Diversity Data recording on the Employee Self-Service (ESS) Portal
University staff are invited to update or amend their diversity data confidentially and voluntarily in the Core ESS diversity data page. The functionality to input Diversity information has been rolled out to MU staff starting with permanent staff and those on contract. Occasional staff will not have access to this initial rollout. The development of this page marks a significant move forward for the University in the area of Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). This is the first time that the University will collect data across all nine equality grounds for existing employees and it is hoped that this new tool will assist us in getting a clearer understanding of the diversity makeup within the University community and to help us achieve our EDI and University strategic objectives.
How to update your Diversity details:
To update your diversity details please follow the instructions below:
- Click Go to the Employee Self Service portal and, if required, log in using your Maynooth University Username and password and follow all prompts.
- This will bring you to the ESS homepage. On the top/upper-left corner, click on the circle (containing your initials) next to your name which will open a new page.
- On the next page, click the Diversity tab on the left-hand side. This will reveal the dropdown options called page 1 and page 2.
- Please update your diversity details on Page 1 and click Save (bottom right) to record your diversity details before moving to page 2.
- Once finished on page 2, please click save (bottom right) to record your diversity details.
* If you do not click save, any details which you have updated will not be saved.
For further support on the Employee Self-Service (ESS) Portal please visit the ESS page.
We would encourage all employees to review their diversity details regularly to ensure they are correct and up to date.
If you have problems logging in or don't know your university username or password, please contact HR via email to essqueries@mu.ie. If you have any questions about the information shown in Employee Self-Service Diversity page, please contact the EDI Office via email to equality@mu.ie
Why are we collecting this data:
Under the Irish Human Rights and Equality Act 2014 and Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty, all public higher education institutions must undertake equality assessment and monitoring. This is in addition to having policies and plans to promote equality, prevent discrimination and protect the human rights of staff, students and the wider public that are served by the work of the higher education institution.
The collection of EDI data has become an increasing priority within the higher education sector, with a recent announcement of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) that third-level institutions will be required to provide annual statistics on certain diversity characteristics of their employees (gender, ethnicity). MU is one of many institutions that have launched this type of tool in recent years.
We also submit a report to the National Disability Authority (NDA) annually on the percentage of staff members who have disclosed a disability and information on the work we do to support staff members with disabilities. In Ireland since the late 1970s, there has been an official target for 3% of the staff of public bodies to be people with disabilities. Under the Comprehensive Strategy for People with Disabilities (2015 – 2024), the Government has committed to increasing the public service employment target for persons with disabilities on an incremental basis from a minimum of 3% to a minimum of 6% by 2024.
The data collected through ESS will be used as follows:
- to monitor the extent of staff diversity and benchmark against other HEIs
- to identify areas of priority in terms of policy development and initiatives
- to enable evidence-informed consideration where under-representation is identified
- to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of our activities
- to meet data reporting requirements for the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, National Disability Authority, Athena Swan, and Higher Education Authority
- to support the University’s duties as a public sector employer and its statutory obligations under relevant legislation (e.g. Disability Act 2005, Employment Equality Act 1998-2015)
For further information please see the EDI website and to View University’s Equality Policies, please visit: EDI Policies | Maynooth University
Data Protection:
Protecting personal data is of paramount importance to us, we take data security seriously. Access to your personal data provided on the diversity page is limited to the below:
- The ESS Diversity Tool Project Team which includes 2 HR ESS Officers, 2 IT Services ESS System Managers, the Equality Officer, the Equality Projects Officer and the Equality Data Analyst.
- Aggregated statistical data will be provided to University bodies such as committees/boards and will be published in the EDI Annual Report. The EDI Office will ensure that no individual staff or student can be identified in statistical data.
- Government bodies/agencies such as the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS), and the HEA, who exercise a legal obligation to review certain types of EDI data, may also be given aggregated data in line with institutional reporting requirements.
The EDI Office will retain anonymised and pseudonymised statistical data for as long as necessary to fulfil the legal purposes for which it has been collected. If you have any concerns in relation to how your personal data is being processed as part of the Core Employee Self-Service diversity page, please contact the EDI Office equality@mu.ie as a first port of call. You also have a right to report any concerns you have in relation to the processing of your personal data by the EDI Office by emailing dataprotection@mu.ie.
Finally, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Supervisory Authority, in Ireland the Data Protection Commission (DPC) if you have serious concerns that your rights as a data subject under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have been breached. However, we really wish to help, and would encourage you to contact the EDI Unit with any initial queries. Details of how to lodge a complaint can be found on the Data Protection Commission’s website.
Further details on the MU data privacy policy can be found here: Data Protection | Maynooth University
Breakdown of Diversity Data Collected in Employee Self-Service (ESS):
Currently, you can update the following diversity information which is located under the diversity page of ESS:
Gender Identity
Definition: How you perceive your gender, as opposed to your legal and/or birth sex.
Further Information: Required for anonymised diversity reporting, monitoring and analysis.
