If so, does a global-inclusive approach start with recruitment or does inclusivity have more to do with retention?

And how does today’s ’inclusion’ differ from yesterday’s ’diversity’ in the contemporary workplace?

Diversity, engagement and equality professionals from energy, financial services, law, utility and transport firms recently debated these questions and others at a London event hosted by Inclusive Employers.

Launched in May, Inclusive Employers provides knowledge and networks to help employers build workplaces where all people feel valued and add value to their organisations. Participants at the event generally agreed that diversity was a passive concept, whereas inclusiveness has more active connotations, reflecting values and creativity.

Diversity highlights differences of individuals within an organisation, whereas inclusiveness exemplifies teamwork and improved performance, a participant suggested.
At the same time, “the issue is around individuals and their prospects, rather than numbers and targets”, added Felix Hebblethwaite, global diversity manager at law firm Linklaters.

Director of Inclusive Employers, Rachel Krys, told Recruiter: “Inclusion is a much more powerful way of approaching a global strategy than equality and diversity ever was. This is in part because it is much more about culture and behaviours than metrics and compliance. It allows organisations to put in place clear frameworks but flex for the local situation.”

Mel Flogdell, head of HR policy, Centrica, said: “I do believe it’s possible to have a global inclusiveness approach. An organisation’s ethos to embrace diversity and inclusion can transcend continents.”

However, she acknowledged: “What that looks like in practice to achieve inclusivity may vary between countries due to different cultures.”

Theresa Tyson, diversity manager at law firm Beachcroft, added that “local cultural overlays” will prevent corporate culture “turning into cult”.

At Linklaters, gender parity is a ’baseline’ in every country in which the law firm operates. However, Hebblethwaite emphasised that establishing such baselines as part of an inclusive culture must be “underpinned by your values as an organisation”.

The question of where inclusiveness should begin in an organisation finds its advocates of different minds. Said Hebblethwaite: “I would argue that inclusiveness starts as soon as an individual has interaction with the organisation. It’s important that we impact our approach from day one.”

In Tyson’s view, an embedded inclusive culture should be evident at all points of contact “whether the contact is with a potential employee, current employee or alumni”.

She pointed to how jobs are advertised and presented, the corporate website, and any information that can be gleaned from a search engine exploration. “It is very easy now for potential employees to check whether what an organisation says about itself is borne out by the evidence,” Tyson said. “From the employer perspective you are also looking for staff who share your values.”

Centrica’s Flogdell takes a contrasting view. “Inclusiveness is more about retention,” she said. “You attract and recruit a diverse workforce, and to retain diversity in your organisation, maximising the benefits of having a diverse workforce is through inclusion.”

Going global with any strategy is a grand vision. But for this particular agenda, even achieving local success is quite an accomplishment indeed. To a man or a woman, the roundtable attendees can reel off a litany of business benefits to be gained by embedding a culture in which everyone feels that their differences and contributions are valued. But years after “diversity” first emerged as a corporate concept, diversity and inclusion are still often viewed as the political correctness twins, target-driven admonitions to “play nice” at work, with its practitioners seen as the diversity police.

“Things you thought were dead, buried and dealt with 10 years ago come up again,” sighed one attendee.

“To work in this field, you must be hugely resilient,” another admitted.

Inclusive Employers’ Krys summed the situation up this way: “Without the challenge, there is unlikely to be significant change, and for inclusion professionals, a risk they are complicit in poor practice and behaviour if they do not put their head above the parapet. Keeping inclusion top of mind, building into the organisation’s structure and strategic plan is the only way to affect real culture change.”

• As a result of the discussions at the roundtable, Inclusive Employers will be working with members to create a model global inclusion monitoring framework. The organisation will also examine legislative restrictions in more detail later this year. To become involved, email: [email protected]