Fostering diversity within the workforce has been a growing priority for employers for some time with strategic pledges to promote equality based on gender, age, sexual orientation, race and disability now commonplace. But as diversity has shot up the agenda, the way companies are approaching it is being transformed – and acquiring fresh momentum.
Homes for Haringey, which manages social housing stock across the London borough, is one organisation that illustrates how focusing on a diverse workplace has benefits both for the organisation and its local community.
Olive Jones, its director of people, explains that she keeps "a strong focus" on areas such as gender, disability and sexual orientation in terms of both recruitment and progression through the company. A "key" part of her strategy recently has been "reaching out" to the ethnically diverse residents of Haringey when recruiting to provide more opportunities to local people.
"We have done a lot of work to reflect our local community within Homes for Haringey," Jones says. "We really want to see more women and more ethnic minorities in management too."
After launching a new apprenticeship scheme last year aimed at recruiting local young people, the organisation – which employs around 600 people – was able to offer two full-time positions to the successful applicants, something Jones says she is "especially proud" of. "There's still room for improvement of course," she adds. "But we are certainly making progress."
At supermarket chain Asda with a national workforce of over 170,000 and a UK-wide presence, it might be assumed that priorities would be different to that of a smaller organisation. But Hayley Tatum, Asda's executive people director, says it is precisely because the business is "rooted in all kinds of communities" that its diversity policies are being driven not just by general objectives but by local needs.
Among a number of initiatives aimed at recruiting and developing talent from a wide range of diverse backgrounds, the company has partnered with the Prince's Trust charity to actively recruit excluded young people – such as those coming out of the care system – plus the long-term unemployed who may find it hard to get a job due to being older or because of long absences from employment.
Focus on deprived areas
"We have a focus on unemployed people in deprived areas and especially on youth unemployment," Tatum explains. "Thanks to working with the Prince's Trust, we have been able to identify people who could really benefit."
In the first year of the scheme, Tatum says, Asda was able to offer full-time work to every young person on it. Anne-Marie Patterson, 21, was one. She had been out of work for a while before joining the scheme. She says: "My confidence and skills were given a huge boost. Now I have been offered a permanent job, which is fantastic."
Another company charting fresh territory is the motor manufacturer, Vauxhall. According to Phil Millward, HR director for the parent company General Motors in the UK and Europe, having a strategic diversity plan that is both business "and people-focused" makes good commercial sense.
The company, "traditionally very male", has been directing much of its efforts at recruiting more women by forging links with schools and colleges to encourage women to consider engineering from an early age.
"Diversity is not something to bolt on to an organisation," Millward says. "It takes time and commitment. It's my view that encouraging diversity means the business benefits from a much wider variety of experience and insight."
Pamela Maynard: 'It is about recognising women's strengths, skills and insights'
Pamela Maynard, president, Europe, Africa and Latin America, at business technology company Avanade, reveals what it is doing to attract more women into an IT career.
"At Avanade, we try to attract more diversity generally and more women specifically into the business since we believe divergent views ultimately make for a stronger, more collaborative organisation and bring more effective results to our customers.
"We've grown the number of women we have in leadership positions with 20% women leaders across our global network; several projects are led by women – including one in one of Spain's largest banks.
"We have programmes designed to attract and retain women across all levels, but especially in senior positions. In addition to coaching and mentoring, we have initiatives including a dedicated leadership programme to support women at group manager/manager level to progress their careers.
"We ensure we interview women candidates for all senior roles and include at least one woman in the interview panels. Across our promotion cycles, we ensure the women at the top are helping inspire and motivate those in earlier stages of their careers. Having two women on our executive committee is a fantastic step in the right direction.
"Our objective is to get more women into senior roles and on to the board but it also goes beyond that. It is about recognising women's strengths, skills and insights to ensure that they are taking active steps in their careers early on, so the pipeline remains rich with female candidates.
"Understanding the strength that diversity can bring and leveraging it in the workplace is crucial. It's very important that companies look to open doors to support the growth of female talent in the IT sector."