Who has access to the data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
Sexual Orientation
Definition: Who you are emotionally and sexually attracted to.
Further Information: Required for anonymised diversity reporting, monitoring and analysis.
Who has access to the data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
Date of birth
Definition: Day, Month & Year you were born.
Further Information: Required for anonymised diversity reporting, monitoring and analysis.
Who has access to this data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
Ethnic Origin
Definition: The group to which you perceive you belong, as defined by ancestral, cultural, religious, linguistic and/or racial background, rather than your nationality or citizenship.
Further information: Required for anonymised diversity reporting, monitoring and analysis.
Who has access to this data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
Nationality
Definition: The country of which you may be a national and are legally allowed to reside.
Further information: Required for anonymised diversity reporting, monitoring and analysis.
Who has access to this data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
National Identity
Definition: A second country of which you may be a national and are legally allowed to reside in respect to people with a dual nationality.
Further information: Required for anonymised diversity reporting, monitoring and analysis.
Who has access to this data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
Religion or belief
Definition: An organised religion (e.g. Christianity, Judaism, Islam etc.) to which you belong or a religious or philosophical belief (e.g. Humanism, Atheism) that you hold, or having no religion or belief.
Further information: Required for anonymised diversity reporting, monitoring and analysis.
Who has access to this data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
Time Living in this country
Definition: The length of time lived in Ireland in total since birth.
Further information: Required for anonymised diversity reporting, monitoring and analysis.
Who has access to this data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
Civil Status
Definition: The distinct options that describes your relationship with a significant other. Married, single, divorced, and widowed are examples of civil status.
Further information: Required for anonymised diversity reporting, monitoring and analysis.
Who has access to this data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
Family Status
Definition: Whether or not you have day-to-day caring responsibilities for children and/or adults.
Further Information: Required for anonymised diversity reporting, monitoring and analysis.
Who has access to the data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
Notes
Further Information: A space to expand on any of the answers above, if any staff member would wish to clarify any answers or give more information.
Who has access to the data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
Disability Information
Definition: Whether or not you have a physical and/or mental health condition or impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
Further information: Required for anonymised diversity reporting, monitoring and analysis.
Who will have access to this data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
Category of Disability 1&2
Definition: The Category of disability/long-term health condition you may have.
Further information: Required for anonymised diversity reporting, monitoring and analysis.
Who will have access to this data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
I have accessed Reasonable Accommodation from MU EDI Office?
Definition: A means of indicating that you have accessed reasonable accommodation for a disability or health condition under the Policy for the Employment of People with Disabilities.
Further information: Required for anonymised diversity reporting, monitoring and analysis. Completion of the ESS Diversity Tool does not equate to a request for Reasonable Accommodation.
Who will have access to this data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
Blue Parking Badge Holder
Definition: A means of indicating that you have a disabled parking permit which allows you to park in disabled parking spaces in Ireland and the EU, such as one obtained from the Disabled Drivers Association of Ireland or the Irish Wheelchair Association.
Further information: Required for anonymised diversity reporting, monitoring and analysis.
Who will have access to this data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
Detailed Notes
Further Information: A space to expand on any of the answers above, if any staff member would wish to clarify any answers or give more information.
Who has access to the data: ESS Diversity Tool Project Team.
External Reporting Information:
Maynooth University submits a report to the National Disability Authority (NDA) annually giving the percentage of staff members who have disclosed a disability and providing information on the work we do to support staff members with disabilities. In Ireland since the late 1970s, there has been an official target for 3% of the staff of public bodies to be people with disabilities. Under the Comprehensive Strategy for People with Disabilities (2015 – 2024), the Government has committed to increasing the public service employment target for persons with disabilities on an incremental basis from a minimum of 3% to a minimum of 6% by 2024.
Since 2016, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) requires institutions to report on key gender equality statistics annually via the HEA Review of Gender Equality Tables. This report now includes a non-binary gender option. In response to ongoing race equality work at national level, this report has expanded to include ethnicity categories. In response to this, Advance HE, in conjunction with the HEA established the National Athena Swan Intersectionality Working Group with the goal of developing a cross-sectoral approach to collecting ethnicity data for the Irish HE sector. The group has recommended that the HEA collect staff data by ethnicity in line with the ethnicity categories to be used by the CSO in Census 2022. In 2020, the Working Group issued a statement on the use of ethnicity categories in Irish HE.
The University has signed up to the new Athena Swan Ireland Charter introduced in October 2021 and the associated Charter principles, which include “collecting equality monitoring data to measure, understand and publicly report on challenges and progress, taking steps when necessary to support and encourage disclosure.”
Under the new Athena Swan Charter, applicant institutions and departments are required to provide three years of staff and student headcount data and confirm in their submission that “staff and students are recorded as the gender with which they identify”. This requirement will apply to all Athena Swan Department/Faculty level applications from 2022 onwards and to the University’s application for a Silver Institution Award in 2026.