#BuildingDiversity
The Construction Industry Federation is proud to announce the launch of the CIF Diversity and Inclusion Charter in collaboration with The Irish Centre for Diversity.
This Charter highlights CIF’s commitment to Diversity and Inclusion in the construction industry and builds on the great work done by the #BuildingEquality campaign.
Sign pp
to CIF Diversity and Inclusion Charter
CIF members
Sign up and help promote diversity
This charter is available for all CIF members to sign up to and outlines their commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion in their company.
By signing up to this charter, members are publicly committing to taking small steps to promote diversity and inclusion in their workplaces and our industry.
The benefits to CIF launching and supporting this campaign are that we will attract and retain the best talent to our industry by actively addressing under-representation.
This is an initiative for company and organisation. Individual applications are welcome but company sign up requires authentication or approval from an appropriate organisation leader – e.g. CEO, Managing Director, Director etc
Benefits
to members who sign up include
A CIF Diversity logo for your company to show you have made this pledge
Appropriate social media exposure
Access to information, tools and examples of good practice through the Centre and CIF Training
More information
CIF Diversity and Inclusion Charter
The Construction Industry Federation, in collaboration with The Irish Centre for Diversity, presents the CIF Diversity and Inclusion Charter. Construction companies are increasingly integrating D&I practices into their organisations to ensure they and their workforces benefit from diversity and inclusion.
This charter outlines your commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion in your company. By signing up to this charter, you are publicly committing to taking steps to promote diversity and inclusion in your workplaces and your industry. By doing so, you’ll be joining thousands of other companies and organisations across Ireland in promoting D&I.
Construction companies, like other sectors, face enormous systemic and legacy challenge in promoting D&I. The CIF and the Irish Centre for Diversity are partnering to help companies that sign up to the Diversity Charter meet their commitment to diversity in a positive, practical and realistic manner. Companies that sign up to the Charter will have a year to make changes that meet minimum D&I best practice guidelines (set out by the Irish Centre for Diversity.) Companies that sign the charter will be able to measure their practices, policies and procedures against a set of diversity and inclusion standards and access support from CIF’s Training Department where required.
Bronze level criteria
- A company’s leadership team must have received Diversity and Inclusion training within two years.
- A company must have a number of up-to-date Diversity and Inclusion policies, the number depending on how many employees the company has. These policies must have been written or reviewed within two years. The Irish Centre for Diversity will provide a consultant to help staff write or review their policies. All policies must have been communicated to all staff.
Once bronze level is achieved within a year, the member is automatically signed up for the charter for the following year.
Construction companies commitment
Construction companies that sign up to the Charter commit to advancing diversity in their organisation by carrying out the following:
- Setting goals to make your workplace more inclusive;
- Identifying areas of unequal representation;
- Addressing issues found to effect change;
- Encouraging a more diverse pool of applicants in the recruitment process;
- Assigning responsibility for meeting your charter commitments to a named, senior level individual;
- Working together to develop and adopt future protocols that support the practical implementation of the aims of this charter.
Construction Industry Federation commitment
In turn, the Construction Industry Federation will:
- Recognise that organisations differ, and thus each organisation will set its own targets, strategy and implementation plan based on their capabilities;
- Require organisations to report on an annual basis on the activities and initiatives and their progress as a company.
Benefits to charter signatories
Benefits to charter signatories include:
- A CIF Diversity logo for your company to show you have made this pledge
- Appropriate social media exposure
- Access to information, tools and examples of good practice through the Centre and CIF Training
What is involved?
What is involved and how will my company be helped in its journey?
The Irish Centre for Diversity can support companies throughout their Diversity & Inclusion journey. There are three levels for your company to achieve: Bronze, Silver and Gold.
Every company that signs up to the Diversity Pledge must achieve Bronze level within one year.
The three levels of D&I commitment that companies can commit to are set out below.
Bronze – Committing
Investors in Diversity Bronze is all about helping you build a strong foundation that you can use as a platform, to embed EDI into wider organisational systems.
Investors in Diversity Bronze is designed to help get your organisation ready for your unique journey to becoming a diverse and inclusive organisation.
Silver – Embedding
Building on the requirements, of Bronze, Investors in Diversity Silver will measure the sense of fairness and belonging from your employees’ perspective.
Investors in Diversity Silver is designed to liberate the voice of your people and allow you to benchmark against other organisations whilst providing an overview of your key strengths and areas for development.
Gold – Leading
Investors in Diversity Gold is all about demonstrating the ‘lived experience’ of embedding Diversity and Inclusion across your organisation.
To achieve Investors in Diversity Gold, your organisation will be required to undertake an in-depth benchmarked self-assessment of your practices across our 5 principle pillars.
By signing the CIF Diversity Charter, your construction company is demonstrating its commitment to effective diversity management, preventing discrimination and promoting equality, diversity and inclusion.
Your promise
You promise to:
- Attract and retain the best talent to our industry while taking positive steps to address any under-representation;
- Support colleagues in all areas so they can contribute their best to the industry;
- Comply with the legal requirements to prevent discrimination and promote equality; and
- Build awareness and understanding of the benefits of promoting equality and diversity.
CIF understand that different companies will have different resources and must achieve diversity through different steps. CIF will support you and your company, big or small, in setting out their own targets and aims for creating diversity.
Training
Diversity and Inclusion
The CIF will be running Diversity and Inclusion training sessions for members who sign up to the Charter. These sessions will take place over half a day in CIF and will be presented by The Irish Centre for Diversity.
To express interest in the Diversity and Inclusion training, please fill out the form and a member of CIF will contact you with more details.
The Irish Centre for Diversity
The Irish Centre for Diversity’s aim is to work in partnership with organisations across Ireland to help them embed equality, diversity and inclusion in all they do. Their goal is to positively influence beliefs, attitudes, behaviour and conduct towards issues surrounding EDI. They want organisations to do more than just tick boxes; they want them to transform the workplace environment to one which is equitable and inclusive.
Their services include the highly prestigious Investors in Diversity accreditation, which is Ireland first all encompassing, diversity and inclusion mark offering a holistic approach to improving Equality and Diversity across all grounds. This comprises of Bronze, Silver and Gold-level accreditation.
Related resources
Of interest to EDI
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion webinars
Watch our webinar series featuring leaders in equality, diversity and inclusion sharing their advice and experiences.
International Women’s Day
Spotlighting some of the incredible women who are thriving in the construction industry across Ireland.
#BuildingEquality
From the archives: The #BuildingEquality campaign, which was launched in 2018, sought to change ingrained perceptions of the construction industry and promote equality of opportunity for all.