People - b) Employer

Annette tell us why you chose to be formally recognise as a staff support network?

Annette Davis Department of Health Christian Network Group
The call went out from the Permanent Secretary around the ‘Health and Well-Being’ agenda in DH. He encouraged staff well being through network groups. There were already established LGBT, Disability and Black & Ethnic Minority Network Groups in DH. When the Christian group heard the call, we were all very excited and decide to follow-up on the Permanent call for more staff support groups.
I got the short straw and went forward to speak with him. We put a business case together and took it to HR.

What advantage has the status of formal recognition been to your group and you?

Freer to meet – a real freedom to be a Christian working in DH!
Time to attend CiGUK meetings and events.
Able to print information for DH CNG use.
Have an intranet page so anyone at anytime can see what we do, who we are and join in our activities

Were there any challenges? What did you do? What was the outcome?
Everything we’ve done has been doused in prayer! After the launch yes there were challenges, people were saying, why do we need a Christian group in DH. We should have a multi faith group etc… but because we had gone through the official HR channels we were fine and were able to continue to move forward as a group.
We also used our stakeholders such as CIGUK, Home Office Christians, etc.. to support us, that’s important. Since we launched other groups have come forward, such as a multi faith group and an Islamic group. We engage with them but still hold our distinct group.