roundtable The advantages of D&I


Claisse: “There is evidence now that businesses embedding D&I are 15% more profitable than those that don’t.”


Went highlighted how mixed workforces perform better. “We put some young well- qualifed female apprentice welders among some long-serving men, expert welders but less qualified. Suddenly, performance standards went through the ceiling because neither wanted to be shown up.”


Hector: “The world is a diverse place, so those teams, like sales, who interact with external customers, it’s vital that they can relate in order to gain buy in.”


Clayden: “It helps aap3 to have a diverse workforce as we operate worldwide.” With female employees predominant in his sector, flexible hours and part-time working were also important inclusive elements for returning mothers.


Buckingham: “The world is becoming a smaller place, and we have to reflect that. There is so much to gain from employing a broader base of people, it has a rich potential for employers.”


Went suggested D&I could assist with recruitment. In gaining female workshop apprenticeships, Griffon Hoverwork had successfully attracted others, but there was still a shortage of women at engineering design and management levels.


Claisse admitted she had joined KPMG because of its culture. “KPMG challenges itself to be a thought-leader on D&I and I’m very proud that we were the first UK business to publish our workforce socio- economic data and 2018 targets.”


Leadership: embracing and embedding D&I


Farmer: “As long as an organisation knows its values, direction of travel, and the benefits that a diverse and inclusive workforce brings, then employees will implement it.”


Clayden: “You have to have good leadership, people who believe in D&I, and that belief funnelling down through the organisation.”


Clipston: “I often hear people say: ‘I recruit in my own mould’. That really scares me because good leaders should aim to build the right team – including all sorts of people from different backgrounds with different experiences and skills.”


Leaders should challenge themselves to think about how to develop a winning team. “We absolutely have to have D&I policies, but it’s not about rubber-stamping. It’s about what you really need for your business.”


“And about people understanding what their


D&I policy actually means,” added Clayden mentioning one client aiming to recruit who requested specific applicants to meet their company’s D&I criteria.


Claisse: “There is much more of an alignment between business cultures and customers today. You can’t just put a D&I veneer on the organisation; it has to be embraced and embedded.”


Hector: “Sometimes you can go policy crazy – a policy is simply a framework. The D&I discussion is around culture – living and breathing inclusion and diversity, whatever it might be. Then it needs to be embedded in an organisation to ensure it works.”


Wilson felt D&I embedding required the right day-to-day interactions between employees and customers “rippling through a company genuinely committed to embracing change.”


“It’s about top-down commitment and support,” agreed Sue Coatham.


Buckingham: “If I spent 100% of my time focusing on the P&L my organisation would think ‘OK, that’s what matters’, but I reckon I should spend about a third of my time on people matters, and all aspects of that.”


Clayden: “It all comes back to needing good leaders and role models to change mindsets.”


And overall company commitment, added Wilson, who emphasised that along with talent gains, there might be time and cost implications when employing someone with disabilities.


“So, it’s all about leadership, communication and people,” summed up Tamsin Napier- Munn.


Unblocking workplace myths and bias


Went: “Having a D&I policy is one thing, but getting people interested in a career with you is also key.”


“When it comes to recruitment, you only get what comes in through the applicant door,” Clayden admitted.


Buckingham: “How do we persuade school leavers to go down a certain track, engineering for example? If suitable people don’t apply, maybe you have got to go right back to first base – education.”


Claisse avoided science and engineering after university because of the perceived “white male macho environment”. She went into accountancy instead and found at that time “a white male, macho ...” It’s all about industry perception, and this starts well before job recruitment. It’s embedded at school and perhaps in society itself.”


Hector agreed: “Perhaps we don’t have enough D&I awareness within the education network. It needs to start earlier and we


Continued overleaf ... THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH COAST – JULY/AUGUST 2017 businessmag.co.uk 57 Nick Buckingham Neil Wilson


Paula Claisse


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