In March 2023, Inclusive Employers did a second survey of L’Arche employees and volunteers to help us understand people’s lived experiences, what we are doing well and where we can make improvements.  

Scroll down the page to find links to the 2022 and 2023 surveys, and to read our plan of action to build a more inclusive L'Arche.

Things we are doing well 

• In comparison to 2022’s data set, we have seen significant improvement, of more than 5 percentage points, across nearly all questions,  
• 91.13% of respondents said they had a high understanding of the vision and objectives of L’Arche.  
• We received many positive comments around community, learning, enjoying the role, respect, liberation, and reasonable adjustments.   
• Those who were not employed reported very high levels of favourability for the following questions: I am treated with fairness and respect (100%), I get the help and support I need from other members of my team (100%), My ideas are valued (96.97%) and I can be myself at L’Arche (96.97%) 
• Many of our communities have seen significant improvement since 2022 and should be proud of this progress 
  
  

 Things we could do better 

• People would like to see diversity represented at all levels of L’Arche including in the National Team and Board of Trustees. 
• People would like to see more opportunities for progression, upskilling, and professional development as well as additional learning supports for everyone to succeed. 
• People would like to see a more inclusive culture that is supportive of all especially those from under-represented groups including those who are non-religious. 
• The survey indicated that more people raised concerns about inappropriate behaviour informally (46%) rather than formally (98.5%). However, after reporting their concerns only 35% felt satisfied with the outcome. 
• The survey indicated that in the past year 22% of managers have witnessed or been the focus of aggressive behaviours or micro aggressions. This is higher than for the other respondent groups and has increased by 7% since the 2022 survey. 
• Live-in Assistants reported the lowest levels of satisfaction with well-being and work-life balance. Witnessing inappropriate behaviour towards others is significantly higher for Live-in Assistants (21%) compared to other groups which also aligns to them having the lowest favourable satisfaction rate for how concerns are dealt with (24%) 
  
  

 Some key actions for the year ahead 

• Create networks and safe spaces for people from underrepresented identities to come together, share experiences, and feel heard. 
• Review current internal communication strategy. L’Arche would benefit from further reflection on whether existing methods are allowing consistency of messaging across teams, and what the barriers may be. 
• Increase awareness of the inclusion calendar, recognising and celebrating events throughout the year can increase cultural awareness between L’Arche’s stakeholders through fun and celebration. 

• Reinforce policies and strategies for tackling inappropriate behaviour. L’Arche could also consider creating zero-tolerance statements for the organisation, or specific Anti-Racism statements from the senior leadership team to show commitment to this. 

To explore these findings in more detail, with the background to the survey and the full recommendations from Inclusive Employers, please read the full report. 

Inclusion Action Plan

Inclusion Survey Report 2023

Inclusion Survey Report 2022