The LAPF Awards are a celebration of the outstanding achievements in the LGPS, which over the years has become recognised as mark of excellence.
We are delighted to share that this year we won the award for Diversity and Inclusion!
We are also thrilled to share that #LGPSJobs won Promotional Initiative of the Year, this was a campaign from Border to Coast Pensions Partnership which we were delighted to collaborate on to help promote career opportunities in the LGPS.
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is not just a pledge it's embedded into our culture at all levels, from our Values to how we have created specific and measurable EDI targets across various facets of our operations including; teams, governance, investments, and customer areas.
In our most recent Business Plan, "Our Pathway to Success" we have also introduced our resourcing plan which sets out our goal of a resilient, skilled and motivated workforce.
This is based on six core resourcing principles, one of which is "Inclusive" which promotes better decision-making by incorporating a diverse range of viewpoints, as well as enabling us to provide a better service to our scheme members.
During the past year we have also increased our staff training in this area, covering a wider range of areas;
Creating an Inclusive Workplace, Dignity and Respect at Work, Equality and Diversity Training, Samaritans Training - Conversations with Vulnerable People.
In our recent staff survey 90% agreed Wiltshire Pension Fund actively promotes an inclusive culture!
Staff continuously demonstrate their commitment to EDI, which we celebrate and champion through internal communications and news articles on our website.
Internally staff are encouraged to celebrate each other by sending an EPIC impression, describing how that person went above and beyond in demonstrating our values. This month we received some great impressions of the team demonstrating Inclusivity!
Sue has done an exceptional job at welcoming and training a wide range of new staff to the Pension Fund accounting team. Sue has made sure all training is provided in the right way to meet the needs of new apprentices and experienced new starters. She has done this whilst balancing a busy workload and variety of audit requests. Thank you Sue!
Chris was amazing at leading us through the appointment of our two new apprentices. Through the entire process he was focused on the right skills and attitude of the candidates. I learned do much from him and how he enhanced my own ability to look beyond and above. Chris sees potential and capacity that is in the person and with his guidance we were able to choose two great apprentices for our team!
Sarah welcomes new members of the team with open arms and supports them until they are ready to work independently. She works closely with all individuals ensuring their full understanding, irrespectively a level of knowledge at the start of their learning journey.
Nat as a new manager has taken to the role really well. She has spent the time to get to know everyone on the team and considers everyone's strengths and circumstances before making any decisions. You would think she's been managing people for much longer! Great work!!
Ali came to check-in on me after a busy day at work. This was really appreciated and showed how she is helping us to create an open and safe environment for us
all to work in. Thank you Ali!
Krystie designed a very inclusive campaign for pension awareness week to connect people with their pensions! She considered a diverse range of needs and perspectives of our customers. She arranged welcoming in person drop ins for people who prefer to discuss matters face-to-face, webinars for people who want information explained to them at different stages in their financial lives, and informative factsheets for busy people, with infographics to highlight key facts'
Thank you to all our staff for working together to champion and embed EDI into our culture, creating an inclusive place to work!