Diversity at the CBAA and in our sector

The CBAA is committed to ensuring we have a diverse workforce and an inclusive and respectful environment.

Our approach to diversity encompasses the cross-section of people that make up our membership and the wider community we serve and includes ethnicity and cultural background, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical abilities, family status, religious beliefs, perspective and experience. It also refers to diverse ways of thinking and working.

In 2016, we have adopted new diversity policy, which sets this commitment out in detail and gives us something against which to measure our progress.

For the CBAA, diversity underpins our desire to improve our team performance and work to our full potential to achieve our strategic goals and maximise value for our members. Diversity is important because it helps provide for broader perspectives in relation to decision-making and a greater insight into the demographics of the community in which the organisation operates.

One of the targets that we’ve set, for example, relates to gender diversity. This says that 50% (give or take 10%) of the staff team and those in leadership roles should be women. Currently, following the implementation of our gender diversity voting system, 54% of leadership roles are filled by women and 45% of the staff team are female.

There is still work to do across our sector in this area and a strategy and targets are being set by the CBAA as a matter of priority. I encourage all stations to consider diversity and adopting a diversity policy, if you haven’t already. If you’re not quite sure where to start, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’re here to provide you with information and advice, and will be developing resources specifically to support stations in the area of diversity. I look forward to sharing more on this with you soon.

Jon Bisset is the CBAA's Chief Executive Officer.