The daytime event brought together recruitment professionals, hiring managers, and diversity advocates to share lived experiences, challenge established practices, and develop practical approaches to building more equitable and inclusive workplaces. 

Why these conversations matter now more than ever 

Recruitment sits at a critical intersection, with the power to either reinforce or disrupt existing inequalities in the workplace. As our panel highlighted, the challenges facing black talent aren’t limited to getting in the door – they extend to retention, progression, and leadership representation. 

Jasmine Alexander, our expert panellist, pointed to the elusive notion of “cultural fit” as a particular concern: “From my perspective, what does that even mean, and how can somebody improve from that feedback?” This ambiguous terminology often masks unconscious bias and presents a significant barrier to diverse hiring. 

The panel emphasised that addressing these issues requires moving beyond surface-level diversity initiatives to tackle systemic barriers, personal biases, and workplace cultures that may unintentionally exclude black talent from thriving. 

Meet the panel: diverse insights, shared wisdom 

Our daytime event featured a diverse panel of experts whose varied experiences demonstrate that creating inclusive workplaces requires multi-faceted approaches and honest self-reflection from organisations and individuals alike. 

Eli Dingwall, Talent Development Lead at La Fosse, who moderated the panel, expertly guided the conversation through critical topics including retention strategies, mentorship opportunities, and how businesses often fall prey to their own biases in recruitment processes. 

Jasmine Alexander, Lead Career Outreach Consultant at Programme One, challenged us to question vague rejection feedback like “not a good cultural fit,” urging recruiters to probe deeper: “What do you mean by that? How did you come to that conclusion? What would actually make them a good cultural fit?” Her insights highlight how recruitment professionals can become powerful advocates for fairer hiring processes. 

Jennine Gibbs, Career Development Coach at Coaching with impact, emphasised the importance of authentic relationships in retaining black talent: “Get to know your staff. That’s number one.” She shared that genuine conversations help create environments where people feel safe to share their lived experiences, building the foundation for inclusion. 

Glyn Blaize, COO at La Fosse, shared insights about the need to focus on building better businesses where inclusivity runs through everything, emphasising that this approach creates meaningful change rather than temporary initiatives that may ultimately fall away. 

Arsema Fessehazion, Founder of the Black Recruiters Network, brought valuable perspectives on standing firm in one’s identity in the workplace, sharing her personal experience of being asked to change her name to make it “easier” for clients. Her powerful stance that “my name has so much meaning, identity, heritage, culture” highlighted the everyday challenges many face in bringing their authentic selves to work.

Together, the panellists explored how structured mentoring, sponsorship, and onboarding programmes can transform career trajectories and address the “revolving door” problem many organisations face with black talent. 

Practical strategies for meaningful change 

The panel moved beyond identifying problems to suggest concrete actions organisations can take to create more inclusive recruitment and retention practices: 

Challenge biased language and feedback 

Recruiters should actively question vague feedback like “not a good cultural fit” and help educate clients about their own biases. Standardised interview processes with set questions for all candidates can create fairer assessment opportunities. 

Focus on retention and progression 

As one panellist noted, “We have a big retention problem when it comes to black talent and recruitment.” Support from managers is crucial in helping talent progress into leadership roles. This requires proper onboarding that extends beyond the first week and can last up to 12 months. 

Create authentic mentorship opportunities 

Effective mentoring and sponsorship programmes play a vital role in supporting career progression. The panel emphasised that these relationships must be authentic rather than simply checking a box for diversity initiatives. 

Celebrate progress honestly 

When discussing how to balance celebrating progress with acknowledging remaining challenges, a panellist offered this wisdom: “It’s really not that difficult. Celebrate progress. Caveat that with ‘this is the journey that we’re on.'” Transparency about both achievements and continuing challenges creates trust and shared purpose. 

Key takeaways for building inclusive recruitment practices 

The daytime discussions highlighted several crucial insights: 

Question established practices: Recruitment processes often contain hidden biases in language, expectations, and assessment criteria that need ongoing scrutiny and revision. 

Invest in relationships: Getting to know team members as individuals builds the psychological safety needed for honest conversations about inclusion. 

Extend support beyond hiring: Proper onboarding, mentoring, and career development pathways are essential for retaining black talent and supporting progression into leadership. 

Balance honesty with optimism: Acknowledge challenges while celebrating real progress to maintain momentum and engagement in diversity initiatives. 

Join the conversation 

This event was just the beginning of an ongoing dialogue about creating more inclusive recruitment practices. We’re committed to continuing these conversations and turning insights into action. 

If you’d like to learn more about future events or discuss how your organisation can build more inclusive recruitment practices, we’d love to hear from you. 

Contact us at info@lafosse.com to continue the conversation. 

The post Beyond cultural fit: Honest conversations on building truly inclusive recruitment practices appeared first on La Fosse.

Developing young talent speaks to my personal values and, as a leader, it’s where I’d love to continue to take the business. Providing an equitable starting line for young people to begin their careers is front and centre for me, and La Fosse Academy offers just that – we train and develop the next generation of junior talent, with a focus on improving DEI in the industry. It speaks directly to our vision of helping create a world where talent is recognised regardless of background and lived experience.  

That equitable starting line was one of the reasons I was attracted to the fast-paced world of the recruitment sector in the first place. Irrelevant of your background, upbringing, education, financial backing, or societal beliefs, there’s a home for everybody who has the right skill set – it’s what makes our industry a vibrant and energetic place for your career.  

This sadly comes with its downsides, with varying levels of quality and consistency for our customers and candidates, but I truly believe there’s exceptional talent in our sector, delivering real value to businesses and the wider economy. The numbers speak for themselves, with the UK recruitment market now estimated at £140 billion (a £20 billion increase on 2019), highlighting the importance we play in continued growth.  

One of the most rewarding parts of my job is hearing about the experiences of the rising stars we’re developing at La Fosse Academy. I’ve recently been speaking to some of our current and graduated Associates, alongside some of our key Academy customers.  

Harry de Blaby was part of the first cohort at La Fosse Academy. He completed his placement with C. Hoare & Co., was taken on permanently, and has recently been promoted to Delivery Manager. Harry went from a deckhand on luxury yachts to signing up to the Academy and subsequently beginning his tech career in London.

Harry says of his experience: “The Academy set me up with all the skills I needed. Even going into a role that I wasn’t technically trained for, I still had the technical, industry-relevant base knowledge to understand what an API was, how a system hangs together, DevOps processes, and all the must-haves to develop a successful career.” 

Harry’s mentor and line manager, CTO Chris Loake, says the qualities he’s looking for in entry-level talent are “a general aptitude to learn, to problem-solve, to apply skills to shifting context”. Chris says he believes good leadership is about not walking past problems but addressing them and finding solutions. By identifying junior talent to provide diverse thinking and problem-solving, Chris and his team have unlocked future potential that now contributes to the private bank’s current and future success.  

