‘Everyone is Welcome at Tesco’ is our way of letting colleagues and customers know that we take equality, diversity and inclusion seriously. It means that whoever you are, wherever you work and whatever you do we want you to FEEL welcome too.
When you come to work you will find that you have lots in common with the people you meet – perhaps you know a few already. You’ll also notice that there are differences too – that’s because people choose to shop with us and work with us because we aim to reflect the community we serve – including your town, city, village and street.
That means each of us must be committed to treating one another with respect even where we have a different point of view or haven’t come across a particular way of life before. In just a few minutes working at Tesco you’ll notice that the whole world passes by – every level of ability, young and old, rich and poor, every race and religion, gay, transgender, wheelchair users, friendly people and grumpy ones too. People who are like you and people who aren’t.
In fact, we are all unique and differ in many ways. Some of the differences we can see and others we can’t.
Think about way in which we differ that we can see.
For example:
Hair colour
Age
Gender
Eye colour
Ethnicity
Height
Some disabilities
Now think about ways in which we differ but which we can’t see.
For example:
Religion
Values
Beliefs (including political beliefs)
Nationality
Some disabilities
Hobbies
Sexual orientation.
So that we offer the best service to our customers and make those working with us welcome, each of us needs to be aware of our differences and to respect those of others around us. That means thinking about the words we use – both in person and on Facebook and Twitter – and making sure that we don’t say things that will upset or offend people. It means taking an interest in other people so that they don’t feel excluded without asking difficult or intrusive questions. And it means allowing others to be themselves when they come to work or shop.