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Home I am a civil servant Diversity Guidance for managers Gender equality

I am a civil servant

Gender Equality

You should ensure that men and women in your teams are given the same opportunities. People should not be overlooked if they work flexibly to manage family or other commitments.

What you can do

Be consistent:

• Encourage all staff to take their development seriously and give them the opportunity to do so.
• Keep an open mind when considering requests for alternative working arrangements and how they might work in the office - remember the legal rights of parents and carers.
• Do not tolerate any bullying or harassment in your teams - and make sure staff know about relevant departmental policies to tackle this.
• Keep in touch with staff when they are out of the office on maternity, paternity, adoption or parental leave - or any other type of paid/unpaid leave.

Ability is key:

• Don't make assumptions about a person's commitment based on the hours they work.
• Don't overlook a person for deputising duties or a temporary promotion on the grounds of working patterns, or domestic/caring responsibilities.
• For a performance appraisal, objectives should be jointly agreed between you and your member of staff.
• Staff reports should only be based on performance of competencies and the achievement of objectives.