Staff benefits

Our Staff Networks connect our growing council by creating spaces for our staff to access support, guidance, and belonging.

Women's Fellowship

The Women's Fellowship Network has been established to support the interests of women at the council.

The Women's Fellowship aims are:

• Networking and creating a community within the Council
• Activism and Empowerment
• Creating a safe space for women and their allies where open and honest conversations can take place
• Upskilling members through workshops and opportunities such as chairing meetings and presenting

Race Equality Network 

The Race Equality Network's aims and objectives are:

• To be an activist group promoting the rights and fair practice for non white staff across all employment related matters
• To scrutinise the council's approach/response to relevant matters and to challenge/act as a critical friend where appropriate
• To support non-white employees to obtain senior positions within the council successfully. This includes new positions or promotions, which include positive action.
• To be a safe space for non-white employees to share experiences and seek peer support.

Through the REN network, we have made real inroads into effecting change, taking an active role in:

• Ethnicity Pay Gap
• People strategy
• As well as being invited to team/ directorate meetings to widen awareness

In addition, the following working groups have been set up, made up of REN members:

• Safe Space Clinic Champions is made up of six REN members. We offer a confidential safe space for staff to discuss issues of discrimination that are detrimental to their working and private life.
• The Mentoring Scrutiny Group is made up of six members. It was set up to challenge how the current Mentoring Programme at Waltham Forest meets the other strategies in place. This includes the Ethnicity Pay Gap strategy, and how it will work towards improving the work and career opportunities of those staff taking part.    
• Unconscious Bias training scrutiny group
• The Appraisal system scrutiny group 

This is all being done by REN members alongside their day job. 

I joined the BAME group as it was known at the time in June 2020. It started out with about eight of us but everyone from the original group has moved on, apart from myself and Sienna Gardner-Hillaire. We became co-chairs of the Race Equality Network (REN) at the end of 2020.The last couple of years have been a bit of a rollercoaster, with the Safe Space Clinic, headed by seven amazing REN members, the aim to give staff a voice. We have met with Directors, Heads of Service and are building relationships across the board.

Our motto is “to show no fear.” Belief in yourself is the key to excelling in everything you do. I am proud to be a member of REN because nothing changes if we aren't all be part of that push for change.

LGBTQ+ Network

The LGBTQ+ network is a diverse group of colleagues who promote the interests of LGBTIQ+ colleagues. LGBTIQ+ includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and any other sexualities and gender identities.

Their work mainly involves informal peer support, hosting awareness events, and overarching scrutiny of council policy and practice.

We arrange fun social events, including movie and coffee mornings for our members to socialise and meet new colleagues who they might not otherwise meet. We also want to ensure we are developing positive working relationships with other LGBTIQ+ groups who represent our LGBTIQ+ residents in the borough.

The network is open to council staff who identify as LGBTIQ+. We recognise the importance of LGBTIQ+ allies in the organisation. However, we do choose to restrict membership to LGBTIQ+ people to ensure a safe space for those who may not be ‘out’ to colleagues, friends, or family. We are looking at ways to involve our ally community going forward. We invite all allies to sign up to our mailing list to find out about what we're up to in the network.

Differently Abled Forum

The Differently Abled Forum is a private group for council employees who self-identify as disabled, impaired, or differently abled. The group meets once a month and is designed to give mutual support. It also helps to educate others and address the challenges the community faces.

The forum also focuses on driving structural changes the Council can make to be a fairer employer. It has successfully implemented fixed desk signs for colleagues who require them and had sign-off from SLT to review and improve the Reasonable Adjustments Process at the Council.

I joined the Council in 2019 and contacted HR to ask if there was any support in place for disabled employees. I wanted to set up the forum as I have had my own experiences of disability discrimination. I wanted to create a safe space for peer to peer support where we can offer solutions to one another.