Gender bias: stop stating the problem and focus on the solution
Gender parity is a major focus for many organisations. But while the willingness to take action is there, the results have been patchy. The typical response to the issue of gender inequality is to emphasise the problem and focus on improving processes, leaving the root causes of gender bias alone. Attitudes and gender stereotypes play […]
Equal Pay Day 2017: How to close the gender pay gap in your company
The 10th November marks this year’s Equal Pay Day, when women in the UK effectively start working for free until 2018 because of the gender pay gap. Despite equal pay regulations being established last century, the gender pay gap still stands at 26.8% today, according to CMI. The pay gap is a historic issue that stems […]
Why the apprenticeship levy means more for your seniors than juniors
At first glance, the apprenticeships levy for large employers only looks important for traditional ‘apprentices’ coming into a business and entry-level training. But the implications are more far-reaching – maybe transformational when it comes to L&D budgets – and have a particular importance for more experienced staff. The levy means employers are going to need […]
Six top tips on how to be more emotionally intelligent at work
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the way we manage emotions, both our own and those of others and it can play a critical role in determining our happiness, success, motivation and productivity at work and home. To reap the benefits of Emotional Intelligence training or make significant and meaningful changes to develop our EI, we need […]
Five ways to combat prejudice in your recruitment process
Speak to 500 HR managers about discrimination in the recruitment process and what do you get? Almost half of recruiters who admit their own hiring process may be prejudiced, three quarters who have witnessed bias or discrimination amongst others first-hand, and 25% who say it’s a regular thing. We all make judgments. We all have […]
Why the built environment sector needs to attract diverse talent
With an ageing workforce and ever-growing competition for skilled labour within the construction industry, the need to attract more talent from diverse backgrounds is greater than ever. As Equalities Manager at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), I passionately believe that the built environment, as well as all business sectors, must put inclusivity at […]
How to speak up about sexual harassment
Following the hundreds of thousands of people that have joined the #MeToo movement, uncovering the magnitude of sexual harassment at work, what should you say or do if you encounter the problem? The first thing to bear in mind is that the sheer volume of people speaking out about the problem means that a new […]
Managing change at Swinton Insurance
As part of Working Transitions regular ‘5 minutes with…’ series, Zoe Bull, Head of Marketing, talks to Hilary Burns, People Director at Swinton, about a recent change programme at Swinton. Zoe Bull, Head of Marketing, Working Transitions: Hi Hilary! Can you talk us through the change programme that you have been involved in recently? Hilary […]
Why diversity initiatives fail
Many laudable attempts to make our workplaces more inclusive end up having the opposite effect – and it’s worth understanding why and how they fail. Diversity is a reality; it’s not just groups of people as the census might have us believe. It’s also infinite; no two people are the same. But inclusion is a […]
Is there a ‘Harvey’ in your company? What are you going to do about it?
We have all, I’m sure, been shocked by the headlines and the details around the sexual harassment allegations made about Harvey Weinstein. Whilst I knew this kind of behaviour was not entirely a thing of the past it’s still hard to believe that so many people knew and said nothing or at least nothing effective. […]
OCD Awareness week: challenging the stigma at work
Let’s celebrate OCD Awareness Week as OCD is such a brilliant disorder to have. It means you’re neat, clean and organised. Polish your desks, check your work for typos and stand in order of who loves the disorder the most to show we’re all “a little bit OCD”. It will be the quiet ones at […]
Damned if they don’t value diversity – damned if they do
There’s so much rich insight coming out of the academic sector that HR professionals need to know. At Academics’ Corner we feature the best HR researchers that tell you what they’ve found and what you need to do differently on the back of the research. Get connected to the academic sector through Academics’ Corner and […]
“One of the biggest challenges to achieving workplace inclusion is a lack of senior level buy-in.”
Janice Henson has recently joined Equal Approach as Director of Embedding Inclusion. With a wealth of experience in and great passion for advancing workplace diversity and inclusion, she will be building on the company’s already successful global inclusion programmes. Here she discusses her plan of action for the coming year… Becky Norman, Deputy Editor, HRZone: […]
Promoting a thinking environment creates inclusion
There are a whole lot of new words being created to explain the impact of bias and sexism which comes with it. Words like: Manterrupting: Unnecessary interruption of a woman by a man. Mansplaining: Explaining without regard to the fact that another person in the group knows more than the explainer, often done by a […]
Even feminists show bias against female leaders
Consider this and notice the images in your mind’s eye. The visit to my doctor from earlier that morning was still on my mind when I found myself slamming the brakes of my car to avoid a collision. A driver was pulling out onto the roundabout just in front of me. Still shaking I carried […]
Menopause is not a women’s issue, at work or anywhere else
There’s so much rich insight coming out of the academic sector that HR professionals need to know. At Academics’ Corner we feature the best HR researchers that tell you what they’ve found and what you need to do differently on the back of the research. Get connected to the academic sector through Academics’ Corner and […]
Are you ready for an Alpha workforce?
Digital media isn’t only a tool made by people; it’s also making people and how they see and treat each other. So that’s changing how we work, but also the rules of workplace life. Little worlds based on long-established traditions of behaviour, subtle codes of manners and deference, of implicit trust and nuanced conversations, are […]
Internalised sexism: an unconscious bias that is kept out of the spotlight
There’s been much discussion of late about the ways in which women have been insulted or marginalised by their male counterparts in the working world due to biases around gender. The most recent example hitting the headlines is over the now infamous Google memo, in which a senior employee at the company claimed that women […]
Working twice as hard to get half as far: the truth behind differential payoffs and penalties
There’s so much rich insight coming out of the academic sector that HR professionals need to know. At Academics’ Corner we feature the best HR researchers that tell you what they’ve found and what you need to do differently on the back of the research. Get connected to the academic sector through Academics’ Corner and […]
Reality v aspiration: women in senior roles
The poet W.H. Auden once wrote that civilizations should be reassured by “the degree of diversity attained and the degree of unity retained.” The same could be said of boardrooms and executive leadership teams. Today, the importance of boardroom and top tier executive diversity is universally acknowledged. However, there remains a gap between aspiration and […]
