Why we ask and how we use this information
Below we've outlined some of the reasons that we ask you to answer diversity monitoring questions:
Being proactive on inclusion
More on being proactive
The more information we have about our staff and students, the more we can anticipate community needs and proactively update our policies, processes, and resources available. Whether it be provision of hearing loops or gender-neutral toilets, knowing who our community are and what they need will help us prioritise the work we need to do.
Monitoring and analysing data is an important part of Equality Impact Assessments, a review process which helps us to design and deliver better and more inclusive services, projects, and procedures.
More detailed data will also allow us to do more intersectional work, considering the needs of staff and students with more than one personal or protected characteristic. This is difficult to do unless a large number of staff and students have answered diversity monitoring questions, because small numbers mean that individuals could be identified if multiple characteristics are examined.
Example: INspire
Our data show a lack of diversity at senior staff levels (see our KPIs on increasing diversity in leadership). To tackle this, in 2021, Warwick launched a unique programme, INspire, designed to support leaders who face well documented barriers getting into top leadership positions.
Through sessions led by Dr Rob Worrall, peer mentoring, coaching, sponsorship by Executive Board members, and opportunities to converse with leaders from a wide range of sectors, our pilot cohort of INspire participants have had the opportunity to explore their unique identity as a leader and plan career paths.
Two of INspire participants have already achieved promotions since completing the programme.
Hear from one of our participants in the INspire pilot here.
Benchmarking
More on benchmarking
The University works towards a number of charters, audits, awards, and benchmarking exercises which allow us to measure our progress on inclusion and identify areas for improvement. These submissions require us to present data on the diversity of our population and collate, analyse, and develop actions in response to issues identified from the data presented.
Higher proportions of staff and students answering diversity monitoring questions will improve the quality of our data and, therefore, our ability to submit to these benchmarking activities and see how we compare to others.
Example: Race Equality Charter
We’re proud to have been awarded the Race Equality Charter Bronze award, independent recognition of our commitment to working towards race equality and determination to tackle race inequality at all levels.
We’ll be reporting progress against our action plan to Council and Senate regularly, and we’ll continue to consult and update the Warwick community on our progress.
Hear from Mike Shipman, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International), about racial equality work at Warwick.
Evaluating our inclusion work
More on evaluation
The University aspires to remove economic, social, and cultural barriers that have prevented people from working, studying, and succeeding at Warwick and create a culture which truly recognises, respects, and values diversity
One of our key objectives of our Social Inclusion Strategy is to increase the diversity of Warwick’s staff and students. In order to assess whether or not our efforts towards this objective are working, we need to know how diverse our staff and student population is and track trends over time.
Answering the diversity monitoring questions will help us see where we're doing well, and where we still have work to do.
Example: Pay Gap Reporting
In our annual report - Closing Our Pay Gaps - we provide information on pay gaps at the University for the snapshot date of 31 March. In line with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017, we report the gender pay gap, but we also want to go further than this. Although there are no formal requirements to do so, the last two year’s we have published our ethnicity and disability pay gaps, and in 2021 also added our LGBTQUIA+ pay gap.
We analyse this data and look at the context for the figures, and we set out our continued commitment to improve pay gaps at the University, through steps we’ve already put in place and the further actions we have identified.
Providing adjustments
More on adjustments
Under the Equality Act 2010, all public bodies - including the University - must provide reasonable adjustments or aids to disabled people.
Staff and students sharing information about disabilities helps the University to offer effective adjustments and any additional support required.
Find more about adjustments:
- Staff: My Adjustment Passport is a tool to help you to have meaningful and confidential conversations with your line manager or other University representative.
- Students: Disability Services can support you to access a range of adjustments, exam arrangements, advice, and one to one study skills support.
Example: My Adjustment Passport
One MAP user said:
"Where you experience any kind of chronic health condition, mental or physical, approach your line manager or HR representative to discuss adjustments as soon as you can. For years I avoided this, thinking I could manage my workload perfectly well, that divulging the details of my condition would make me seem weak or unprofessional, and that perseverance was the only course of action for a truly ‘dedicated academic’. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Where I thought I would find judgement, I have found empathy and support - and surprising amounts of care and consideration from students. There’s no need to be a superhero… the system is there to help. And it will do if you share your experiences and needs."
Find out more about MAP, and read more quotes from people who have requested adjustments at Warwick here.
Meeting statutory obligations
More on statutory reporting
Institutions - including the University - are required to collect and return diversity monitoring data to sector agencies such as the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), regulators such as the Office for Students (OfS), and research funding bodies.
When returning data on staff and students to external organisations, such as HESA, data must follow a specific format. As such, our questions are largely informed by this format. You can find more about HESA staff and student reporting requirements on their website.
Example: Access and Participation Plan
Under the terms of our registration with the OfS as mandated in the Higher Education and Research Act of 2017 (HERA), the University must have in force an Access and Participation Plan and take all reasonable steps to comply with the provisions of the plan. You can see Warwick's Access and Particpation Plan here and read more about Warwick's Widening Particpation work here.
The Public Sector Equality Duty
More on the PSED
The aim of the Specific Duties of the Equality Act is to make public bodies transparent about their decision-making processes and give the public the information they need to hold public bodies to account for their performance on equality.
The Specific Duties require public bodies, including the University, to publish information relating to employees who share protected characteristics.
You can read more about the Equality Act and Public Sector Equality Duty here.
Example: PSED Data
In compliance with our duties under the Public Sector Equality Duty, you can see staff and student demographic data here.
You can find more about how we uses responses to each question below:
Return to the an overview of diversity monitoring.
A list of what we ask and some guidance on how to answer.
Assurance on anonymity and who can see your responses.
Details of how to update your record online.