The Calico Group
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The Calico Group are innovative charities and businesses, working together to create social profit, rather than financial profit.
They do this by keeping their customers and staff at the heart of everything they do and making this the driving force behind their wide range of high-quality services across the North West.
Each part of The Calico Group has its own specialism, expertise and a track record of providing a complete community service in housing, healthcare, support, employability and construction.
INCLUSION STATEMENT
Calico’s purpose is To Make a Difference To People’s Lives. Our Values and Behaviours reflect how we should do things within The Calico Group; At Calico we understand that each individual is unique, and we recognise and celebrate our individual differences. We believe diversity and inclusion is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance; to embracing and celebrating our diversity.
When it comes to our people, we recognise, value, and celebrate difference in its broadest sense; creating a culture and practices that embrace our unique attributes for everyone’s benefit. We want people to bring their whole selves to work and feel safe in doing so. We readily challenge individuals or groups who do not recognise the value in difference.
We firmly believe that understanding the different needs of our colleagues, customers and partners is essential to maximising our organisation’s potential.
CEO STATEMENT: ANTHONY DUERDEN
Our customers are some of the most vulnerable people in our society; we support people who are in active addiction, give refuge to women and their children fleeing domestic abuse, and offer safe houses to men fleeing domestic abuse. We support homeless people who are suffering from mental health issues or substance misuse. We work in the prisons to help rehabilitation and work with ex-offenders, so they have a contributory life. We support and house refugees fleeing war torn countries.
The diversity of our customers is reflected in the diversity of our colleagues; this helps us understand our customers, empathise with, and know their circumstances so we can support and make a real difference to their lives. We employ ex-offenders, people who are in active recovery from substance misuse, women who have survived domestic abuse, we have given traineeships to refugees, we employ over 70 apprentices, we support some of the most vulnerable in our society giving them the skills and knowledge to change their circumstances. The diversity of our Calico Group employees goes beyond the typical protected characteristics and I am so proud of this.
We challenge discrimination, barriers and inequalities in our communities and in our business. At Calico we are determined to demonstrate the value of diversity and inclusion, and influence others to do the same.
We do have targets for the protected characteristics that are set by census data, but we are determined and successful in achieving much more than this. Being Part of the Inclusive Companies and Black Leaders Network demonstrate our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
While I feel proud of the work we do, we are always listening and learning, and I know we will always be able to learn from other companies and people. I also know that I can do and learn more.
I know that the Group needs to improve the diversity of our colleagues and boards in certain areas and we are taking demonstrable steps to do this. Diversity is key to the success of our Group and I will continue to celebrate and champion diversity and challenge acts of discrimination
EMPLOYEE PERSPECTIVE
Zubeda Khatun
Project Manager in Construction
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I have worked with Calico for the last 10 years but only feels like I started the other day. My career has progressed as I started on a government work scheme called the Future Jobs Fund programme, to help young people out of work obtain the relevant work experience to eventually secure a permanent job. My first step into Calico was as a Lettings Assistant within the Neighbourhood Management Team in 2011 but since then, I have moved around Calico and have had over 5+ roles in Neighbourhood Management, Finance & Asset Management. I finally landed myself 2 years ago in my current role as a Project Manager on the Development & Growth Team working in partnership with our construction company Ring Stones on new build & refurbishment projects. The role is predominantly a white male environment however I am determined to break barriers and pave the way for the younger generation of women and prove that we can definitely work and rock it in construction with our hard hats and boots, maybe even bring a little competition.
I am also a member of Calico’s This is Me BAME group. I joined this group to have a platform for my voice, to be heard & influence change within Calico and the wider community as a BAME woman in housing & construction. As minorities we are often underrepresented and misunderstood, I want to educate my colleagues and about our way of life and how we can all work together to build a better, suitable, and more solid environment for future generations. I aim to also bring diversity to Calico, improving the level of diversity and inclusion within our workforce. Recruiting professionals from a wider range of backgrounds will provide Calico access to an abundance of viewpoints and perspectives at our disposal.
At Calico I feel I can be myself, 100% and my uniqueness is celebrated & embraced. The leadership team and line managers are always supporting me to excel and become better every day. Calico has previously supported me in my personal goal to get into the legal field around conveyancing. Calico is also so flexible with working, there has been times where due to personal circumstances I work reduced hours or taken time off and I am not “penalised” in any shape or form, its always a question of “what more support do I need”. This is why I love working for Calico; they are a support network, personal cheerleader and an inspirational value led company to be part of – not just simply an employer.
Charlotte Evans
Service Operations Manager
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My career has progressed as I started as an Administrative Assistant, supporting Acorn Recovery Projects with admin duties. I am a member of Calico’s This is Me LGBTQ+ group. I joined this group to champion the LGBTQ+ community within Calico and it’s wide range of services, to support and educate colleagues who can then use these tools to support and educate customers. I joined to make Calico visible, to show people that Calico embrace our individuality and that they see the value and the richness that a melting pot of diverse life experiences can bring.
At Calico I feel able to be me, my whole true self without shame or fear. I can tell people I have a wife and children, I can share my whole self, without anxiety and anticipation. At Calico I achieve and make a real difference through the values I bring and for the behaviours I demonstrate and never is this overshadowed or pushed aside because of who I choose to love. I love working for Calico, I have never been part of somewhere or something that I can be as proud of as this. No matter where you are or who you are within Calico you are valued and you are appreciated, you are judged on your actions and your desire to make a real difference to people’s lives. At Calico I feel like I have found where I belong.
Calico’s purpose is To Make a Difference To People’s Lives. At Calico we understand that each individual is unique, we recognise and celebrate all our individual differences. Our commitment and drive to be inclusive is wholeheartedly supported by Inclusive Companies. We are delighted to be in the Top 50 Uk employers for the third year running, and we will continue to do even more for our colleagues and customers with the support of Inclusive Companies.