1.1 KPI Recruitment Ltd. embraces diversity and will seek to promote the benefits of diversity in all of our business activities. We will seek to develop a business culture that reflects that belief. We will seek to widen the mediums in which we recruit to ensure as diverse as possible employee and candidate base. We will strive to make sure that our clients meet their own diversity targets.

1.2       KPI Recruitment Ltd. is committed to diversity and will promote diversity for all employees, workers and applicants and shall adhere to such a policy at all times. We will review on an on-going basis all aspects of recruitment to avoid unlawful or undesirable discrimination. KPI Recruitment Ltd. will treat everyone equally irrespective of sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, age, disability, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, political beliefs or membership or non-membership of a Trade Union or spent convictions, and places an obligation upon all staff to respect and act in accordance with the policy. KPI Recruitment Ltd. is committed to providing training for its entire staff in equal opportunities practice.

1.3 KPI Recruitment Ltd. shall not discriminate unlawfully when deciding which candidate/temporary worker is submitted for a vacancy or assignment, or in any terms of employment or terms of engagement for temporary workers. KPI Recruitment Ltd. will ensure that each candidate is assessed only in accordance with the candidate’s merits, qualifications and abilities to perform the relevant duties required by the particular vacancy.

1.4 KPI Recruitment Ltd. will not accept instructions from clients that indicate an intention to discriminate unlawfully.

2.         DISCRIMINATION

Unlawful discrimination occurs in the following circumstances:

2.1.      Direct discrimination

 Direct discrimination occurs where one individual treats or would treat another individual less favourably on grounds of sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, disability, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, political beliefs (“the protected categories”).

It is unlawful for a recruitment consultancy to discriminate against a person on the grounds that they are members of a protected category. -

•          in the terms on which the recruitment consultancy offers to provide any of its services;

•          by refusing or deliberately omitting to provide any of its services;

•          in the way it provides any of its services.

Direct discrimination would also occur if a recruitment consultancy accepted and acted upon a job registration from an employer which states that certain persons are unacceptable because they are members of a protected category, unless one of the exceptions applies, for instance, the job demands a genuine occupational requirement.

2.2.      Indirect Discrimination

A claim of indirect discrimination arises when an employer applies a provision, criterion or practice generally, but which is such that a proportion of persons in a protected category who can comply with it are considerably smaller than the proportion of persons who are not in that protected category.

Indirect discrimination would also occur if a recruitment consultancy accepted and acted upon an indirectly discriminatory instruction from an employer.

If the vacancy falls within the definition of a genuine occupational requirement or any other statutory exception KPI Recruitment Ltd. will not deal further with the vacancy unless the client provides written confirmation of the genuine occupational requirement

2.3 DISABLED PERSONS

2.3.1 Direct Discrimination

Direct discrimination against a person occurs where, if for a reason which relates to the disabled person's disability, an individual:

•          treats him less favourably than he treats, or would treat others to whom that reason does not or would not apply, and,

•          the employer cannot show that the treatment in question is justified.

Or

•          If on the ground of a disabled person’s disability, he treats the disabled person less favourably than he treats or would treat a person not having that particular disability, whose relevant circumstances, including his abilities, are the same as, or not materially different from, those of the disabled person. This type of direct discrimination can never be justified.

2.3.2 Duty to make reasonable adjustments and to provide auxiliary aids and services

This is a similar protection to indirect discrimination in the other protected categories.

Where a provision, criterion or practice applied by or on behalf of an employer, or any physical feature of the employer’s premises, places a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage in comparison with persons who are not disabled, it will be the duty of an employer to take such steps as are reasonable, in all the circumstances of the case, to remove the provision, criterion, practice or physical feature.

Agencies must take reasonable steps to provide auxiliary aids or services if this would make it easier for the disabled person to use their services. For instance, an appropriate auxiliary aid or service can include the provision of information on audiotape or provision of a sign language interpreter.

KPI Recruitment Ltd. will not discriminate against a disabled job applicant or employee on the grounds of disability -

•          in the arrangements i.e. application form, interview and arrangements for selection for determining to whom a job should be offered; or

•          in the terms on which employment or engagement of temporary workers is offered; or

•          by refusing to offer, or deliberately not offering the disabled person a job for reasons connected with their disability; or

•          in the opportunities afforded to the person for receiving any benefit, or by refusing to afford, or deliberately not affording him or her any such opportunity; or

•          by subjecting him or her to any other detriment (detriment will include refusal of training, transfer, demotion, reduction of wage, or harassment).

KPI Recruitment Ltd. will accordingly make career opportunities available to all people with disabilities and every practical effort will be made to provide for the needs of staff, candidates and clients.

Wherever possible KPI Recruitment Ltd. will make reasonable adjustments to hallways, passages and doors in order to provide and improve means of access for disabled employees and workers. However, this may not always be feasible.

