The Trafford Centre's aim is to be a centre of excellence delivering the highest standards of customer service. The Trafford Centre operates within an ethically and socially diverse environment. It will continue to flourish if it is the first choice for people from both local communities and those further afield.

The key to outstanding customer service lies with the people employed in the various businesses within The Trafford Centre. The makeup of those employees should reflect the community in which it is located. At a time of low unemployment employers operating in The Trafford Centre are competing with the nearby centres for the best staff. The business case for valuing diversity has become much more clearly seen and accepted in recent years.

The Trafford Centre intends to give its employers a competitive edge by introducing a Fair Employment Zone. An integral part of this will be the Equality and Diversity Charter, which businesses within The Trafford Centre will be invited to commit to. This Charter, devised with the help of ACAS, provides a foundation on which businesses can build their equality and diversity strategies.

Employers that become part of the Charter promise the following:

• to develop equality and diversity policies
  
  
• to carry out reviews of diversity policies 
  
  
• ensure their continued fitness for purpose
  
  
• to train staff on diversity policies and the laws relating to equal opportunities
  
  
• to actively seek to recruit our staff from a diverse workforce by
  advertising vacancies to a wide range of communities
  
  
• to have procurement policies which encourage suppliers
  
  
• to follow good practice in relation to equality and diversity
  
  
• to ensure that the service offered to customers and visitors to
  The Trafford Centre is in line with diversity vision and values
  
  
• to investigate promptly and thoroughly any diversity-related complaints from staff or customers