Pride in Progress exists to empower LGBTQ+ employees to achieve their full potential by creating a positive and supportive working environment and, in turn, delivering inclusive service to our customers, tenants, and communities.
By helping to give LGBTQ+ employees a critical voice in the Group, the network ensures that LGBTQ+ inclusion can be embedded across the organisation, and provides a safe space of support for colleagues.
The focus of Pride in Progress has been on visibility, sharing experiences, and encouraging debate. Colleagues have shared stories, highlighted awareness events and campaigns, prompted discussion, and encouraged voices from across the Group to be heard.
We are very proud that an LGBTQ+ group exists here at the Group to help colleagues feel welcome.
Our equality, diversity, and inclusion networks connect colleagues and encourage conversations.
All our networks are initiated and led by our employees, run by our employees for our employees, and sponsored and supported by the organisation.
The networks aim to benefit all employees, including those within the groups, by:
- Providing a support system for colleagues to share experiences, information, services, ideas and knowledge among people with a common interest
- Enabling colleagues to feel safe to be themselves at work and to feel positive to achieve their personal and professional goals
- Improving the visibility of and increasing celebration of diversity within the Group
- Improving and developing people's understanding of and commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)
- Developing people's thinking and delivering good practice and continuous improvement in EDI
- Furthering actions within the Group's Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy and action plan
- Building inclusion
- Challenging stereotypes
- Improving understanding of the challenges our tenants may face related to EDI, and with this knowledge, helping the Group provide a better service, alongside our Customer Promises and RAMP customer service style framework.
- Being inclusive to all employees, encouraging participation as possible, with all the networks open to new members from across the Group.
Pride in Progress, the Group’s LGBTQ+ Network aims to provide a supportive environment for employees who are lesbian, gay, bi and trans, and allies.
Our networks
Pride in Progress - our LGBTQ+ Network Group
The Roots Network promotes diversity and raises awareness of ethnically diverse issues.
Our colleagues are passionate about promoting equality and issues that affect ethnically diverse colleagues. Some of us are from ethnically diverse backgrounds, and some of us are allies.
The Roots Network aims to:
• Raise awareness of ethnically diverse issues - be ambassadors
• Affect strategic change
• Influence policy
• Influence communication and marketing - encourage a diverse approach and diversity of people
• Celebrate and promote diversity
• Identify learning for individuals and the organisation
• Create a safe space to speak about issues that are affecting us
• Be role models.
We have hosted Black History Month events and completed the Race Equality Week challenge.
We feedback to our Senior Leadership Team on race issues and blog regularly throughout the year to bring attention to cultural celebrations or topics.
At Progress Housing Group, we are proud to have a Menopause Network for colleagues.
Called Meno Movers, our network raises awareness, providing a safe space to share experiences and support each other without judgement.
We welcome everyone to get involved. Formed by, and led by, our colleagues - for all our colleagues - Meno Movers aims to:
• raise awareness of menopause
• provide peer support to anyone going through (or supporting someone going through) menopause and perimenopause, and,
• provide valuable information, support, and signposting.
"At my previous employers, menopause wasn't mentioned at all. So, coming to Progress Housing Group and seeing how the Group is willing to support its employees, and acknowledging how it can affect women in the workplace, is a real positive step forward." - Meno Movers member
The meno Movers network launched the Group’s Menopause Toolkit. It's a one-stop shop for colleagues to find out more about menopause - the common symptoms, how it can impact people at work and those you work with, possible adjustments to support our colleagues in the workplace and how we can help everyone by having conversations about it.
Our Meno Movers members are leading the conversation around menopause at the Group, affecting positive changes in the workplace for colleagues, and making menopause a leading, open, honest and transparent conversation in our workplace - as it should be!
Our Carers Network at Progress Housing Group became Carers Together in March 2022.
Carers Together is a network of Progress Housing Group colleagues offering informal peer support.
Carers Together meets monthly and alternate between informal catch-ups with the chance to chat with other carers, and the opportunity to take part in an information session led by a guest speaker on a topic of relevance.
Are you a carer? Do you provide help, support or assistance to a relative or friend in their day-to-day life? If so, then you are probably a carer and you may not even realise it!
"It can be a very lonely journey with lots of uncertainty, never knowing if you are doing the right thing or if your 'best' is good enough; it is for this reason that our colleagues set up Carers Together." - Diane Nash, Customer Voice Manager, and Carers Together member.
At Progress Housing Group we recognise and value the work that carers do and want to help carers access the information and support they need, where and when they need it.