Wheatley Group Backs Campaign

Nil by Mouth has teamed up with one of Glasgow’s biggest employers, Wheatley Group, to help raise awareness of sectarianism in the workplace.

The partnership sees hundreds of people working on Wheatley’s Environmental Roots programme, an accredited training programme designed to help people interested in working in Environmental and Facility Services, discuss the impact of sectarianism on Glasgow.

The latest session took place in the Gorbals.

Over 200 people have taken part in sessions to date which are ran thanks to support from the Scottish Government as part of the charity’s ‘Beyond Religion & Belief’ project which assist employers with addressing and preventing sectarianism at work. Through the project almost 200 employers and more than 20,000 employees across a range of industries and locations throughout the country have partnered with the charity.

Sessions also explore the potential consequences of posting online abuse on an individual’s employment situation as well as helping participants understand their rights at work and the legal protections they have under the Equality Act.

Nil by Mouth Director Dave Scott said: 

‘Working with these groups is always rewarding as they are lively with strong and honest views exchanged and an openness regarding the subject matter that you don’t always encounter. The sessions are delivered under the headings of ‘Passion, Pantomime & Poison’ and the group explores a range of different real life situations and offer their views on which of the three headings the incidents come under, ranging from colleagues reported by a member of the public for using sectarian language to each another whilst on a lunch break to how employers can become drawn into incidents of sectarian/offensive behaviour by staff members outside of the workplace. The core aim is to underline to participants that a workplace is a professional setting which is covered by employment and equalities law. These groups frequently overrun their allocated times as participants discuss scenarios and life experiences with genuine interest and enthusiasm.’

Kirsty McLeod, Wheatley Works Support Officer said: 

‘We love to work with Nil by Mouth on this programme and we feel it’s so important to staff working in Glasgow that we make it an essential part of each groups training with several deliveries each year. The tone is always pitched correctly for the audience and delivered in a way that encourages people to participate and think about the issue after they’ve left the room. We would recommend the project to any employer in Glasgow who wants to give their staff a proper opportunity to explore the impact of sectarianism on the lives of the people in this city. Our guys love this session as it challenges their views through discussion not finger wagging – a much more effective method.’