Diversity, Inclusion and Teamworking — RICS APC Competency Revision Guide

The nine protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. Every employer and service provider is required to avoid discrimination on these grounds. For the APC, you should be able to explain each characteristic, give an example of what discrimination on that ground might look like in a surveying context, and identify the type of discrimination involved.

Direct discrimination occurs when someone is treated less favourably than another person because of a protected characteristic — for example, refusing to promote an employee because she is pregnant. Indirect discrimination occurs when a seemingly neutral policy or practice puts people with a protected characteristic at a disadvantage — for example, requiring all staff to work on a Saturday, which disproportionately affects employees whose religion prohibits Saturday working. Indirect discrimination can be justified if it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Teamworking is assessed alongside diversity and inclusion because effective teams are built on respect, communication, and the ability to draw on the different perspectives that diversity brings. Assessors expect you to demonstrate that you can work constructively with colleagues whose backgrounds, experiences, and working styles differ from your own. Evidence might include managing a conflict within a team, adapting your approach to support a colleague who works differently, or actively including quieter team members in decision-making.

RICS expects members to treat everyone with respect, challenge discriminatory behaviour, and actively promote an inclusive culture — not simply to avoid breaking the law. This includes being alert to unconscious bias in decision-making, supporting flexible working arrangements where possible, and ensuring that professional advice and built environment work considers the needs of all users. The expectation is set out in RICS professional standards and connects to the broader Global Professional and Ethical Standards.

You take the concern seriously regardless of the junior colleague's reluctance to formalise it. You document what has been reported to you, make clear to the junior colleague what formal routes are available, and explain that you have an obligation to act on potential discrimination even without a formal complaint. You then speak to the senior colleague directly and privately to address the behaviour, making clear it is unacceptable under the Equality Act 2010 and RICS professional standards. If the behaviour continues, you escalate to your line manager or HR, with or without the junior colleague's consent, because allowing ongoing harassment to continue would itself be a professional failing.