Inclusion at work panel report on improving workplace diversity and inclusion

Inclusion at work panel report on improving workplace diversity and inclusion

The Inclusion at Work Panel, the members of which were appointed in June 2023 by Kemi Badenoch MP, has recently published its final report, making recommendations for how employers can improve workplace diversity and inclusion (D&I). In summary, the report:

• Identifies six ‘guiding principles’ for D&I practice: 
  • Principle 1: ‘Heterogeneous’, or meaningfully diverse, workplaces are desirable and beneficial
  • Principle 2: Visible diversity alone does not automatically make an organisation meaningfully diverse or inclusive
  • Principle 3: Diversity and inclusion (and equity) decisions are rarely impartial. Concerted efforts should be made to mitigate the impact of ideological biases
  • Principle 4: The impact evidence on D&I is mixed and often inconclusive. Initiatives grounded in robust evidence should take primacy and employers should be open to learning and change
  • Principle 5: Positive, not just negative, stories on D&I in the workplace should be widely recognised and effective practice should be shared; and
  • Principle 6: D&I activities should be cost-effective. Employers have a responsibility to use money dedicated to D&I in a way that demonstrably achieves intended outcomes 
     
• Proposes five criteria that organisations should consider when designing, implementing, and evaluating D&I policies/practices:
  • Criteria 1: Gathering evidence systematically and comprehensively
  • Criteria 2: Putting evidence into practice
  • Criteria 3: Reviewing interventions and processes regularly
  • Criteria 4: Widening diversity of thought and experience; and
  • Criteria 5: Restoring the importance of clear performance standards, high quality vocational training, and excellent management, as the most effective means to improve equality of opportunity, inclusion and belonging
     
• Identifies three conditions for successful D&I:
  • Condition 1: Board and CEO level direction and leadership
  • Condition 2: Awareness and mitigation of unintended consequences; and
  • Condition 3: Applying equality law correctly

The panel also recommends that the government create a new government-endorsed framework setting out criteria employers might apply to their D&I practice, for effectiveness and value for money, develop a new digital tool to assess the rigour, efficacy, and value for money of a range of D&I practices, and the EHRC should be tasked with explaining and clarify the legal status for employers in relation to D&I practice, with particular focus on the implication of recent case law rulings for HR policies and staff networks.

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