Sophie Hebdidge, our Academy Director, said recently, “The Academy is special because it’s different. We worked backwards when we designed the programme, asking our customers, “What would you benefit from in terms of junior tech talent joining your business?”. We’re not only training people in specific skills or tech – we’re teaching them the underlying techniques they need to be able to succeed in the workplace. We took this approach because technologies continue to evolve, and it allows our Associates to follow the career path they feel most inspired and empowered by.” 

Some of our Associates have found themselves exceeding their own expectations. Zahra Mahmood is 18 months into her placement at the Department of Transport and has not only developed her technical capability but has gone above and beyond with her wider professional skills. Most notably, she won a nationwide hackathon and attended a presentation at 10 Downing Street. Zahra credits the Academy for giving her the opportunity to stretch herself, and she’s now looking forward to a successful career in the civil service as a result.  

Although there are numerous individual success stories, and we’ve now helped over 200 Associates start their careers in tech and transformation, not everything is rosy. The market is competitive, and the economic backdrop is challenging. As a result, customers in every sector are battling for business and facing the question of where to allocate hiring budgets.  

Whilst many customers buy into the idea of solving junior tech talent shortages and improving long-term DEI shortfalls, the reality is it requires a solid support structure, an attractive employee value proposition, a stable management team, and a consistent flow of good talent. None of these challenges are easy for us to solve, but we’re excited about what 2024 has in store for us, our Associates, and our Academy customers.     

(If you’d like some further reading, I thought this article by McKinsey made some interesting points. And if you’d like to talk to me about any of the topics in this blog, please do reach out as I’d love to hear from you.) 

The post Young talent – The equitable starting line appeared first on La Fosse.

Despite the overwhelming prevalence of technology in our everyday lives, and the progress of gender equality, women are vastly underrepresented in the tech industry, and movement towards a better balance is woefully slow.

We want to change that. 

Our DEI Toolkit relays actionable insights for employers, employees, leaders, and individual allies who want to play their role in retaining female tech talent, and presents practical guidance on career progression for women working in technology. 

Summarising discussions that took place at our Closing the Revolving Door: Women in Tech event, held in partnership with Preqin and the Tech Talent Charter, the toolkit outlines ways to engage and empower women in tech and support female retention across the industry.  

The challenge

Women working in tech increased by just 1% in 2022.  

While conversations on gender disparity at work have gained traction in a wider sense, the increase of women working in the tech industry is barely marginal. But the issues go beyond poor growth.   

An eye-popping 50% of women working in technology leave by the age of 35. For those who stay, the statistics don’t improve, with 20% of women over the age of 35 still in junior tech roles, and only 22% of senior tech roles held by gender minorities. 

The benefits

Gender diversity at work is better for business. 

Improving gender diversity in tech is not only about fostering fairer and more equitable working environments; recruiting and retaining gender-diverse teams simply makes good business sense.

Diverse teams offer fresh perspectives, generate unique ideas, and present new approaches to problem-solving. Out of this comes a greater readiness for innovation, more valued and engaged employees, higher employee retention, and balanced decision-making. Ultimately, a gender-diverse workforce equates to higher revenue growth and a firm foundation to recruit and attract a diverse talent pool. 

According to a report by McKinsey & Company, gender-diverse executive teams are 21% more likely to have above-average profitability compared to companies with less diversity.

Despite the clear advantages of retaining female tech talent, leaders keen to adopt a more inclusive culture can be doubtful of the value DEI programs bring, with a significant 51% of CEOS reporting that current DEI initiatives are not effective.

The solution

How to promote gender diversity and inclusion in the workplace. 

We each have a different role to play in promoting gender diversity at work. If you’re asking yourself “What can we do as a company? What can I do as an individual?”, we have actionable insights to help you make better decisions.  

Learn how to: 

• Recognise and reduce the gender pay gap 
• Create gender-equal promotion and progression opportunities 
• Foster family-friendly work culture 
• Overcome hostile work environments 
• Educate and create allyship through support networks 

Download the DEI toolkit

The post Women in Tech DEI Toolkit: How to drive diversity and retain female talent appeared first on La Fosse.

Through a series of internal communication, we:

• Learnt about the life of Jesse Moorland, Founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, an organisation dedicated to researching and promoting achievements by Black Americans and other people of African descent.
• Listened to the powerful lyrics of Nina Simone, a famous singer who created urgent emotional intensity by singing songs of love, protest, and Black Empowerment.
• Found out about Althea McNish, one of the first designers of African-Caribbean descent to achieve international recognition. Her designs injected much-needed colour and life into the post-war fashion and textiles industry from the 1950s onwards.
• Shone a spotlight on the Kai Collective, a London-based Black-owned fashion brand founded by Fisayo Longe. Her ‘Gaia dress’ was celebrated by the fashion elite, and Fisayo has featured in numerous publications, including Forbes Magazine.
• Featured Zambian-born William JM Chilila, who, after making it to the semi-finals of MasterChef, went on to become the Head Chef of London West African fine-dining restaurant Akoko.

We were lucky enough to take a trip to the Black Cultural Archives, a Brixton institution that collects, preserves, and celebrates the histories of people of African and Caribbean descent in the UK. After the visit, Stephanie Pempestios, Marketing Executive at La Fosse Associates, had this to say about her experience:

“It was great to discover so much Black history right on your doorstep, and celebrate Black art, literature, and film all in one place through their library, screening rooms, and memorabilia. The district of Lambeth, (which includes Brixton) was where many Caribbean Americans and West Indian Americans moved to in order to find work, which led to the early post-war settlement and development of the Black community in Brixton. So, for this reason, the area of Brixton and its surrounding areas are of great importance to Black history today, and this is represented by memorials, statues and museums dedicated to the people of the Windrush. This was a great experience to do as part of BHM and we will be sure to find and support these museums and archives who continue to educate the public on Black history.”

Another highlight was a delicious lunch prepared for the team by Jollof Mama, a West London family-run business, bringing the taste of West African food to the masses by “showcasing Nigeria’s finest dishes using traditional ingredients with a modern twist”. The size of the queue and the clean plates certainly spoke for themselves!

As we conclude celebrating Black History Month, it’s important that efforts are continued; recognising Black history shouldn’t only occur in October.Taking the opportunity to learn more about Black history throughout the year and listening to our Black colleagues, service users, friends, and family is so important and will go some way to making society a more equal and appreciative place. DE&I is an ongoing, vital project; our aim as a business is to be representative of the community we are a part of. Some of the ways we hope to achieve this are:

• Companywide DE&I training - provided by our Talent Development team.
• Ongoing recognition - through celebrating Black art, history, and literature through our clubs, trips, etc.
• Our Proud2Be Network – creating a safe and welcoming space for all to share experiences and ongoing conversations around underrepresented talent.
• Consistent interview structures and the use of psychometric tools – giving everyone an equal and consistent process to minimise bias.
• Training for all levels – giving everyone an equal opportunity to succeed.

