Noticing that its employees were having difficulty connecting with customers from cultures other than their own, WM Housing Group decided it was time to act.
So, included in the Group’s sustainability strategy is a training project designed to help integrate communities and promote their wellbeing.
It has, says the company, “transformed interactions” between its housing association customers and their affordable landlord across the West Midlands.
The project, dubbed “my culture your culture” (MCYC), has three goals: to boost understanding of different cultures and religions; to improve the service offered to migrant communities and ensure service equality; and to tackle common misconceptions.
Since launch in 2013, 300 WM employees have received the training along with 100 local residents, and the group has instated 45 community champions to spread the diversity and inclusion message.
The training package is interactive, visual and home-grown, in that it answers concerns raised by front-line staff.
The group’s community cohesion manager, Ravinder Kaur, led the project and carried out an evaluation as part of her master’s degree. She concluded that giving staff a new perspective on migrant integration would not only lead to a more inclusive society, it would give people more career options.
Using self-assessment, the training takes the bold step of forcing staff and people outside the business to challenge their own thinking. This, says the group, encourages adaption to change. Since the concerns being addressed were raised by the employees themselves during resident and staff focus groups, the initiative has the needs of the local community at its heart.
Within the group, certain important cultural considerations were not being taken into account. For example, calls were being made to Muslim households on Fridays when families were likely to be at prayer.
The training is tailored to gauge employees’ misconceptions and uses videos of migrants’ stories in the local area and information about how people practise religion in their country of origin.
To provide a context for new migration, workshops were run to educate customers on the history of migration affecting their communities and the demographic changes that had taken place over the years.
96% of participants said the training had been good or excellent.
Ravinder Kaur commented: “By educating staff and tenants about other cultures, it has been possible to dispel myths and eradicate stigmas, leading to improved relationships between staff and residents, in the workplace and in the wider community.”
The course focuses on tackling stigmas. However, its framework lends itself well to other community issues, such as mental health, the group has concluded.
Recently MCYC was cited as an example of best practice by the European Commission. With this endorsement, the scheme can be used to inform similar projects.
