Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy

1. Policy statement

[TeamTalk Ltd] is committed to equality of opportunity. It opposes and will not tolerate unlawful discrimination, harassment or victimisation in any part of its business, and aims to provide a working environment in which everyone is treated with dignity and respect and is able to do their best work.

This commitment is not incidental to what the company sells. TeamTalk exists because frontline workforces in the United Kingdom are multilingual and are frequently not reached by communication designed for people with a desk and a work email. A company that builds that product should hold itself to the standard it argues for.

2. The protected characteristics

Section 4 of the Equality Act 2010 sets out nine protected characteristics: age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; and sexual orientation. The company will not discriminate against, harass or victimise any person because of, or for a reason related to, any of these, whether directly or indirectly, and whether the person is an employee, a job applicant, a contractor, a customer, a supplier or a visitor. Discrimination by association or by perception is treated in the same way as any other.

3. Scope, and where this policy applies

This policy applies to every stage of employment and engagement: advertising and recruitment; the terms on which work is offered; pay and benefits; access to training, promotion and opportunity; performance management; conduct and grievance handling; and termination. It also applies to the way the company deals with customers, suppliers and members of the public, and to conduct at work-related events and on work-related communication channels, wherever they take place.

4. What the company does

• Recruitment on merit. Roles are described by the skills and experience genuinely needed. Selection is made against those criteria alone. The company does not ask about health, disability or family plans before making an offer, other than to arrange adjustments to the selection process itself.
• Reasonable adjustments. Where a provision, criterion or practice, or a physical feature, or the absence of an auxiliary aid, puts a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage, the company will make such adjustments as it is reasonable to make. This applies to job applicants as well as employees, and the cost of an adjustment is met by the company and never by the individual. Anyone may request an adjustment at any time, and does not have to describe their condition in order to do so.
• Flexible and remote working. The company is remote-first. Flexible working requests are considered on their merits, and the company recognises that flexibility is often what makes work possible for carers, disabled people and parents.
• Equal pay. Pay is set against the role and the market, and is reviewed for consistency at least annually. Employees are free to discuss their pay with each other.
• Accessible communication. Company communication is written in plain English. Where a person's first language is not English, or where they have a communication-related impairment, the company will provide information in a form they can use.
• Harassment. Unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic that violates a person's dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment is prohibited, whether or not it was intended that way. The company also takes reasonable steps to protect its people from harassment by third parties such as customers and suppliers, and will raise the matter with the third party's organisation where it occurs.
• Suppliers and customers. The company expects the organisations it works with to hold equivalent standards and reserves the right to raise, and where necessary to act on, conduct that falls short.

5. Responsibilities

Every person engaged by the company is responsible for their own conduct and for treating colleagues, customers and suppliers fairly. [Name, Director] holds overall responsibility for this policy and for acting on any concern raised under it. Individuals can be personally liable for acts of discrimination and harassment, and the company will not indemnify anyone against that liability.

6. Raising a concern

Anyone who believes they have been discriminated against, harassed or victimised, or who has witnessed it happening to someone else, should raise it with [name, email], or, where that person is involved, with [alternative contact]. Concerns can be raised informally in the first instance where the person prefers. A complaint will be taken seriously, dealt with promptly and confidentially so far as possible, and the person raising it will be told the outcome. No one will suffer any detriment for raising a concern in good faith or for supporting someone else's complaint. Deliberately false allegations are a disciplinary matter; a mistaken but honest one is not.

A breach of this policy is a disciplinary matter and serious cases are treated as gross misconduct. Nothing in this policy affects an individual's right to bring a claim in an employment tribunal, and the company will not seek to discourage anyone from doing so.

7. Review and note on the public sector equality duty

This policy is reviewed at least annually and whenever the law changes. The public sector equality duty in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 binds public authorities and, under section 149(2), those exercising public functions. [TeamTalk Ltd] is a private supplier and does not exercise public functions, so the duty does not apply to it. Where the company supplies a public body that must have due regard to the duty, it will provide the information that body reasonably needs.