And it’s not just about implementing internal change. There are a variety of actions we can take outside our working environment to recognise and promote Black culture, which include:

• Support Black-owned businesses – you can use the #BlackOwnedBusiness hashtag and encourage your circle of influence to do the same. Follow Black-owned businesses and share their content, so that these businesses can grow their audience and awareness of their brands.
• Read more about why it’s important to support Black-owned businesses, and some examples of those based in the UK.
• Take a look at these fantastic recipes and make your own African-inspired dinner, or try William JM Chilila’s very own chicken Yassa recipe.
• Do some research about Black history in your own community and go out and explore – find a museum, a statue, or a gallery and learn more about its significance in your local area.

“Black History Month provides a fresh reminder to take stock of where systemic racism persists and focus on how we can make a difference. It offers an opportunity to reimagine what possibilities lie ahead. We have achieved so much, but we have only just started our journey to make the changes needed to make a real difference.”

Jackie Dane – Chief People Officer at La Fosse

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Jo has been in the recruitment space for almost 22 years and set up Diversity in Recruitment in 2021 to give recruiters the skills, tools and confidence to support their clients properly while making recruitment inclusive, accessible, and equitable for all candidates. Diversity in Recruitment’s mission is to make recruitment processes accessible to everyone and improve the experiences of underrepresented and marginalised candidates.

Jo is working with La Fosse to up-skill our HR and Learning & Development teams, to audit our business model, hiring strategies and training programmes, and to work with a cross-collaborative group of ambassadors who care about and are involved in our diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives. This training will support La Fosse to create the most diverse environment possible and ensure we attract top talent, aligned with our values.

Read our Q&A below:

When it comes to DE&I what is one thing you want to see all businesses doing in the next 5 years?

That’s a massive question, I can think of at least 20 things, but if I can only choose one it’s got to be – do everything that you possibly can to ensure that a candidate’s identity, background, and circumstance is never the reason they don’t get the job they want, the promotion they deserve and the salary they are entitled to.

If businesses want to start making changes, what’s the first step they need to be taking to start moving forward?

Get educated; you cannot fix a problem you don’t understand. You must take the time to really get under the bonnet of inequality to understand the lived experiences of underrepresented and marginalised people. Also, understanding the diversity of your people and the way in which they experience inclusion (or not) in your business is super important, so often employers roll out events and initiatives without diagnosing the problem. A deep dive, managed by an external provider like the Global Equality Collective, will give you the data and insight you need to start the work that drives authentic change.

What are your best tips on how to be an ally?

1. Understand that your role is to stand next to and behind the community you are supporting, not in front
2. Learn the history, and understand the experiences of the folks you are advocating for
3. Be prepared to call out bias, discrimination, and prejudice whenever you witness it
4. Understand the needs and the support the community needs from you, and avoid making assumptions. Be an ally 365 days a year, not just in June
5. You can’t pick and choose what groups you stand for, don’t ever forget the T in LGBTQ+!

How to continue these efforts throughout the year so you are not just rainbow washing?

If you must ask yourself ‘are we rainbow washing?’ you probably are to be fair. Supporting your LGBTQ+ colleagues must be consistent throughout the year, if it’s only something you talk about in June, you have no place turning that logo into the PRIDE flag. As I mentioned before, you need a deep understanding of how your LGBTQ+ community experience life within your business, so you know what needs your attention.

LGBTQ+ inclusion doesn’t just happen because you have a few people from the community in your business, you need to be able to clearly articulate your inclusion work, which could include clear anti-discrimination policies, a commitment to pay equality, a leadership team that’s invested in LGBTQ+ inclusion, LGBTQ+ friendly benefits (especially family building), an active LGBTQ+ employee resource group, LGBTQ+ inclusion training, a gender-neutral working environment, Trans inclusion work, and finally supporting the external LGBTQ+ community such as supporting local charities.

What are the do’s and don’ts for businesses during pride?

Do… plan ahead, base your work around education, give examples of your LGBTQ+ inclusion work to influence others, push your network to make changes, and celebrate and acknowledge the LGBTQ+ community in other months.

Before you do anything, ask yourself what you are trying to achieve by the activity and how it benefits and advocates for the community. Be led by the LBGTQ+ community in your business, don’t stand in front of them and talk on their behalf.

Don’t… just acknowledge the month with a few statements of solidarity on LinkedIn. Don’t expect freebies and speakers if you run events. If you haven’t done any work internally for your LGBTQ+ colleagues you should not be making noise externally. Don’t let Pride be led by your marketing team alone.

Why is diversity training so important?

Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Equity can often be a broad and complex landscape where learning is never done. I have yet to meet anyone who’s a true expert in everything. You wouldn’t expect a colleague who was super passionate about maths and finance suddenly step up to be your CFO, so don’t expect people to suddenly lead your D&I work without investing in their professional development and education; passion alone doesn’t turn the dial.

A huge thank you to Jo who has been working closely with our teams. As a business, we are excited for the doors we are unlocking and the opportunities we are opening.

If you’re interested in learning more about building diverse talent pipelines and strategies, please get in touch with our commercial director Claudia Cohen from La Fosse Academy – claudia.cohen@lafosse.com

The post How to be an ally with DE&I expert Jo Major appeared first on La Fosse.

Thank you everyone for joining us, especially our special guest Dan Yomi! Having known Dan since university where he was Student Union President, I’ve had the absolute pleasure of seeing not only his individual growth, but also the support he’s given to so many people. So, Dan, I’ll let you take the floor and give us a brief intro of your journey so far!

Hi Eli. Thank you for having me! So, I came to the UK from Nigeria in 2014 for my Master’s degree. It’s been an interesting journey… coming to a new city and trying to integrate culturally, not just as an international student, but also as someone who is queer. I remember going to my first gay club in Bournemouth and seeing two guys kissing and holding hands – and they were not running from the police! I thought, this is strange! And that triggered something in me. I didn’t think it was possible.

My queer life was non-existent in Nigeria. I was born into a very religious home, and I think my experience at university really helped me to learn – joining the LGBT society and being in a space with queer people. I started gaining confidence, but also, when I went to gay clubs, when I saw queer people, my experience as a black queer person in certain spaces was also different. I just wanted to be me.

I came out in 2018 and it was a difficult moment in my life… my mum was crying, saying I ruined the family reputation, what will the church members say… I just got to a stage in my life where I was tired of being alive, you know? And I think when we get to that point, nothing else matters apart from peace, so I really wanted to prioritise my mental health and not care about the opinions of others. And that led to me founding Living Free UK, because I felt that I want it to be easier for the next Dan to come out. And I think that was part of my conversation with my mother, She said, “Oh, I thought being gay was a white thing” – this confused me a lot because I’m not white, and I’m queer, so what now, right?! But I wasn’t really offended because I understand where the ignorance is coming from – and having no references to fall back to wasn’t helpful either. I didn’t know any queer Nigerians, and all she saw in mainstream media was something that was not reflective of society, so I thought, I’m going to open this space, I’m going to speak to queer Africans, so the younger me in Nigeria would sneak and watch a YouTube video and see people who look like them.

