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Upskilling to Maintain Focus on Diversity

With all the aspects that encompass Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in 2022, it has never been more important as a business to engage with the world in a positive way.

In recent years, issues concerning the environment, mental health and wellbeing have dominated discussions about CSR, likewise, so have issues concerning diversity and equality.

Diversity and equality have been in the collective conscience for a long time. Throughout this ‘journey to equality ‘, we have seen some tremendous changes to legislative attitudes, especially over the last 70 years.

But there is still a long way to go in changing civil attitudes.

Aside from the moral duties that we owe to each other, it is well known that a diversity and equality programme offers organisations a range of benefits such as increased productivity, creativity and staff retention, as well as the business growth that comes with these things.

It is incumbent upon all of us, not just as staff working for a company, but as active members of society to always do our best to work towards a better world. But as an employer, we are bound by our CSR Policy to ensure that our team members have a safe and fair working environment – and we do not take this responsibility lightly.

Professional development is a job that is never finished, meaning that there is always room to improve when it comes to such matters. Hot on the heels of Race Equality Week 2022, we are proud to announce, our Marketing Manager, Sean Brown, as our new Diversity Officer, having recently earned his ‘Diversity and Equality in Workplace Diploma Level 3’, building on top of his previously earned degree in Politics and qualifications in Sociology.

As Diversity Officer, Sean is charged with ensuring that our approach to diversity and equality carries on improving, that the job is indeed ‘never finished’. Sean now also stands as a point of contact for members of the team who wish to confidentially discuss matters of diversity and equality, be that an idea on how we can improve or to report an incident of discrimination that has taken place.

Part of the Diversity Officer’s responsibility is developing a Diversity and Equality programme that not only audits our organisation on where we stand with regards to diversity and equality, but also proactively seeks to develop every team member’s understanding of the topics through diversity awareness training.

A good Diveristy and Equality programme also addresses the marketing and promotion of steps a company is taking in order to help set a good example for others, using internal and external channels of communication to celebrate the programme, such as the website or via email. 

Sean commented, “Increased diversity and equality can offer a workplace so much, from new ideas and perspectives to an improved overall morale. This course gave me the opportunity to build on the understanding I already had on these topics and really helped me to understand the things that can go wrong if we are all not working towards the ideals of equality.”

Anne Ashman, UK Group Commercial and Operations Director added, “Having a Diversity Officer on-site will be a great opportunity for us to assess our working environment, making sure that it promotes safety and prohibits discrimination of all kinds. Matters of equality and diversity have always been important to Sean and with the qualifications he already held, he was a willing and logical choice for the post. As we have taken on record numbers of new team members in recent months, now seemed like an ideal time to be proactive and appoint a Diversity Officer.”