The EDI toolkit has been created with help from BPCA’s EDI Committee, a group of dedicated volunteers from across the pest management community.
The toolkit aims to help get businesses and teams ready for being diverse and inclusive, in order to enable them to fish in bigger pools when recruiting new talent.
What is EDI?
Equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is an approach that promotes fairness and full participation for everyone, particularly groups that have been historically underrepresented or discriminated against.
The EDI concept is made up of three points:
Equality
Ensuring everyone has the same opportunities and is not treated differently or discriminated against.
Diversity
Recognising and valuing people’s different backgrounds, knowledge, skills, and experiences.
Inclusion
Seeing differences as a benefit, and ensuring people feel comfortable sharing their perspectives.
Why is this useful to pest controllers?
In the last couple of years, pest management businesses have found recruitment a struggle. A lack of new talent combined with a large number of retiring pest technicians has led to a huge struggle for many companies.
The pest management sector should be an opportunity for everyone, no matter their background, to develop their skills and realise new and exciting careers.
A good EDI framework in your business can help with:
Recruitment
With an estimated 40% of the work force retiring in the next ten years, it’s more crucial than ever to start attracting new talent into the pest control industry. EDI when recruiting new staff can help reduce bias and attract better candidates.
Retention
A diverse workforce is strongly connected to employee retention, as employees feel accepted and respected.
Improved financial performance
Research has found for every percentage increase in the rate of racial or gender diversity, there was an increase in sales revenues of approximately 9-3% respectively.
Increasing new business
92% of employers interviewed in a government study report diverse recruitment has enhanced their reputation and helped them win new contracts.
Chair of the EDI Committee, Julia Pittman, said: “We’re really proud, as a committee, of the toolkit that we’ve put together for the sector. Our hope is that it helps enable the pest management community in the UK to grow, thrive and have a level of future-proofing that we currently don’t see.”
The EDI Toolkit
The toolkit is designed for professional pest management businesses looking to enhance the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion within their workplace.
There are a range of resources available in the document, including recruitment tools and more information about EDI.
There’s also a great deal of information and case studies on how to support those in your business with protected characteristics, such as age, disability or sexual orientation.
BPCA chief executive Ian Andrew, believes it’s time for the industry to step up and make a commitment to the principles of EDI. He said:
“There’s never been a more important time to open our arms as an industry and welcome people from all walks of life, into what is an exciting, challenging field.
“Keep an eye on our comms to see how you can sign the BPCA EDI Charter and pledge your support to being an inclusive pest management business.”
BPCA members can download the EDI toolkit from BPCA’s website.