So, we’ve been open since 2018, creating safe spaces; I do a lot of work for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees. Going through that process is daunting, so I’m passionate about creating spaces because I know how difficult it was for me and I want to make it easier for young people and people who didn’t have the privilege I’ve now got.

Thanks Dan! That’s very interesting. I think that you’re right to touch on intersectionality and how it’s different for people that are black and queer within queer spaces. When you’re talking about Living Free UK, creating those spaces for the ‘younger Dans’, what does a comfortable, appropriate queer space look like for you?

Although I was in the UK, where legally I wouldn’t go to jail for falling in love with a man, I still feel that as a black person and a migrant, my identities impact the way I’m viewed within and outside LGBTQ+ community. Although I had well-meaning, well-intending white gay friends who I love, some people still made some (unintentionally) hurtful comments. Or I went to Nigerian spaces where people would say I wasn’t Nigerian enough because of my queerness. I just needed this space where I could be Queer, Black and Migrant on every level. So, what that looks like within Free Living UK. We’ve done three seasons of interviews with visible queer Africans on our YouTube channel which is amazing because you can’t be what you can’t see, and when you do see something, it makes you feel like you can do that thing. We also create physical spaces by organising events through. We also create physical spaces by organising events throughout the year for LGBTQ+ Africans, asylum seekers, refugees and allies. This has also been an opportunity to educate potential allies because when I spot someone who genuinely wants to learn about my lived experience, we will have that conversation, because part of me feels that they can’t know if I don’t teach them.

Absolutely. And that’s a big conversation going on at the moment: how much responsibility do queer people have to teach allies how to behave? I’m curious to hear what your thoughts are on that?

So when I said teaching, I just meant personally – you know, if I met a friend who genuinely, respectfully wanted to learn about something they just didn’t know about, I would explain – but the onus is not on the oppressed to educate the oppressors. I’m of the school of thought that the reason there is sexism is because of the actions of men, so men need to educate themselves; and this also goes for racism, homophobia, ableism and transphobia. I think it’s asking too much to ask people who are already marginalised to educate people for free, right? Existing in your self is a full-time job, regardless of your intersectionality. So yeah, I think allies should do the work.

People shouldn’t feel entitled to information from queer and other marginalised people… Google is your friend! I think it’s also about encouraging a culture where people do their own research. It can be draining when someone just comes to you without any basic knowledge.

I guess on that note, often people are worried to take that step because they’re worried they’ll get something wrong. What would be your advice there?

Yeah, that comes up a lot. No one wants to be told they offended someone; it’s not a nice feeling. But what I tell people is, it’s ok to make that mistake. I don’t think the issue for me is in the mistake, it’s actually in our reactions. As a queer person, if someone says something insensitive, of course I’m not happy, but I think it’s more about how they react to me calling them out. So you have group A, who would say, “I’m sorry, you know I did not mean any offense” and they’re keen to change their behaviour. Then there’s group B, who tend to get defensive. And I think that for me that is where the problem lies. It’s not in the mistake that we made, it’s in that act of listening and knowing that sometimes you will get it wrong. As a cis man who exists in a patriarchal society, I know that I benefit from a system that dehumanises women (both cis and trans). That’s the consciousness I now bring to the table; that of learning, engaging, but also being humble enough to apologise and listen. Nine times out of ten, I think people get defensive and prioritise their feeling of discomfort, but even though they’re not the victim here, I’ve seen a lot of marginalised people get gaslit into apologising. And I tell people,

“If you don’t feel safe, you don’t have to call out racism or homophobia or transphobia.”

This is just my school of thought… because I also think that the onus, especially in the place of work, would be for the organisation to create a space where people can express themselves and speak up. A lot of times people just don’t say anything because we’re scared, so it’s just being conscious of not prioritising our feelings over the oppression of others’. If you’re uncomfortable with being called out, remember it’s not about you, it’s someone reacting to what you said.

What do you think the role of an ally is?

An ally for me is someone who personally advocates and actively works for the inclusion of the marginalised. And when I say marginalised, I mean various intersected identities; of race, of sexuality, disability etc… an ally is someone although not part of that group is keen, intentional, and willing to put in the work. This person is passionate about solidarizing with that community.

Ok, and where do allies fit in a situation in which someone doesn’t feel safe?

Oh yes, in being an active bystander. So I think it comes down to:

Being comfortable talking about the oppression of a marginalised group. If you’re an ally (for example) to the Black Queer community, this means being comfortable talking about the racism & homophobia that these communities face. It’s a difficult conversation to have I know, but I think understanding, being conscious, showing empathy, and turning the spotlight back onto the marginalised leads to being an active bystander.

Being conscious about our Privileges. This is about knowing that if you say the same thing as someone who’s queer (as a cis-het person), you will get a different reaction and certainly wouldn’t get punished for calling out oppression. Also, having straight privilege (for example) doesn’t mean straight people don’t have struggles, it just means their sexuality is not part of what makes their lives difficult.​

Yeah, I love that, it’s kind of this whole thing that as an ally, you should stand beside or behind – but never in front.

Yes, I think you’re absolutely right – allyship is about listening, learning, and supporting from behind. I think when it feels like you’re taking the spotlight, maybe you want to take a step back and just champion someone who is of that group because they may not have access to spaces that you have. And we all have privilege, as I say. It’s not about feeling guilty, it’s just feeling conscious, empathetic and sad about a system that dehumanises our fellow humans simply because of their differences.

That’s a really good point to make. So, we’re coming up to Pride Month soon of course… what are your views on the typical way companies may respond to Pride Month and how you see that fitting in with queer representation within businesses? And also, what kind of pitfalls to avoid as a business?

That’s an interesting question. One of the reasons I was keen to speaking here tonight was because it wasn’t happening in June. The sad reality is that a lot of companies don’t recognise that Queer people are still queer 365 days a year. Don’t get me wrong, I feel It’s important to recognise the work corporations do during Pride, but rainbow washing kind of speaks to the intentions behind it and I’m always curious to understanding the experiences of the employees within such organisations.

Yeah, I absolutely agree with that. So moving on to Living Free, I’d love to hear a bit more about its history and what you have been doing recently.

So going back to my mum’s conversation… I was passionate about visibility, I just needed people to see that you can be Asian, Black, Migrant and Queer. There is also a misconception about some of us who migrate to the UK or US for education or work; it’s the idea that we have been westernised, which clearly isn’t true because Queer history is African History. As you know, I’m out, and I’ve had to pay the price of losing relationships with friends and family.

Living Free UK started as a YouTube channel and we’ve since grown to becoming a CIC (Community Interest Company) supporting LGBTQ+ Africans, asylum seekers and refugees, by creating both digital and physical spaces in the UK and Globally. We do a crucial work in creating spaces for our community to unwind and exist in our unedited selves.

One of our biggest wins was securing funding to offer free therapy for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers during the COVID 19 pandemic. This was run by a culturally competent therapist which led to some very positive conversations and feedback around mental health awareness. We also offered free food vouchers to LGBTQ+ Asylum seekers.

