Jersey Employer Group

About Jersey Employer Group

The Jersey Employer Group (JEG) was an independent body which brought together representatives from all industries to help ensure that the Island's workforce was prepared for the jobs of the future.

JEG considered:

• the factors that influenced Jersey's jobs market, and how jobs would change by 2035
• the workstreams that JEG used to address those changes:
• Future Jersey talent including the development of career pathways across sectors as well as cross sector coaching, mentoring and secondment opportunities
• early careers and school engagement working with Jersey employers and education providers to develop early career paths and opportunities
• diversity and inclusion which launched a toolkit and worked​ with Jersey employers to embed robust diversity and inclusion practices to ensure a positive workplace culture

Strategic Workforce Plan (SWP)

JEG's Strategic Workforce Plan (SWP) set out how automation would radically change or render obsolete 27% of all jobs in Jersey by 2035.

The SWP proposed a two-phased approach to ensure that Jersey's workforce adapted, and Jersey had the mechanisms, resources and personnel in place to retain and attract talent into all industries. There were also wider considerations outlined in the plan such as migration policy, the cost of living, governmental engagement and measurement of progress.

JEG used the SWP to implement a long-term plan which involved:

• developing the skills required for Jersey employers' future business needs
• offering an attractive employee proposition to retain local talent and encourage talent from competing jurisdictions to move to Jersey
  
• recommending where Government action was needed
  

 Jersey Employer Group Strategic Workforce Plan

The Strategic Workforce Plan​​ key findings

The SWP's key findings were:

• automation would radically change jobs across all of the Island's major industries and so Jersey needed to take decisive steps to build the skills required for these evolving jobs
  
• education would require interventions in the education system. Work was already underway to embed digital skills in the curriculum, but it would be essential to build capabilities and mindsets that support the broader skills identified in the SWP throughout the education lifecycle, including apprenticeships, graduate schemes, and summer internships
  
• shared knowledge was already successfully being used to build skills, and Jersey's educational institutions could learn from counterparts in the UK, and tap into their resources and programmes
  
• retaining talent would require robust data collection on the students who left Jersey for higher education
  
• partnerships between Jersey's major employers and education could be further developed to help build future-focussed capabilities
• coaching and mentoring through pairing students with senior colleagues from across Jersey's main industries helped them remain connected to a specific industry and the island while studying
  
• cross-industry mentoring programmes or secondments helped build skills, encourage greater career mobility and support the development of transferrable skills
  

Strategic Workforce Plan considerations

Data from the last My Jersey survey highlighted concerns about the increasing gap between cost of living and earnings, and the impact it had on many people's quality of life.

The SWP suggested that the Government should:

• manage the tracking and measuring of JEG's initiatives to ensure they were effective and delivered a return on investment for the Island
  
• consider the implications of immigration policy on Jersey's attractiveness as a destination for talent, noting the high cost of living could deter people from staying in Jersey compared with competing jurisdictions
  

Jersey Employer Group Strategic Workforce Plan

Workstream 1: early careers and school engagement

The purpose of this workstream was to work together with Jersey employers, education and government representatives to consider the findings and recommendations of the SWP in relation to young people's career paths, future skills and opportunities.

Workstream 2: future talent (including coaching and mentoring)

The purpose of this workstream was to work alongside Workstream 1 and collaborate with Jersey employers, education and government representatives to consider the findings and recommendations of the SWP in relation to Jersey's future talent.

Skills assessment survey

The skills assessment survey was created to help Skills Jersey, Digital Jersey and Highlands College better inform new professional development programmes. This helped develop islanders skills and provided a more structured progression pathway.

Diversity and inclusion working group

About the working group

The working group focused on a benchmark approach to diversity and inclusion within the workplace in Jersey. 

The workstream developed a Diversity and Inclusion toolkit which was made available to all organisations. The toolkit provided the framework to help organisations begin or improve their diversity and inclusion journey.

Businesses used the toolkit to attract talent and build a more diverse workforce. It provided guidance to employees and business leaders on implementing robust diversity and inclusion practices to create a better workplace ​for all.

Diversity and inclusion toolkit

The toolkit was created to provide Jersey organisations with a free and accessible resource. The toolkit helped organisations to:

• understand their minimum statutory obligations
• provide guidance on how to exceed these requirements
• improve the culture of their organisation
  
• make their business a better place to work 

Benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace  

Employee diversity was associated with better business results, including improved financial performance and increased employee retention rates.

People were generally likely to have the same ideas and values if they had the same background, education, culture or geographical origin. They were less likely to challenge each other and were more likely to be influenced by the unconscious bias inherent in the community. This did not lead to balanced or diverse ideas and was ultimately a disadvantage to businesses.

Conversations and idea generation sessions involving diverse groups were likely to benefit from a wider range of ideas, perspectives, views and experiences.

The majority of organisations' client bases were diverse. Having a diverse workforce helped organisations to meet the expectations of that client base and improve the offering, value proposition and ultimately the success of the company. Organisations that targeted the same type of clients repeatedly could limit their business growth. Demonstrating a commitment to diversity helped organisations attract a wider range of clients.

Within the Island community it could be difficult to recruit a diverse workforce, especially in smaller industry sectors or within small local businesses. This toolkit provided a starting point for organisations to consider the culture and values they wanted for their business, whether they were a team of 100, 10 or 1. The toolkit encouraged organisations to promote cultures that supported diversity and inclusion across the Island.

Toolkit index

 1. Leadership and the board's role

2. Top ten reasons for diversity and inclusion in your business

3. Checklist: where to start

4. Diversity and inclusion roadmap

5. Diversity and inclusion: culture statement

6. Guidance for employees

7. Recruitment: best practice guide

8. Inclusive recruitment guide

9. Eight powerful ways managers can support equality

10. Lean In Jersey: mentoring agreement template

 11. How to include diversity and inclusion in your marketing campaigns

12. Example policies from Jersey Advisory and Conciliation Service (JACS):

• parental leave policy
  
• inclusivity policy

For more information and guidance on local policies, organisations can contact Jersey Advisory and Conciliation Service (jacs.org.je)

13. Resources for your business:

• 10 benefits of diversity in the workplace image
  
• 30 ways to be inclusive poster
• Culture guidance and calling it out
• IOD Diversity and Inclusion Charter Journey 
• Jersey IOD Diversity and Inclusion checklist
• Things to learn to say campaign image
• Unconscious bias and tips for inclusion
• Diversity and inclusion learning on RBC.com
• gender bias case​ studies on leanin.org
• women in the wo​rkplace on leanin.org
• diversity and inclusion on n2growth.com
• ​ Simon Sinek on why​ diversity matters on YouTube
• the danger of a single story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Novelist
• inclusion, exclusion, illusion and collusion Dr. Helen Turnbull
• the paradox of diversity by Dr. Marylin Sanders Mobley
  
• cultural difference in business by Valerie Hoeks, founder China Inroads 
• 3 ways to be a better all​y in the workplace by Melinda Ep​ler

Help and information

Organisations seeking further help or information about diversity and inclusion in the workplace ​​​​might want to consider contacting one of the organisations below.

• Enable Jersey: Life​ Without Limits
• Eyecan
• Autism Jersey
• dDeaf Partnership Board
  
• Jersey Employment Trust
  
• Beresford Street Kitchen
• Les Amis
• Jersey Mencap
• DIFERA Lib​erate Jersey Liberate Jersey run an employer accreditation scheme called DIFERA that demonstrates to employees, clients and suppliers that your organisation places diversity, inclusion, fairness, equality, respect and acceptance at the heart of what you do