Enabling businesses to attract and select talent to contribute to building high performing teams whilst keeping a pulse on the people strategy. Expertise is working across tech, consulting and executive recruitment.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining in a thought-provoking discussion hosted by Sarah Merriot from Wallace LLP & Caroline Boston from New Minds in honour of International Women's Day. This year's theme, #inspireInclusion, set the stage for the conversation that touched on various aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) focusing on SMEs. The discussion was broad and led onto the evolving landscape of hybrid working and flexibility, especially post-pandemic. The room had a variety of participants who shared some great examples of how their businesses are reinforcing commitments to gender neutral DE&I policies. I was struck by how progressive and inclusive these were, from additional paid dependent days, 9-day fortnights to Kudos points systems linked to values and support the DE&I policy. Some businesses are reverting to more face time in the office, for a multitude of reasons. On the one hand there was some debate to suggest that this compromised commitments to the DE&I policy, however others suggested that without this facetime there was an adverse effect on collaboration,continuous learning, and the learning opportunities for those joining the workforce. There was also an important point raised about the benefits that we as social beings feel with regards to our mental health by regularly working in an office environment. Therefore, SMEs need to think about striking the right balance to reap the benefits but also promote the brand and DE&I. It was refreshing to hear that some businesses were trying to attract a wider inter-generational pool of talent back into work, encouraging return to work schemes and initiatives to enable diversity, equity and inclusion. Some practical ideas were also shared where SMEs were creating an environment where people felt more comfortable to have “open calendars” and were vocally championing flexible working. What really stood out was the consensus around the room on role modelling which then sparked some 1-2-1 discussion around behaviours and values that businesses could embody. Having an environment of trust, keeping an open mind that “one size does not fit all” and an appreciation of how enabling initiatives are perceived came through as the key themes. Another take away included that, deep organisational thinking will be needed to encourage how DE&I policy evolves and how the notion is embedded into the culture of a firm. #InternationalWomensDay2024 #inspireInclusion #thepowerofconversation #positivechange #DE&I #iwd2024
Managing Director at New Minds - helping management consultancies to scale through strategic talent solutions
Happy International Women's Day 2024! Thank you to the fabulous Sarah Merriott at Wallace LLP who invited me to co-host a breakfast in celebration of IWD yesterday. It was great to have so many ideas and reflections from participants on this year's theme of Inspire Inclusion - a really enjoyable and thought provoking conversation. Thank you to all who attended!
Caroline Boston
9mo
Thanks for sharing Sonal Patel!
Director, Hollister Consulting
9moLots for consideration. Thanks for sharing 😀