That’s amazing, I always love following how it’s grown over the last few years, it’s been awesome to see.

Living Free UK also launched a global space on Clubhouse called The Cool Off Zone. With over 2,000 members across the world, the club has been pivotal to creating a digital space for Queer Africans in the UK, US, and the continent of Africa. Allies are also welcome to our spaces because when you meet allies who are passionate, who are willing to listen and learn, it makes our lives easier.

Yeah I absolutely agree. I think like you said, you don’t always want to thank people for doing the bare minimum, but also in the world we live in, the bare minimum is often more than most! So how can people support Living Free UK?

You can support us by first getting to know who we are and what we do via our website www.livingfreeuk.org.

You can also donate to our newly launched AfroYanga Hardship Fund for LGBT Asylum seekers.

Currently, asylum seekers are not allowed to work, and some have no recourse to public funds. Your donation will help towards our hardship fund of £80 for food per week per person and £25 for phone data, and £50 for bodily essentials per month for each beneficiary.

Your donation will also provide training, certifications & licences such as Cyber Security, Business Analysis, Digital Marketing, Door Supervision licence, etc., to LGBTIQ+ asylum seekers for £600 per person.
Your donation will also provide financial support for staffing, volunteer expenses, and other related emergencies.

By addressing their needs, we aim to contribute to the stable support and well-being of LGBTIQ+ Africans, asylum seekers and refugees in the U.K.

You can donate via Bank Transfer, PayPal or our GoFundMe Page all available on our website www.livingfreeuk.org. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @livingfree_uk

Thank you in advance for your donations and support!

Dan Yomi

Dan is the Founder/Director of Living Free UK, a registered community interest company that provides support and validation for LGBTQ+ Africans, asylum seekers and refugees. He was elected the 1st Black President of the Bournemouth University’s Student Union and served on the Board of Trustees for two years. He now works full time as a Recruitment Consultant and also volunteers on the Board of Directors at house of Rainbow. He gained recognition when conversations of his coming out as a Nigerian Gay Man to his family surfaced on social media, which was then amplified by the international media.

Discover more about diversity, equality and inclusion at La Fosse.
Read La Fosse’s Diversity and Inclusion Statement of Intent.

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Claudia Cohen, Associate Director at La Fosse, joined four fellow panellists for a discussion around retention and promotion within underrepresented groups.

Full panel:

• Claudia Cohen, 2021 TechWomen100 Winner | Associate Director at La Fosse
• David Henderson, Chief Technology & Product Officer at Global
• Debbie Irish, Head of HR at HP UK & Ireland
• Lopa Ghosh, UKI Cybersecurity Competency Leader at EY
• Shilpa Shah, Programme Director for Deloitte Delivery, Large Scale Implementations, Women in Technology Leader

In this blog, we’ve rounded up 10 key tips from our expert panellists to help you improve minority retention and promotion opportunities within your business.

1. Know your data

Being a data-driven business is vital to understanding where problems lie and measuring your success in solving them. In order to have better conversations around equality in your organisation, you first need to understand your demographics and metrics per role, level and team.

2. Practice active listening

Active listening is something that should take place at all levels of your business. Listening to employees should never be a tick-box exercise, it’s an opportunity to really find out what your employees are thinking. Two key ways of putting this into practice are:

• Survey-based research – this is easy to anonymise and is a great way to find out what would make people stay at or leave your organisation
• Employee networks – this provides a safe space for open discussion among all employees, whether members of underrepresented groups or allies

3. Provide mentorship opportunities

Mentorship or sponsorship can take many forms; it’s up to you to find out what works best for your business and current capability. Even a little will go a long way to help underrepresented employees who wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to get face time with someone higher up in the business. A few successful examples from the panellists include:

• Mutual mentorship – both parties support and learn from each other
• ‘15 minutes with’ executive mentor meetings – a quick elevator-style intro
• Mentor circles – ‘one-to-many’ confidential mentorship groups (great for smaller companies)

4. Build out a career roadmap

Whether general or personal (if capacity allows), your business needs to be fully transparent around growth and development opportunities. Here at La Fosse, we encourage employees to pivot to different roles around the business, but it doesn’t have to be permanent move – some companies like Global are offering temporary project roles in other teams to help give underrepresented groups the chance to try something new and still have a secure job to come back to.

5. Promote role models

Every worker needs someone to look up to within their organisation; someone who not only aligns with their skillset and ambitions, but someone who looks and sounds like them. Senior role models are crucial for retention – especially among early-career employees – and every business has a responsibility to project diverse voices at all levels in order to give their employees something to aspire to, as well as being a friendly face to approach if they ever need support on their journey.

“For someone to feel included and comfortable, you need at least 30% representation within the room.” – Debbie Forster, TTC

6. Make everyone accountable

Ensuring diversity targets are met and inclusivity is promoted is a collective responsibility, but the buck has to stop somewhere. Business targets should be transparently shared both internally and externally, and data collection and analysis should be consistent, with a clear path of escalation and intervention. Most importantly, everyone should be able to hold a mirror up to themselves and consider why people leave the business and what can be done to prevent this in future.

7. Set long-term plans

A roadmap is all well and good, but how will an employee reach the next rung on the ladder? What happens if life gets in the way? As well as holding regular development meetings and setting actionable goals to achieve a promotion or pay rise, employers need to consider each individual’s needs. A couple of ways the panellists’ organisations have implemented this is through emerging leaders development programmes for diverse employees, and holding regular career chats with women in the business to create career plans around their own personal life plans, such as having children.

8. Educate everyone

Creating an inclusive and welcoming environment shouldn’t just be down to HR – it’s the responsibility of everyone in the business. A few examples from the panellists include:

Mandatory training – educating everyone on respect and inclusion is a must to ensure that everyone can act as allies to underrepresented groups and understand how to approach diversity in the right way.

Manager training – technical skills don’t always translate into people skills, so your business should support this growth with added training, especially for those managing teams for the first time. At La Fosse, we understand this challenges and offer management training as part of our support service.

Training for underrepresented groups – in order to help people progress and feel supported by the business, organisations should listen to individual needs and facilitate training to help them grow and develop.

“1 in 4 women would consider switching to a tech career if skills training was provided” – TTC

9. Boost board representation

​Diversity at board level has been shown to directly impact business success, with a recent report finding that companies with higher-than-average diversity had 19% higher innovation revenues. While many businesses are working to diversify their board, this is often not an overnight process. One great way of improving representation is to put a shadow board in place. Not only does this allow diverse voices across the business to discuss the same issues as the board and understand their challenges, it also helps to provide answers that draw from a wider range of backgrounds and experiences.

10. Be flexible

Understanding that people’s needs differ and accommodating them is important for retention; organisations should be mindful that what works for many does not necessarily work for all. In addition to listening to individuals’ needs, consider little things you can do as a business to be inclusive of other people’s cultures – have internal champions to celebrate and educate on different holidays, or as one of the panellists has done in their business, open up bank holidays to be taken freely at a time that suits the individual.

