Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

There are significant business opportunities and risks associated with EDI.

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace can enhance productivity, innovation, collaboration, safety and financial returns.  Put simply, the greater the variety of minds in your business, and the more supported they feel, the greater the mix of skills, experiences, perspectives and ideas you can draw from.

Creating an inclusive workplace culture enhances the reputation of a business and helps it to become an ‘employer of choice’, better able to attract and retain the very best people from the full pool of available talent.

With EDI being relevant to so many different areas of business activity, it can be difficult to know where to begin, even when you have every intention of going beyond the law and being a great employer.

Our team has a depth of knowledge and experience of supporting the organisational change required to embrace EDI. Our services include:

• Development and review of policy, strategy and procedures against requirements and national legislation
• Creation and delivery of specific EDI interventions – for example within individual projects or to address specific workplace challenges
• Training and capacity building
• Support in better understanding and addressing client requirements around EDI
• Integrating EDI into procurement and supply chain management

Around the world, legislation protects people from discrimination, harassment and victimisation on the basis of nine protected characteristics and requires employers to make certain ‘reasonable adjustments’ in relation to disability. For example; in the UK, The Equality Act 2010 introduces the Public Sector Equality Duty, so that organisations involved in spending public money should have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities.

Perceived breaches of the legislation can catapult employers into complex and costly employment tribunals, that are made public and have to be explained when bidding for public contracts.