At The Seafarers’ Charity, we welcome and celebrate all groups irrespective of their background and identity. Seafaring is international in nature and consists of seafarers from many different countries and cultures. We recognise the great diversity in the maritime sector and are committed to ensuring that we hear and understand the welfare needs of those with different opinions and experiences.
In 2020 The Seafarers’ Charity established an internal staff-led EEDI group who are given the time to come together to discuss and educate all staff on matters of race, nationality, gender, sexuality, disability, and mental health. The EEDI Group regularly bring interesting videos and materials to meetings of the whole staff team which prompt us all to engage in debate and discussion on different topics. In doing so, we challenge our thinking by providing training and educational resources to ensure that we remain aware of how pre-existing systemic issues impact diverse groups.
We have amended our charity’s GDPR and EEDI policies to further solidify the rights of all our staff members. In addition, we have developed and reinforced a ‘Coming Out Toolkit’ which will be given to staff upon their induction. We are aware that members of the LGBT+ community may feel apprehensive to start a new job and feel the pressure to either disclose or not disclose their gender and/or sexual identity. As a result, this document reminds our LGBT+ staff that they have the agency to decide if they would like to disclose this information. This toolkit also ensures that staff who are non-members of the LGBT+ community use their allyship. This will help to continue to make the workspace a safe and supportive environment.
We have formed a working group with other maritime charities to collaboratively take forward an approach to supporting and promoting greater equity, equality, diversity and inclusion within the governance of maritime welfare charities. There is a lot of research evidence about how diversity in governance contributes to diversity of thought and aids improved performance.
To further advance our charity’s commitment to EEDI, we have committed to Maritime UK’s Diversity in Maritime Charter, and encourage other maritime charities and organisations to commit to the journey too. We prepared for our Panel Interview in July 2022 and are now beginning a journey which will hold our organisation to account. This will ensure that we will continue making progress on understanding and embedding EEDI within our charity to ensure that our charity is fair and equitable.