The most important takeaway from this event was that addressing diversity, equality and inclusion is never just a ‘one and done’. Although ongoing discussion is useful, it’s only through listening to underrepresented groups, educating staff at all levels, and delivering enduring change within your organisation to help underrepresented groups that we can begin to fix the diversity gap together.

Where to next?

Catch up on all the session recordings from this year’s Inclusion in Tech Festival.

If you liked this blog, you might also like…

​Why it’s time to change the way you hire

Getting ahead… as a woman in tech

Closing the D&I Gap: A Cross-Industry Movement

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If you need advice on how to improve diversity and retention within your organisation, we can help! Speak to your dedicated consultant today or contact our team.

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Hi Jackie! Could you please give me a short intro into you and your role at La Fosse?

I am the CPO or Chief People Officer at La Fosse. So, my role here is to look after the people side of the business, in its simplest form how we attract, retain and develop top talent. But I think that’s quite a static definition. I believe to be totally effective, we need to explore how you get the best out of and engage people, how you enable individuals to bring their whole self to work, and how you get people to engage with the organisation’s strategy, purpose, and culture.

What is the difference between a CPO (Chief People Officer) and an HRD (HR Director) or CHRO (Chief Human Resources Officer)?

Chief Human Resource Officers and HR Directors will often focus on policy, process and tactical execution, whereas a Chief People Officer is more about people, culture and workplace strategies:

• How do you drive the business forward and enable individuals to engage with your purpose and culture?
• What are the strategic initiatives that are going to make you stand out in the market and drive people to you?
• How do you make sure the organisation is designed in a way that makes it able to operate effectively within an external environment that is constantly changing?
• How do you attract under represented individuals into a diverse workforce?
• How do you make everyone feel engaged and included?

Having worked in the HR industry for over 25 years, how have you seen the function evolve over time?

It’s quite interesting – I first started as a consultant in talent development, where the focus was on developing individuals and organisations to their full potential. Then I moved into ‘personnel’ as it was then (shows my age!) Personnel then was all about policies and procedures and tick sheets. When I joined Personnel, my background enabled me to look at issues through a consulting and development lens, which wasn’t the norm. I now think that HR and People teams are and have to be more consultative, to partner with the business to deliver strategy, and culture (the behaviours and values) that are instrumental to success.

I also think we have seen a much-needed shift to using data to drive decisions. This is critical as we must be able to demonstrate our ROI to the business.

What’s the most important role the People team has in business today?

Be custodians of the culture, engagement and inclusion. La Fosse in particular is a people-led business, so we need to drive initiatives that make people want to invest their career with us rather than elsewhere. Once they join, it’s about investing in their development, making them feel engaged and included.

In light of Mental Health Awareness Week, what advice or examples of best practice would you give to organisations who are looking to improve their mental health support function?

I think you’ve got to take a step back and ask yourself, ‘is mental health always going to be on our agenda?’ I think it absolutely is.

It’s also important to remember that it’s not just millennials or Gen Zs that suffer with their mental health, it can be anyone. Historically, individuals were better at hiding issues and that wasn’t healthy; the shift to recognising mental health conditions is good but I think the real challenge for employers is:

How do we destigmatise them, and how do we work to prevent them?

As well as other forms of depression and anxiety, stress can become distress, which can create bigger problems. Some of the initiatives we already offer at La Fosse are great – hypnotherapy, counselling, Employee Assistance Programme, and Mental Health First Aiders – but they all rely on someone saying, ‘I have a problem’, and knowing where to go. I think our Mental Health First Aiders have been really well received and can and have offered some really valuable support. What we need is to now get managers spotting stress, anxiety, or where individuals simply aren’t coping early, as well as making mental health part of everyday language in order to destigmatise it.

The next step will be to train everyone, especially managers, to recognise and to talk about mental health. This will help us work towards removing this stigma..

What is your future prediction for the HR/People function given the talent and tech trends that we’re already seeing today?

In today’s market, I think we’ve got to be more creative. We’ve got to accept that we’re never going to find candidates with the full skillset needed, so we need to understand what is coachable. I think you’ve got to hire on potential, which requires Talent Attraction and Talent Development to work alongside each other. I think we’ve done a great job of managing this at La Fosse – you might not find someone who has experience in the area you’re looking for, but they may have similar skills, capabilities, and potential that can be developed.

It’s also about the whole learning management system. It’s not just about offering modules or classroom-based learning, it’s about giving people training that they can access anywhere at a time that suites them, so that they can take responsibility for their own learning.

Moving further into the technology side, there are lots of great innovations coming through. There’s technology that helps you scan CVs, video-based application portals, and even bots that can look at people’s calendars and start scheduling interviews. A lot of what we do at the moment is very transactional, and I think technology like this will give People teams more time to focus on more ‘human’ activities instead of manual processes. There is always the risk that this might depersonalise processes, but only time will tell what balance will be struck – for now, recent advancements have come with a lot of benefits and really opened up what the future responsibilities of the People team might be.

Where to next?

​5 key components of an effective workplace mental health strategy

Mental Health: Why it’s better when we talk about it

Secret Leaders Live: Mental Health Among Tech Entrepreneurs

The post Interview with CPO Jackie Dane – Mental health in the workplace appeared first on La Fosse.

The conversation around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is not a new one. And yet, excessive time spent studying and talking about what the problems are only delays change and results in lost generations of opportunity. The time for action is now, and conversations across the board need to start moving from ‘how do you see the problem?’ to ‘what are we actively doing today to solve it?’

We brought together 25 DE&I leaders from organisations of all sizes to discuss their visions for the future, common stumbling blocks, and how we can support each other to make this vision of equality a reality.

​What DE&I initiatives can I implement in my business?

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for DE&I. Where large organisations may have large spending pots, for start-ups and scale-ups, competing budget priorities mean it’s often hard to implement large-scale projects. But regardless of size, so long as actionable steps are put in place at all levels and a percentage of the organisation’s budget is dedicated to ensuring this can be executed, true DE&I is an achievable goal.

Government legislation is also an effective way of driving change within larger organisations. One example of this is affirmative action planning, something which is mandated in the US for organisations who have over 50 employees and specified federal ties.

An affirmative action plan (AAP) is a written document which outlines an organisation’s specific plans and data on representation within the workplace, including information on how many colleagues are hired, how many leave, a target growth rate for improving DE&I and the plan to make this happen. Currently, the US law surrounding AAPs only measures three strands (female, Black and Hispanic employees) but the scope for expansion of this legislation is promising, and certainly something that other countries and organisations would do well to adopt in the near future.

To encourage buy-in past implementing formal policies and a DE&I officer, another initiative many organisations are setting up are employee networks (also known as affinity or employee resource groups). Usually run voluntarily by employees, these provide a safe space for their peers to openly discuss thoughts and experiences around DE&I, among other topics. Not only have networks been shown to increase employee retention rates and make organisations more desirable, with the right backing from HR and the executive board (such as rewards or incentives for those involved) they can provide highly beneficial insights in all areas, from D&I to business growth and customer relations.

