‘If you value people for who they are, they’ll value you back’

What does this target mean?

‘At the RHS our mission statement is to “Inspire everyone to grow”. We want to make gardening accessible to everyone – whether you’ve got a city-centre windowbox or a country cottage, whatever your background or situation – we can help you grow.

‘Our membership is at its highest level ever, at more than 570,000. Yet recent figures put the number of gardeners in the UK at 30 million and a recent RHS survey suggests that 88% of the UK population have access to places where they can do some gardening. We understand that our audiences and membership demographic aren’t fully representative of the society we live in. So by 2030, we want the whole RHS to be reflective of UK society.’

What is the RHS already doing to meet this target?

‘We’re committed to growing the diversity of our employees, volunteers and members. I was brought in as the RHS’s first Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Manager in August 2020 to make sure this happens. It’s my personal mission to ensure that equality, diversity,  and inclusion continue to become organisation-wide values.

‘I’ve established an Inclusion Forum to get ideas and feedback from within the organisation on how we can progress the RHS Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. It’s already yielding lots of positive ideas and creating lots of engagement among staff.

‘Of course, it’s important that we have some way of measuring this, so we have joined ENEI (Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion), who run a benchmarking scheme known as TIDE (Talent, Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation) score. We’re getting our first score in June 2022.

‘Membership of ENEI helps us to: stand out and enhance our reputation as a leading employer, recruit and retain the best people, be part of a large network of likeminded employers where we can learn from best practice and share innovation and future thinking via its training and leadership propositions, improve our people performance through inclusive practices and leadership approaches.

‘ENEI Membership also allows us to access many benefits including employer guidance on the wide range of diversity subjects, briefings, benchmarking, external engagement and training opportunities all of which will significantly increase the quality, efficiency and range of inclusion and diversity training and awareness-raising the RHS can offer.

‘We’re taking accessibility very seriously in all our infrastructure developments. All RHS Gardens are aiming to attain nationally-approved accessibility awards by 2025. All new buildings are designed to be accessible right from the beginning – for example in the new RHS Hilltop – The Home of Gardening Science at RHS Garden Wisley, we have installed a fully registered Changing Places toilet which provides a safe and comfortable environment for people who can’t use standard facilities. There are accessible toilets, step-free access and accessible trails integrated throughout the site.

What will the RHS do next to meet this target?

‘I want us to have an organisation-wide staff diversity and inclusion education programme. This will help shift attitudes to become more inclusive, explore unconscious biases, behaviours and how we communicate with people.

‘Language is such an important point – we need to ensure our communications are accessible to as many people as possible. This will help bring in new audiences and avoid creating barriers who want to learn about gardening.

‘The RHS is consciously looking to engage with more diverse audiences, predominately young people and people from ethnically diverse backgrounds through its gardens. For example, the World Food Garden at Wisley might prove particularly interesting to people looking to reconnect with crops and plants that they’ve heard about from their parents and grandparents from other parts of the world, providing inspiration for their home gardens.

‘And the Chinese Streamside Garden at RHS Garden Bridgewater is helping us engage with the Chinese community in Greater Manchester.

‘So there’s lots that we can and will do: that’s the beauty of this work. It threads its way through every team, garden and show, there is always plenty more to work on.’

Why should gardeners care about this?

‘It’s simple really. Embrace diversity and you’ll be more successful and happier.

‘If you value people for who they are, they’ll value you back. And that’s so important to the RHS as we seek to be known, respected and trusted as the charity for all gardeners.’

See also:

• Equality and diversity policy for RHS Qualifications
• RHS Qualifications Equal Opportunities Policy
• Gender pay gap
• Hear our award-winning gardening podcast
• Diversity and inclusion policy
• RHS Flourish Fund