House
Whitworth Street
Manchester M1 6LT
Tel: 0161 200 8540

Marsha John, Business Improvement Manager at East Thames Group

An interview with Marsha John
Business Improvement Manager with housing association,
East Thames Group 

Marsha John is Business Improvement Manager responsible for equality and diversity at East Thames Group (ETG), the largest housing association in the East London and Essex area. ETG manages more than 13,500 homes and is one of the top 40 housing associations in England.

 
Equality Works (EW) have been working with East Thames Group for almost two years on a specially tailored programme of equalities training for their managers and staff. A recent training day which focused on leadership skills and diversity - ‘Meeting the Success Criteria’ - was run by Marsha and Equality Works for ETG’s Group Executive.
 
In this recent interview, Marsha enlarges on the equality and diversity projects she’s been developing with EW and the benefits these have brought to East Thames Group and its customers.
 
 
 
What are your key objectives for Equality & Diversity over the next few years?
 
“At East Thames Group, the Equality Scheme we have in place is expected to create big changes and improvements. Here are some of the objectives of our Three-year Plan:
 
Firstly, we want to improve the quality of the products and services we provide for people of all backgrounds – as well as making everything we do more accessible.
 
We’ll be working hard to understand the preferences of our customers, especially how they get information from us. One of the main ways we’ll be doing our ‘fact finding’ is by talking to people direct!
 
We want to make our workforce representative of the overall community at all levels. We currently employ around 70 per cent women and 50% from ethnic minorities. 
We also want to make sure that our people who are actually working ‘on the ground’ are representative of the community in which they’re working. This will be part of our focus when we’re recruiting.
 
Our fourth main objective will be with procurement. We want to make sure that everything we do is transparent and that it delivers value for money. We also want to include a diverse range of suppliers, develop framework partnerships and so on.
 
“Of course, we’ll be measuring the results of our work to see how far initial objectives have been met. This will include looking at customer satisfaction and analysing the outcomes of regular inspections.”
 
 
Why is your approach to equalities aligned to your business objectives and priorities?
 
“Quite simply, it took a year to come up with the revised Equality Scheme – but our commitment to its main principles had always been in the Business Plan. 
 
“The refreshing thing about the new scheme was the opportunity it gave us to review everything – and that included the key driver of all this which is making sure we understand our customers’ profiles. For example: four years ago, we had approximately 40 per cent of our customers’ profiles. Now we have 90 per cent.
 
“Focused projects have been the result. This is now a part of the work of our service improvement teams which is monitored using our balance scorecard. Thanks to this new approach to equalities and customer profiling, we can see clearly the improvements we need to make. E & D is integral to how we do business.”
 
“Our new approach to E & D has delivered real-world benefits. By taking the mystery out of E & D, we have created measurable, practical results. This has come in part from the use of equality impact assessments (EqIAs).
 
“These have been used not only to ensure that non-discriminatory practices are in place, but also to make sure we’re pro-active in our service delivery. A good example can be seen in the way we re-structured our Care and Support Department.”
 
 
What steps have you taken to ensure that equalities are aligned with your business objectives?
 
“To begin with, the business planning process is on the same timeline as our Equality Scheme. The structure is really focused, ‘Champions on the Board’ meet yearly and leadership is at Executive level.
 
“We also felt it was important that service improvement teams take the lead in various ways. We’ve aligned business areas with the improved approach we have to service delivery. Also, the new balanced scorecard has a number of diversity measures – to which we’ve added a new ‘diversity score-card’. To monitor all this, Reporting was introduced this year for the very first time – and an Annual Diversity Review has been issued.
 
“Our training activities with Equality Works (EW) gave us some excellent feedback from managers. Equality monitoring training has also brought some useful results, whilst the EqIA workshops we’ve been running with EW have provided real practical support to managers in improving the services they provide for customers.
 
“E & D is now an integral part of the new procurement strategy at East Thames Group where both we and our suppliers have targets to meet.”
 
 
How has this benefited East Thames Group?
 
“The work we’ve done with Equality Works in E & D has had so many positive effects for both East Thames and our residents.
 
“The communication we have with them has improved enormously, whilst the customer intelligence profiles we now have are being used to plan, shape and deliver a better, more focused range of services.
 
“The Reporting mechanisms we now have in place keep the Board well informed so we can all play an improved role in meeting people’s needs by providing better resources and communication. It’s no accident that we’ve seen a real shift in Key Performance Indicators!”
 
 
What changes or improvements have you made to your service delivery as a result?
 
“Without exaggeration, I can say that all areas have seen positive changes. These range from recognising the needs of disabled residents by creating dedicated resources, to recruiting people and adopting recruitment policies that reflect the neighbourhoods where we operate.
 
“At a broader level, we can now use customer information when planning and reviewing our services, as well as equality impact assessments to make sure that the restructuring and reviews of our services are in line with the Group’s non-discriminatory approach.”