​What has been done so far to improve DE&I?

Across the board, progress has been made towards improving demographic diversity (gender, race, ethnicity, age, religion, sexual orientation, neurodiversity etc.) but there’s still a lot to be done. Here are some positive examples given by our panellists:

• Women in Finance Charter – over 330 financial firms across the world have pledged to promote gender diversity by committing to implement four key industry actions.
• After hitting its goal of achieving a minimum of 30% female representation on FTSE 100 boards, the 30% club has now expanded its 2023 targets to include there being “at least one person of colour on every FTSE 350 board […] with half these seats going to women”.
• In October 2020, Legal and General told FTSE 100 organisations that they will vote against those who fail to diversify their leadership teams by 2022. They will openly vote against re-election of chairman or head of nomination committee if this is not met.
• The Diversity VC Standard is an assessment and certification process that sets a benchmark for best practice within VC and sends a signal that a fund follows best DE&I practices to the rest of the ecosystem. With more funding, this could be extended to start-ups and scale-ups to better support D&I as they grow and give them more exposure.
• The Investor Leadership Network is currently building a dashboard that allows people to mentor and coach each other. This has a lot of promise for fund/project managers who aren’t ready for institutional capital and perhaps don’t yet have a board of directors but have a lot of potential. With the right attention, this project could help people to get to board level more quickly.
• The Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN) has recently announced plans to expand its US-based Project Pinklight – an accelerator program designed to help women launch their own private equity funds – into London. The project helps female founders to give and receive assistance with upfront capital to get off the ground.
• Investment firms including KKR, TPG and Goldman Sachs have programs which involve office hours for advice and a ‘big sibling relationship’ where they take on an advisory role and lend their name for fundraising – some seed capital needs to be used, but this is not always easy to get in the first place, so smaller organisations could do with more support in this area.

Many organisations, including La Fosse, are also now including socio-economic factors in their D&I plans. Our coding academy was founded in 2018 to tackle the diversity issue within software engineering, and uses a free-for-students policy to provide equal opportunities and focus on applicants’ individual ability rather than their ability to pay.

​What are the hurdles faced when trying to achieve DE&I?

The consequences of not focusing on DE&I are clear: continued employee tribunals, continued BLM protests, and general injustice and imbalance across the world.

And yet, when budgets are tight, DE&I initiatives are often the first thing to come under scrutiny for being a ‘nice to have’ rather than an essential function. Even tech giant Google has recently been accused by employees of reducing their internal D&I training team, leaving vacancies unfilled, and cutting back or dropping some programmes completely.

1. D&I is not simply an HR/CEO/board-level responsibility – although they are responsible for setting tone, every employee is responsible for ensuring D&I. Approximately 50% of DE&I best practices are not directly related to diversity, but are practices desired by everyone, such as fair treatment and organizational flexibility.
2. Currently, there is no consistent measurement system for data regarding the D&I process. This makes it hard for judges to compare when one organisation has data and others don’t, and in most cases, the one with auditable data will win
3. Whether conscious or unconscious, bias exists everywhere. According to blind hiring organisation FairHire, 20% of 540 UK female BAME jobseekers surveyed altered their name in applications and almost all who changed their name reported a higher level of call-backs from potential employers – unconscious bias training can help us to eliminate this.
4. Differences in legislation (such as LGBT rights) between countries can make it difficult to implement a cohesive strategy.
5. There are a lot of barriers in the way for people from diverse backgrounds hoping to start a VC organisation or fund. Founders are expected to have tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds readily accessible, as well as the ability to relocate, which simply isn’t viable for a lot of people.

How can we close the DE&I gap?

Successful DE&I initiatives are not ‘pet projects’ to be put on the backburner, they are long-term, targeted campaigns which include every single leader and hold people personally accountable for meeting objectives. To see results, programs must be connected and aligned at all levels, and also require organisations to invest in doing it properly. D&I results require passion – individuals at all levels need to have the right mindset and be personally committed to achieving positives and contributing towards fighting injustice. As one of our panellists asserted, ‘diversity shouldn’t be a layer on top or a topic of the week, it should be baked into the DNA of the organisation’.

For the final part of the event, attendees were given a hypothetical scenario: with £100,000 and a 12-month window, what can we do to close the D&I gap?

• One of the difficulties in finding talent is that firms often seek highly experienced candidates who are well-established names within their industry. Expanding the pool of candidates to be considered doesn’t necessarily require capital, but instead is dependent on networking and open-mindedness on the part of employers. Organisations should be agile and willing to give opportunities to people without previous board experience, whether it be nurturing internal talent or looking for external candidates with an ambitious mindset.
• Create a database of corporate leaders willing to take board seats within VC-funded organisations. This could also be reversed, giving scale-up leaders the opportunity to sit in on board meetings and gain valuable experience.
• Develop a database of diverse corporate executives and match people from different backgrounds with people at scale-up/start-up businesses to help them develop with D&I in mind. Increased effectiveness could be achieved by pairing people by sectors or specialisms.
• Implement a reverse mentoring scheme whereby executives from diverse backgrounds mentor leadership teams on the benefits of having a diverse executive team. This could be executed within or across sectors.
• Establish the UK’s first DE&I talent investor, funding the program through corporate sponsorship and family capital. Corporates would make a commitment to contribute X% saved from postponing, cancelling or modifying graduate schemes (and the like), with family capital using the broader momentum behind impact investing to entice investment.

Rather than simply recruiting and promoting people in their own personal likeness, leaders should focus on competency-based hiring. Why do you want to hire someone diverse – what soft skills like growth mindset and innovation are we assessing, and what does ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ look like in these areas? Having data and a scoring mechanism could help shift the dial, but it’s up to business leaders to evangelise and bring everyone along on the journey.

​Final words from our event chairs

“D&I leadership and sponsorship has come a long way in the last few years. Today’s executive leaders need to do whatever they can to ensure that in 20 years we are not having the same conversation. We hope this event provided impetus and insights into how we can collectively work together to close the D&I gap.” – Sunil Jindal

“In order to create change we must be bold and decisive. We must stop talking about stats and the issues we have in our society and hold everyone accountable to create change now, not in 10 years’ time. It was a delight to work with our amazing speakers on this event and thank you to everyone who attended.” – Sean Kiff

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To discuss this very topic, an expert panel facilitated by Ellen Donnelly, Head of Talent at Orkestro, met to share their experiences.

Jason Stockwood, Vice Chairman at Simply Business, Liz Robinson, Co-Director of Big Education, and Simon La Fosse, Founder and Executive Chairman of La Fosse, offered advice on building and maintaining an effective culture.

What is culture?

Culture is a difficult thing to measure – and therefore manage. As Jason explained, “Culture is what happens when management isn’t looking”. Because culture is led by individuals, senior management must explore the nuances of human interaction and go beneath the surface of employee behaviour.

