International Women's Day: How we are #embracingequity

On 8 March 2023, we celebrate International Women's Day. The theme this year is #EmbraceEquity but what does this mean and how are we working to achieve this?

Why is it important to be fully inclusive at Tom Owen and Son?

At Tom Owen and Son, we recognise that inequalities exist within our workplace and, more widely, across the funeral sector as a whole. We are committed to achieving Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and our strategy will help us achieve the changes of embedding a safe and inclusive environment for everyone, for our colleagues to be truly representative of all sections of society and they should feel respected and able to give their best. We have a responsibility to reflect on the impact we have on those that we support, our colleagues and the wider community.

Equity isn't a nice to have, it's a must have but do you know what Equity is and how this differs to Equality?

Equality means every individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities whereas Equity recognises that every person has different circumstances, and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. Put simply, it's not about giving everyone the exact same thing, expecting that will make people equal. This assumes that everyone started out in the same place and this can be hugely inaccurate because everyone isn't the same.

This video explains it really simply:

Our inclusive workplace approach

Inclusion and Diversity encompasses everything that we do. It is more than a commitment or tick box exercise for us. It is the right thing to do and is the way we work and isn't something we promote on just International Women's Day. It's more than #empoweringwomen social media posts on one day of the year for likes!

Thanks to our inclusive and diverse approach, our colleagues can realise their full potential because they feel valued and know they are an essential part of our team. When we started building our team, back in July 2020, it was imperative for us to include people from different backgrounds and value their perspective, because diversity in team members’ thinking will bring innovative solutions. As a company, we are reliant on a mixture of skills and therefore attracting and retaining the most talented and capable people is key.

We pride ourselves on creating an environment where differences are valued and encouraged, through:

What have we done to #embraceequity?

1. Family policies: in January 2022, we updated all of our family policies to ensure best practice and that they are inclusive to all new parents;
2. Menopause policy: we introduced a Menopause Policy in January 2022, something that was missing before, to ensure the women in our team are fully supported;
3. Collaboration: we are a member of a female only Networking group and regularly collaborate and support other female led businesses;
4. Charity: we are also a member of a female only charity, Soroptimist International, that supports women and children;
5. Learning for life: learning is a fundamental part of working at Tom Owen and Son. Whether it's on the job training, courses or webinars. Our colleagues are encouraged to access the opportunities available to grow their skills;
6. Health: We provide access to private medical insurance that is tailored to the women to provide much needed support for female health issues; and
7. Branding: Our advertising, website and social media regularly includes our female colleagues as we are proud to show them in action and don't just feature them one day of the year for vanity likes on Instagram and Facebook!