Launch of BS 76005:2017, Valuing people through diversity and inclusion

In 2015 BSI published the first standard in the BS 76000 suite. This suite is grounded in HR and helps to create principles for valuing people in organizations. They are intended to provide a framework for organizations to establish accountability and support innovative and sustainable practices that allow people to achieve their full potential.

On May 4 BSI launched a new standard in the suite; BS 76005:2017, Valuing people through diversity and inclusion. The launch was held at Manchester Museum and was attended by employers, academics and those working in industry bodies. The new standard is a code of conduct that can be used by organizations of any size and any sector and aims to help organizations embed diversity and inclusion by creating a framework for valuing people and providing recommendations for influencing, engaging and aligning diversity and inclusion expectations.

The standard is structured in three parts; getting in, staying in and moving on and the essence of the framework is that it should be implemented in organizations, communicated with customers or clients, the values shared with supply chains and finally engaged within communities. The standard is underpinned by leadership and top management commitment is essential and can be demonstrated through behaviours set out in the standard.

Speakers at the event discussed the need for this type of standard in modern workplaces. Although most organisations have equality policies there is often a lack of awareness and how it relates to broader organisational strategy and it is rarely seen as necessary for high performance and growth. The new standard will help organizations to embed systems, refine processes and review their performance and in time an auditing process will be implemented so that organizations complying with the standard can achieve certification.

For more information on BS 76005 please click here.