Policy Statement

As an employer and as a provider of health tech services, Awell is fully committed to ensuring fair and equal treatment of all Employees & contractors, Job applicants, Customers and potential Customers.

Equal opportunities as an employer

• We expect all people to have an equal opportunity for employment and advancement on the basis of ability, necessary qualifications and fitness for work irrespective of sex, age, gender reassignment, disability, marital status, civil partnership, sexual orientation, color, race, creed, religion, national or ethnic origin. As an equal opportunities employer, we recognize that diversity is a positive attribute and we understand and welcome the differences that a diverse culture brings.

• We value openness, accessibility, fairness and transparency.

• We will avoid unlawful discrimination in all areas of employment, including recruitment, promotion, training, discipline, redundancy and pay and benefits.

• Employees who become disabled will be given every reasonable and practicable consideration and opportunity to help them remain in employment.

Responsibilities

Awell

• To comply with the letter and spirit of this policy.

• To value diversity in society and in our workforce as a means of broadening Awell’s talent pool, achieving the highest levels of performance, and enabling all employees to reach their full potential.

• To identify the various behaviors and barriers that discrimination can take, and understand the negative effect these can have on Awell; its employees and customers.

• To dispel the myth that only certain types of people are suitable for certain types of jobs or training.

• To monitor the application of the https://awellhealth.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AH/pages/3523936310, and work towards eliminating any discriminatory practices which may be limiting our ability to achieve our objectives, thereby maintaining our reputation as a fair and responsible employer in the eyes of Awell’s Employees & contractors, Investors, Customers, and the public.

Employees & contractors

• We expect every employee to help us meet our commitment to creating a positive, diverse culture by upholding this policy.

• Special responsibility for applying this policy falls on those employees involved in the recruitment, selection, promotion and training of employees. These special responsibilities may give rise to training needs which we will provide for in our training and development plans.

• Any employee who believes they have been harassed or discriminated against has a duty to inform their line manager, see https://awellhealth.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AH/pages/3523903511

• Any complaint that is unfounded and not made in good faith, for example, a malicious complaint, will be treated as a disciplinary offense.

• Any employee who becomes aware of discrimination against another employee or customer has a duty to advise their line manager, Head of Operations, or CEO. They have a responsibility to investigate the matter and recommend appropriate action.

• We will not tolerate discriminatory language or behavior towards our employees or customers. Acts of discrimination, harassment, bullying or victimization are disciplinary offenses that we will deal with under https://awellhealth.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AWELL/pages/3415506985.

Awell’s commitments

Diversity

We commit to increasing the diversity of the whole team (including the board) over time.

We are setting ourselves the following targets, to be reached by the end of 2024:

• A gender-balanced team (at least 40% women)

• One-third of the team made up of under-represented groups (i.e. people of color, people with disabilities and people who identify as LGBTQ+)

Inclusion

We commit to creating an inclusive environment that enables everyone to perform at their best, where we recognize the rights of all individuals to mutual respect and where there is an unbiased acceptance of others. We have a strong set of shared values (see https://awellhealth.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AH/pages/3503882307) and these will become our guide when we face the inevitable "bumps in the road".

Recruitment

• All job descriptions are to be checked for potential gender bias (by using online tools)

• The final candidate shortlists (i.e. started the interviewing process) of our recruitment pipelines should be gender-balanced (with the exception of 33% women in the engineering team) and have a minimum of 33% representations from under-represented groups

• One of the selection criteria to generate the final candidate shortlist should be: “Does this person bring something different to the team? How?”.

• We will hire the best candidates out of the “balanced shortlist”

• We will look for differences while looking for a set of shared values.

Pay and promotion

• We will continue our commitment to ”Equal pay for equal job & contribution”. People who do the same job and perform at the same level get paid the same amount (within a certain band), irrespective of gender, ethnicity, etc. The only difference in compensation will be driven by performance.

• We will promote the best candidates irrespective of gender, ethnicity, etc.

Reporting and accountability

To ensure we hold ourselves, and others, accountable we are committing to reporting on KPIs every quarter. These reports will be shared with our team internally and the board.

KPIs that we will track include:

• Gender on the team, and board

• Under-represented groups on the team, and board

• Hiring pipelines for roles

• Activities aimed at making progress

While the aim is to hold ourselves accountable, we will also use the reporting window as an opportunity to reflect and revise our approach.

The law on discrimination

Protected characteristics

It is unlawful to discriminate directly or indirectly in recruitment or employment because of an individual’s:

• Age

• Disability

• Sex

• Gender reassignment

• Pregnancy

• Maternity

• Race (which includes color, nationality and ethnic or national origins)

• Sexual orientation

• Religion or belief

• Marital or civil partnership status

These are known as "protected characteristics". Discrimination after employment may also be unlawful. An example of this would be refusing to give a reference for a reason related to one of the protected characteristics.

Types of unlawful discrimination

Direct discrimination is where a person is treated less favorably than another because of a protected characteristic. An example of direct discrimination would be refusing to employ a woman because she is pregnant.

In limited circumstances, employers can directly discriminate against an individual for a reason related to any of the protected characteristics where there is an occupational requirement. The occupational requirement must be crucial to the post and a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Indirect discrimination is where a provision, criterion or practice is applied that is discriminatory in relation to individuals who have a relevant protected characteristic (although it does not explicitly include pregnancy and maternity, which is covered by indirect sex discrimination) such that it would be to the detriment of people who share that protected characteristic compared with people who do not, and it cannot be shown to be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Harassment is where there is unwanted conduct, related to one of the protected characteristics (other than marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity) that has the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity; or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. It does not matter whether or not this effect was intended by the person responsible for the conduct.

Associative discrimination is where an individual is directly discriminated against or harassed for association with another individual who has a protected characteristic (although it does not cover harassment because of marriage and civil partnership, and (according to guidance from the Government) pregnancy and maternity).

Perceptive discrimination is where an individual is directly discriminated against or harassed based on a perception that they have a particular protected characteristic when they do not, in fact, have that protected characteristic (other than marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity). 

Victimization occurs when an individual is subjected to a detriment, such as being denied a training opportunity or a promotion, because they made or supported a complaint or raised a grievance under the Equality Act 2010, or because they are suspected of doing so. However, an individual is not protected from victimization if they acted maliciously or made or supported an untrue complaint.

Failure to make reasonable adjustments is where a physical feature or a provision, criterion or practice puts a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage compared with someone who does not have that protected characteristic and the employer has failed to make reasonable adjustments to enable the disabled person to overcome the disadvantage.