whg pledges to bring diversity and inclusion into the boardroom

whg has signed up to the National Housing Federation’s Chairs’ Challenge, in a commitment to create a Board that is more equal, diverse and inclusive (EDI).

As part of the challenge, the leading Midlands’ landlord altered its Board recruitment process to ensure it attracted a diverse range of applicants.

This included creating a new recruitment pack and utilising existing community networks and social media platforms to widen the applicant base.

Gary Moreton, Chair of whg, said: “We were conscious as a Board that we weren’t representative of the communities we serve or of our colleague groups. We’ve known for some time that we wanted to change that, and it’s not just ethnicity or gender, it’s also age and life experiences.

“We used our networks to push the advert out and had lots of conversations with people who said they might be interested in applying and encouraged them to do so.”

As a result, someone without previous housing experience, and a whg customer were appointed, bringing fresh ideas into the boardroom.

The Chairs’ Challenge encourages chairs to lead the way in creating more diverse and inclusive organisations within the housing sector.

To find out more, Gary’s blog is available at https://www.housing.org.uk/our-work/governance/Roadmap-to-equality/case-study/