Equality, Diveristy, and Inclusion Lead (EDI) - Remote

We are YHA.

We believe in the power of travel and adventure. To connect people to each other, to nature, the outdoors, culture, and heritage.

YHA is a 90-year-old social enterprise. Today, the charity makes a difference to more than a million people each year through our 150 hostels, activity centres and leading work in volunteering, traineeships, apprenticeships, and youth employment.

We welcome all yet specialise in creating opportunities for young people. We have a thriving schools and groups programme and work with partners to support access for young people and families with challenging lives.

What we're looking for:

In line with YHA strategy our top impact priority is to ensure that all means all, increasing the scale and breadth of our reach and ensuring that YHA is for everyone. To fully realise this ambition, we need a diverse workforce that is representative of the communities we serve.

At YHA we value lived experience as much as we do qualifications and work experience. Lived experience might include your experience as a member of a minority group, the way that events in your life have shaped you, or your community experiences.

At YHA we want the widest possible set of lived experiences across our employees and volunteers. Our people share a common purpose: to improve the health, wellbeing, and life chances of all, but especially young people facing adversity and challenges.

To achieve this, we subscribe to a set of core values and behaviours: HEART. Helpful, Efficient, Authentic, Respectful and Team-Spirited. Our HEART values recognise the need for equality, diversity, and inclusion and to ensure we are reaching all, we capture this information at both the attraction and onboarding stages of employment. You can find out more here:

We are looking for an Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Lead to make sure our first strategic priority of improving social inclusion and equity of access at YHA for all beneficiaries is met. This role will work with teams across the organisation to develop and execute our emerging EDI strategy to increase the scale and breadth of our reach, ensuring that YHA is for everyone.

You will have significant experience of managing and delivering large scale projects and programmes and previous experience of advising on, and designing, focused EDI Interventions.

And, as the roles requires you to review and set metrics for KPI measurement, you will need to be able to set these metrics and prove positive impacts/benefits.

This role requires you to be an effective communicator* to engage with a range of stakeholders and have constructively challenging conversations.

*We note that communication can take many forms. This may include sign language; other adaptions for those with hearing impairments; or other speech or language difficulties.

We welcome candidates with lived experiences** that are willing to share, that can inform/shape our approach, and help to reach those facing a range of personal or professional challenges.

**Lived experience can include protected characteristics, class, educational experience, personal experience such as debt, caring responsibilities, illness, hobbies, community work and interests.

What you'll be doing:

The role of the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Lead will be to develop and lead YHA's EDI plan to improve access, including reviewing data and setting EDI metrics for measurement and working with our senior leadership team to develop our strategy to better reflect the communities that we serve.

You will review and develop our EDI policy and processes, working closely with the People Team to measure and improve diversity within teams and with the Learning and Development Team to lead, develop and run workshops, assisting with understanding of EDI across the charity.

The role will promote positive cultural change, not only to represent the communities we serve, but also the beneficiaries we are working to reach who will benefit the most and you will champion the work at YHA, including promoting EDI both internally and externally.

What you'll get in return:

Working for a charity such as YHA can be extremely rewarding in itself, however, we also have a generous benefits package. You can find out more here: https://(url removed)/life-at-yha/benefits-and-rewards/

Recruitment Process

To ensure a fair and safe recruitment process only the following documents will be accepted:

a completed online application form with equal opportunities monitoring screening included

your CV -highlighting a short summary of skills and experience likely to be of value to YHA, education and qualifications, employment history, general interests and activities

Upon receiving the above, you will receive a link to complete:

a short online video answering the question 'What do you believe are the most relevant aspects of your skills and/or experiences that would make you the most successful candidate for this role?'

Our interviews remain remote at the present time using MS Teams. A two stage interview process is currently planned starting week commencing 11th October 2021. If you require any assistance in submitting your application or have any questions, please email:

Please Note: to become an employee at YHA you must produce the correct ID for Right to Work in the UK and all DBS checks. Successful applicants must produce a satisfactory DBS check before a start date can be confirmed and before you can reside in our staff accommodation. We will ensure you receive your contract before your confirmed start date. YHA is committed to safeguarding and ensuring the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. The suitability of all prospective employees or volunteers will be assessed during our safer recruitment process in line with this commitment