The importance of having D&I experts in your business

Over the past few years, diversity and inclusion (D&I) has risen up the agenda as companies have begun to understand how critical it is for both their employees and their business. Many leaders know that D&I should be at the top of their priorities – and for some, it already is – but lots aren’t necessarily qualified to overhaul current practices and implement new ones that truly embed it.

Every step taken towards creating a more inclusive culture is a step in the right direction, but what D&I really needs is a lot of time, dedication and focus. That’s why having experts solely focused on driving diversity, equity and inclusion programmes forwards can be the best way for businesses to actually make an impact in the space.

There are so many initiatives out there that companies could, and should, be getting involved in to make their employees feel included and represented at work. From charity partnerships and panel events, to ally training and parent support workshops, D&I experts can help you navigate the best ways to get involved and make a difference to your people. 

Not only that, but they are people that employees can go to for support, advice and insight. Because they are committed solely to that focus area, they have the resource and capability to give it 100% of their attention. And it makes a tangible difference – according to a recent internal PageGroup survey, 84% our employees have praised our commitment to D&I – and that’s because we’re able to dedicate a lot of time and resource to championing it.

So many leaders aren’t educated properly on diversity and inclusion or equipped with enough tools to make a real difference. Here are just a few of the things that our diversity and inclusion experts at Page have used their professional knowledge and skills to help us to achieve – could your business benefit from implementing any of these too?

·        More time off for mental health

Offering all employees some time to take back for themselves, to refresh and recharge and look after their mental wellbeing. On top of that, extra holiday allowance forever so that people can look after themselves, have fun and be with their family and friends

 ·        Championing disability inclusion 

Finding and nurturing hidden talent should be a priority for businesses who are focusing on diversity and inclusion. Our CEO, Steve Ingham, has made several appearances on the likes of Sky News and BBC News discussing disability in the workplace – if you’d like to hear his advice on the subject, you can read more in The Times

 ·        Shadow Executive Board

We’ve just launched our inaugural Shadow Executive Board, a new initiative that will bring together 12 of our colleagues from different backgrounds across the world, who will be responsible for scrutinising the board’s agenda on behalf of our global workforce and making sure it’s representative of our diverse global employee network

 ·        Unbiased language in recruitment

Is your hiring process attracting an equal gender split? Well, now you can make sure it is, by using a tool that we’ve created alongside our D&I experts to help us remove gender bias from job adverts so that the language is neutral and balanced. It’s free to use, and we’d love you to give it a go to make your recruitment process fairer and more equal

But what if you can’t hire an in-house team of experts at the moment?

Of course, not every business is in the position to acquire extra headcount, particularly at the moment as uncertainly around the pandemic still nips at our heels. But there’s still plenty of ways companies can bring D&I to the forefront of their business. My advice would be to put your leadership team through external training so that there are dedicated workplace champions that understand the fundamental principles of D&I and can create an impact alongside their day-to-day role. External trainers are easy to find and the benefits of learning from them are endless.

Ultimately, though having a dedicated in-house team is ideal, what matters is that there are a good number of trained people within the business that employees know are there to support them, and who can drive forward new initiatives to make the workplace a more diverse and inclusive place to be.