3. AGE DISCRIMINATION

KPI Recruitment Ltd. will encourage clients not to include any age criteria or other subjective criteria in job specifications and every attempt will be made to persuade clients to recruit on the basis of competence and skill and not age.

KPI Recruitment Ltd. is committed to recruiting and retaining employees whose skills, experience, and attitude are appropriate to the requirements of the various positions regardless of age.

As far as is reasonably possible, no age requirements will be stated in any job advertisements on behalf of the company.

KPI Recruitment Ltd. may request age as part of its recruitment process but information will not be used as selection, training or promotion criteria or in any detrimental way and is only for compilation of personal data, which the company holds on all employees and workers.

4. COMPLAINTS AND MONITORING PROCEDURES

KPI Recruitment Ltd. has in place procedures for dealing with complaints of discrimination. These are available from Robert Ding and will be made available immediately upon request.

5. PART-TIME WORKERS

This Diversity Policy also covers the treatment of those employees and workers who work on a part-time basis. KPI Recruitment Ltd. recognises that it is an essential part of this policy that part time employees are treated on the same terms as full time employees (albeit on a pro rata basis) in matters such as rates of pay, holiday entitlement, maternity leave, parental and domestic incident leave and access to KPI Recruitment Ltd.’s pension scheme. KPI Recruitment Ltd.  also recognises that part time employees must be treated the same as full time employees in relation to training and redundancy situations.

6          HARASSMENT POLICY

KPI Recruitment Ltd. is committed to providing a work environment free from unlawful harassment.

6.1       Harassment on grounds of sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, disability, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, political beliefs or any other basis protected by legislation is unlawful and will not be tolerated by KPI Recruitment Ltd..

6.2       This policy prohibits unlawful harassment by any employee or worker of KPI Recruitment Ltd..

6.3       Examples of prohibited harassment are: -

6.3.1    Verbal or written conduct containing derogatory jokes or comments,
6.3.2    Slurs or unwanted sexual advances
6.3.3    Visual conduct such as derogatory or sexually orientated posters,
6.3.4    Photographs, cartoons, drawings or gestures,
6.3.5    Physical conduct such as assault, unwanted touching, or any interference because of sex, race or any other protected basis,
6.3.6    Threats and demands to submit to sexual requests as a condition of continued employment or to avoid some other loss, and offers of employment benefits in return for sexual favours
6.3.7    Retaliation for having reported or threatened to report harassment.
6.5 If you believe that you have been unlawfully harassed, you should make an immediate   report to Robert Ding follow by a written complaint as soon as possible after the incident. Your complaint should include:

•          Details of the incident
•          The name or names of the individual or individuals involved
•          The name or names of any witness or witnesses

7          KPI Recruitment Ltd. will undertake a thorough investigation of the allegations. If it is concluded that unlawful harassment has occurred, remedial action will be taken.

8          Any employee who KPI Recruitment Ltd. finds to be responsible for unlawful harassment will be subject to the disciplinary procedure and any sanction may include termination. [A person who discriminates or harasses may be liable for payment of damages to the person offended, in addition to any damages payable by KPI Recruitment Ltd.  should it have been found to have failed to ensure the practice ceased forthwith. Under the Criminal Justice Act 1994, harassment became a criminal offence, punishable by a fine of up to £5,000 and/or a prison term of up to 6 months. Under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, the penalties for aggravated harassment are an unlimited fine and/or 5 years imprisonment.]

8. GENDER REASSIGNMENT POLICY

8.1       KPI Recruitment Ltd. recognises that any employee or worker may wish to change their gender during the course of their employment with the Company.

8.2       KPI Recruitment Ltd. will support any employee or worker through the reassignment provided that full medical counselling has been undertaken and KPI Recruitment Ltd. has access to any relevant medical reports.

8.3       KPI Recruitment Ltd. will make every effort to try and protect an employee or worker who has undergone, is undergoing or intends to undergo gender reassignment, from discrimination or harassment within the workplace.

8.4       All employees and workers will be expected to comply with KPI Recruitment Ltd.’s policy on harassment in the workplace. Any breach of such a policy will lead to the appropriate disciplinary sanction.

8.5       Where an employee is engaged in work where the gender change imposes genuine problems KPI Recruitment Ltd. will make every effort to reassign the employee or worker to an alternative role in the Company.

8.6       Any employee or worker suffering discrimination as the result of their gender reassignment should make recourse to the Company’s grievance procedure.

8.7       Any discrimination complaint will be investigated fully.

vii. Information Security and Data Protection Policy

As a recruitment company KPI Recruitment Ltd processes personal data in relation to its own staff, work-seekers and individual client contacts. It is vitally important that we abide by the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 set out below.

