A delighted HR advisor who joined Vistry Group three months ago has praised his colleagues, saying their support has helped him and his husband on the road to adoption.
Daniel Anderson-Poore, who covers Vistry Partnership’s South West, Southern, and London business units, plus Drew Smith brand, was approved as an adopter with his husband, Jorden, last week.
Daniel, part of Vistry’s LGBTQ+ Network which is celebrating LGBT+ History Month, says his HR team’s flexibility in allowing him to gain vital nursery experience during the working week was invaluable.
“Since I joined Vistry, I’ve found the whole company – and particularly the HR team – to be incredibly welcoming,” Daniel, 29, said. "What attracted me to Vistry in the first place was how much it values diversity and inclusion, which I'm very passionate about. I discussed this in my initial interview and mentioned how keen I was to get involved. The HR team said there were plenty of opportunities and they weren't wrong! Diversity and inclusion is clearly at the top of Vistry's agenda.
"When I joined in November, my husband and I were going through the process of becoming approved adopters, which I was open about during the recruitment process. At the time, I was volunteering at a local nursery to gain childcare experience, which is something social services required me to do before we went to the adoption panel for approval. This meant every other week on Friday mornings I was at nursery for an hour, and I was worried about what a new employer might think.
"My colleagues could not have been any more supportive of my situation, from day one. They've been interested in hearing about my experience, finding out more about what the adoption process entails and offering ways they can help. I feel incredibly lucky to have joined Vistry and a team with such a family feel."
Daniel needed flexibility with his working hours to accommodate volunteering at the nursery and said that Vistry, particularly his line managers Hayley Knightley, HR business partner, and Tara Hart, senior HR business partner, were more than happy to promote agile working. He added the company was an industry-leader in putting people first.
"I see a lot of the D&I focus through my role in HR, so I can see the ways that Vistry is committed to its people," he said. "There's always room for improvement when it comes to raising the profile of minority groups, but the company has been reviewing all aspects of the employee journey from a D&I perspective. This is from initial engagement and recruitment, through to appraisals, training and development, so Vistry is really committed at securing its position as an industry-leading inclusive employer.
“In HR, we’ve updated all policies to remove gender specific language. This is incredibly important with policies that relate to family-friendly benefits, where it might previously have been assumed that a couple starting a family were heterosexual by mentioning a 'male' and 'female' – that obviously isn't always the case.
“Vistry's Learning & Development department has rolled out D&I and unconscious bias training, as part of VistryLearn, a new virtual learning management system for colleagues. This training is vital as it helps you to understand other people's perspectives and the impact your own actions could have on others. It's all about spreading what we want our culture to look like across the company. There's so much going on in the background, not just within the D&I networks, but sustainability and charity too – and it’s great to see just how modern a company Vistry is.”
After six months of working towards being approved for adoption, Daniel and his husband now can't wait to be parents. He said having a supportive working environment was vital to a happy home life and said Vistry couldn't be a better fit for him.
He added: "I've always been open about my sexuality at work, which everyone should be able to do. I've been fortunate enough not to face any discrimination or judgement in the workplace based on my sexuality, but you always wonder what people think and whether any unconscious bias will limit your success. But for me, joining Vistry has been the complete opposite."
Keith Carnegie, Vistry Housebuilding chief executive, who has been with his husband Michael for more than 20 years, said he wished Daniel and Jorden a wonderful future with their growing family.
“I’m delighted for both Daniel and Jorden and very proud Vistry could play a part in their path to adopt,” he said. “Vistry cares deeply about its people and celebrating Daniel’s wonderful news – and his colleagues’ support – is testament to that.”
The LGBTQ+ Network is one of four D&I networks in Vistry. The network’s aim is to celebrate, promote and raise awareness of LGBTQ+ individuals, events, and news.
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