The Government's Inclusion at Work Panel has published recommendations for improving diversity and inclusion practice in the workplace. This was the outcome of a six-month study assessing workplace D&I practices. The study sought to identify effective practices and recommend ways to support them for the long-term benefit of all kinds of businesses. We’ve been through the whole report, so you don’t have to.

Every specialist area has its own vocabulary, and the world of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is no different. In fact, let’s stop right there. Should we be talking about EDI, DEI or D&I?

‘EDI’ is the popular choice today and it’s the one we use because it puts ’equality’ (or ‘equity’ if you prefer) first. It’s a subtle but significant detail in how we frame the topic.

There are further variations too: DIB (diversity, inclusion and belonging) and JEDI (justice, equity, diversity and inclusion). We know it can feel like a race to keep up and this got us thinking: how much do we need to think about the terms? How important are the words we use?

EDI and culture change interventions can be expensive and measuring their success can be difficult. Substantial investment has been made across the market in new solutions and training, yet the desired impact isn’t always evident. It’s often said that true culture change takes several years to accomplish. This is even more challenging when faced with an ever changing and evolving horizon. So how can leaders be confident in their investment in EDI interventions?

In this blog our Culture Specialist Katie Wynn-Jones explores why and how to measure inclusion. Katie shares some of the questions she asks of the data that organisation’s already hold, and why it’s important to go deeper, through observation and listening, to assess just how inclusive a workplace is.

Flexible working laws have remained unchanged for almost ten years. As we look forward to the new Bill, employers are starting to look at what flexibility means in the workplace and how to embrace it, so it works for everyone. Here we look at the history of the policy and our approach for finding flex.

Are workplaces protecting people in the moments that matter most? Our research into workplace culture, discrimination and bullying has surfaced some simple strategies for bolstering inclusion. Here we explain why we're focusing on 'vulnerable moments' instead of 'vulnerable people'.

In this insight piece published in issue 222 of theHRDirector, Zoe Young discusses gender identity.

More nuanced understanding of the intersections of sex, gender, and sexuality have brought visibility, and also new vulnerabilities for exclusion and harm.

How should organisational diversity and inclusion activity continue to evolve and support LGBTQ+ people?

David Carrick’s hideous crimes against women were committed over twenty years as a serving police officer. Our Director, Dr Zoe Young responds to the insights the Carrick case presents about how maintaining a culture of fear around speaking up normalises gateway behaviours to serious harm.

She offers solutions to leaders and managers considering how to prevent harm, protect staff and respond appropriately when issues are raised.

Tackling workplace bullying and exclusionary behaviour is complex and emotional territory. It’s culture work. It involves rooting out all the elements of the system that give rise to incidences and prevent people speaking up.

Our workplace behaviour experts support organisations to get underneath the issues and build a better plan.

In this article we explain why the way you explore these issues matters more than you might think to the effectiveness of your strategy to solve them.

Half the Sky is proud to announce our sponsorship of the boys and girls junior cricket teams at Lewes Priory Cricket Club. In an ambitious move for equality and inclusion, the 200 year old club is abandoning traditional cricket whites in favour of striking black kit. No girl need worry about wearing whites when they have their period.

With this move the club is removing a barrier to girls loving cricket and playing in mixed teams and Half the Sky is proud to support it.

The final report of the UKRI/ESRC funded COVID-19 research programme launches in March 2022. Half the Sky partnered with the University of Southampton and the Institute for Employment Studies to deliver this two year programme of research examining the impact of working-from-home under successive cycles of lockdown on how employees in the UK want to work. The report provides compelling evidence of a permanent shift in attitudes and preferences towards remote and hybrid working, and discusses the significant implications for policy and organisations.

In this Innovate UK and ESRC COVID Business Seminar, Zoe Young discusses the strategies that support employee well-being working-from-home under COVID-19 lockdown. Drawing on the latest findings of the UKRI/ESRC funded research programme Work After Lockdown, Zoe discusses how job analysis and thoughtful design of roles and working practices around time and place flexibility creates ‘good jobs’, and effective and productive teams.

The second webinar by the ESRC Work After Lockdown research team, chaired by Dr Zoe Young, considers whether all we have learned about remote working will drive new demands for other forms of flexible working. The research team were delighted to be joined by Peter Cheese, Chief Executive of the CIPD to share his thoughts and the work of the UK Flexible Working Task Force.

Webinar chaired by Hon Julia Gillard, former (and only woman) prime minister of Australia and Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at Kings College London. The topic of discussion was whether we can have all three - diversity, engagement and flexibility in a post COVID-19 workplace?

Blog for King’s College London on how flexible workplaces are essential for women's progress.