KPI Recruitment Ltd holds data on individuals for the following general purposes:

·          Staff Administration

·          Advertising, marketing and public relations

·          Accounts and records

·          Administration and processing of work-seekers personal data for the purposes of work-   finding services

The Data Protection Act 1998 requires KPI Recruitment Ltd as data controller to process data in accordance with the principles of data protection. These require that data shall be: -

1.      Fairly and lawfully processed

2.      Processed for limited purposes

3.      Adequate, relevant and not excessive

4.      Accurate

5.      Not kept longer than necessary

6.      Processed in accordance with the data subjects rights

7.      Kept securely

8.      Not transferred to countries outside the European Economic Area without adequate protection

Personal data means data, which relates to a living individual who can be identified from the data or from the data together with other information, which is in the possession of, or is likely to come into possession of, KPI Recruitment Ltd.

Processing means obtaining, recording or holding the data or carrying out any operation or set of operations on the data. It includes organising, adapting and amending the data, retrieval, consultation and use of the data, disclosing and erasure or destruction of the data. It is difficult to envisage any activity involving data, which does not amount to processing. It applies to any processing that is carried out on computer including any type of computer however described, main frame, desktop, laptop, palm top etc.

Data should be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that it is accurate, relevant and up to date and those people listed in the appendix shall be responsible for doing this.

Data may only be processed with the consent of the person whose data is held. Therefore if they have not consented to their personal details being passed to a third party this may constitute a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998. By instructing KPI Recruitment Ltd to look for work and providing us with personal data contained in a CV work-seekers will be giving their consent to processing their details for work-finding purposes. If you intend to use their data for any other purpose you must obtain their specific consent.

However caution should be exercised before forwarding personal details of any of the individuals on which data is held to any third party such as past, current or prospective employers; suppliers; customers and clients; persons making an enquiry or complaint and any other third party.

Data in respect of the following is “sensitive personal data” and any information held on any of these matters MUST not be passed on to any third party without the express written consent of the individual:

·          Any offence committed or alleged to be committed by them

·          Proceedings in relation to any offence and any sentence passed

·          Physical or mental health or condition

·          Racial or ethnic origins

·          Sexual life

·          Political opinions

·          Religious beliefs or beliefs of a similar nature

·          Whether someone is a member of a trade union

From a security point of view, only those staff listed in the appendix should be permitted to add, amend or delete data from the database. However all staff are responsible for notifying those listed where information is known to be old, inaccurate or out of date. In addition all employees should ensure that adequate security measures are in place. For example:

·          Computer screens should not be left open by individuals who have access to personal data

·          Passwords should not be disclosed

·          Email should be used with care

·          Personnel files and other personal data should be stored in a place in which any unauthorised attempts to access them will be noticed. They should not be removed from their usual place of storage without good reason.

·          Personnel files should always be locked away when not in use and when in use should not be left unattended

·          Any breaches of security should be treated as a disciplinary issue.

·          Care should be taken when sending personal data in internal or external mail

·          Destroying or disposing of personal data counts as processing. Therefore care should be taken in the disposal of any personal data to ensure that it is appropriate. For example, it would have been more appropriate to shred sensitive data than merely to dispose of it in the dustbin.

It should be remembered that the incorrect processing of personal data e.g. sending an individual’s details to the wrong person; allowing unauthorised persons access to personal data; or sending information out for purposes for which the individual did not give their consent, may give rise to a breach of contract and/or negligence leading to a claim against KPI Recruitment Ltd for damages from an employee, work-seeker or client contact. A failure to observe the contents of this policy will be treated as a disciplinary offence.

Data subjects, i.e. those on whom personal data is held, are entitled to obtain access to their data on request and after payment of a fee. All requests to access data by data subjects i.e. staff, members, customers or clients, suppliers, students etc should be referred to Robert Ding whose details are also listed on the appendix to this policy.

Any requests for access to a reference given by a third party must be referred to Robert Ding, Managing Director and should be treated with caution even if the reference was given in relation to the individual making the request. This is because the person writing the reference also has a right to have their personal details handled in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, and not disclosed without their consent. Therefore when taking up references an individual should always be asked to give their consent to the disclosure of the reference to a third party and/or the individual who is the subject of the reference if they make a subject access request. However if they do not consent then consideration should be given as to whether the details of the individual giving the reference can be deleted so that they cannot be identified from the content of the letter. If so the reference may be disclosed in an anonymous form.

Finally it should be remembered that all individuals have the following rights under the Human Rights Act 1998 and in dealing with personal data these should be respected at all times:

·          Right to respect for private and family life [Article 8]

·          Freedom of thought, conscience and religion [Article 9]

·          Freedom of expression [Article 10]

·          Freedom of assembly and association [Article 11]

·          Freedom from discrimination [Article 14]

APPENDIX

The Information Manager is responsible for adding, amending or deleting data.