Liz likened culture to the unspoken rules that many of us tend to adopt when getting into a lift with somebody else. Usually, eye contact is avoided, unless the other occupant is known. This behaviour is never agreed upon, and yet somehow it’s something we all inherently know.

Purpose plays a significant role in culture as well, especially amongst younger talent. Simon shared the experiences of his children who are job hunting, stating: “Neither can see themselves working for a company that doesn’t do good, that doesn’t have a purpose”. As the most socially-active generation there has ever been, Gen Z recruits entering the workplace are largely optimistic about their own future and, as such, want their work to have meaning and believe it should; a 2017 study of over 2,000 Gen Z respondents revealed a generation that is prioritising purpose in their work.

Culture built through experiments

Once you understand the people in your company, you can experiment with activities that help them to thrive in your workplace so that nobody suffers from the ‘Sunday-evening feeling’. At Simply Business, Jason believes in experimenting and learning from failure. The company is currently trialling a four-day week to see how it boosts employee morale and productivity at a time when YouGov research has shown that 63% of British people are in favour of a shorter working week, making Brits the most enthusiastic of seven European nations surveyed.

Values and trust

For leaders looking to build a strong and healthy culture, Liz recommended two focus areas: values and trust. If you start with trust and work backwards, you’ll attract the right kind of people to the team. Likewise, if everyone understands your company values and how their behaviour links to them, a culture of excellence, accountability and kindness can be born from it.

This rings especially true for start-ups and scale-ups. During a period of high growth, some company values can be lost. Constantly communicating those values will help your team to live them every day. It doesn’t have to involve a formal process – even sharing your values through giveaways can help.

Encouraging vulnerability

Providing psychological safety, where people feel they can try things and don’t fear failure, is key to building a strong culture. Opening up about issues and sharing human experiences can create a more inclusive culture where people can be themselves. One suggestion was to have a ‘trip report’ at every Monday meeting to enable everyone to share what they did at the weekend.

How to measure your culture

Traditionally, retention has been the main measure of the health of a company’s culture. However, as Simon explained, this is a lag indicator and can only tell you where your culture has failed an individual after the failure.

Now, employer review sites and software can give an earlier indication of your culture. Simon emphasised the need for a continuous indicator and for a company to correct any issues that are identified early on before the damage is done.

A new approach

Ultimately, it’s the leaders who go the extra mile with their culture who will eventually win the race. Building a great culture doesn’t happen overnight; it requires a fresh approach, one of experimentation, sharing, and continuous refinement.

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Want to find out more about building a world-class culture through world-class recruitment? Get in touch with claudia.cohen@lafosse.com, or call on 020 7932 1652.

Where to next? Find out more about our executive capabilities.

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With this in mind, it was a pleasure to host “Discussing Diversity,” a panel event held in partnership with GfK and Kobalt Music, facilitated by CEO and co-founder of the Tech Talent Charter Debbie Forster MBE. Debbie was joined on the panel by: Jessica Cecil, Director of the BBC’s Online Project; Ben Jones, CTD at GfK; Tessa Clarke, co-founder of OLIO; Oliver Beach, CEO of Futureproof and chair of Out in Tech London; Jacqui Lloyd, apprenticeship lead at Citi; and Kelly Vickery, employer branding manager at Kobalt.

The need for greater diversity

Growing concerns around D&I have led many businesses to rush their diversity initiatives. While the eagerness to create a diverse organisation is to be commended, the need for speed can lead to “box-ticking,” with businesses filling quotas and considering the job complete.

However, this approach is short-sighted. Diverse hires will not remain at an organisation which does not have an inclusive culture. The positive impact of diversity on the bottom line is well documented, but this impact won’t be felt if the business cannot retain these staff.

What’s more, without diverse voices in the meeting room, businesses will fail to reflect their customer base, appeal to a broad range of demographics and broaden their potential market.

With many organisations still at the start of their D&I journey, our panel discussed what organisations can learn from one another on the way.

Build an inclusive culture first

Culture plays a huge role in promoting DE&I, which means Inclusion needs to be at the heart of strategy. The common epithet is that ‘Diversity is inviting people to a party. Inclusion is asking them to dance,’ or as one panellist put it – “diversity is a reality. But inclusion is a choice.”

This means assessing and changing current ways of working in order to best suit each individual, and building an environment which allows everyone to thrive. We can see the beginnings of this in the increasing number of businesses offering a “remote-first” policy on flexible working, making it easier for people to work in a way which accommodates their lives.

However, it could go further, and luckily there are organisations around to help drive the initiative. Debbie’s Tech Talent Charter is a commitment organisations can undertake to deliver greater parity amongst their technical staff, while the Valuable 500 has recently launched a similar mission specifically focused on disability and neurodiversity in the workplace.

The role of allies

Because people are fearful of offending and saying the wrong thing, they sometimes fail to say anything at all. In fact, an important part of inclusion is the role of allies in supporting marginalised groups.

Individuals should feel able to support minority candidates in their organisation, and safe spaces where those inside and outside of diverse groups can have difficult conversations are key. As one panellist put it: “there is no point in having conversations in isolation.”

Where next?

The first step needs to be assessing the diverse needs of your organisation. Businesses can begin by learning more about their employees, how diverse are they, what are their specific needs and wants when it comes to DE&I and how inclusive they feel the organisation is.

The role of leaders is vital to highlight the importance of these initiatives, and those in senior positions must be seen to be the driving force behind D&I plans.

Finishing on a high, panellists explained that the time is ripe for change – as demonstrated by the number of companies signing up to the Tech Talent Charter in the past few years. Though there’s still a long road ahead, many have taken the first steps – and we look forward to seeing a more inclusive future.

I’m Claudia, Head of Client Services at La Fosse Associates. If you’d like to learn more about this or future events, or discuss driving diverse hiring in your organisation, get in touch: Claudia.cohen@lafosse.com or tillie.hands@lafosse.com

If you want to read more on Diversity in the workplace, check out these blogs:

10 Ways to Overcome the Diversity Challenge

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One of the steps we’ve taken is facilitating a programme of Unconscious Bias training, designed by an Organisational Psychologist. From motivating our team (101 consultants), to evaluating our hiring process, we want to develop an inclusive culture of excellence -not only in our own business – but, with other businesses looking to strengthen their workforce by hiring more diverse candidates.

What is unconscious bias?

Unconscious bias occurs when people instinctively categorise others based on observable criteria such as age, gender or skin colour.

It is important to note that this isn’t intentional, and that everyone has unconscious biases. The brain receives information constantly, which is based on our experiences and what we read, hear or see in the media. It then uses shortcuts to speed up decision making, and this, is how unconscious bias becomes a by-product. In certain situations (like when you’re in danger and need to act fast), this is vital.

However, when applied to a hiring process, this can be paramount to discrimination if the bias relates to one of the 9 Protected Characteristics (Equality Act 2010). What’s more, it holds us back from objectively assessing who is the best person for the job, because we’re judging with our “gut feeling.”

How can we avoid unconscious bias?

Being aware of unconscious bias is the first step to mitigating it.

Then, you need to build a hiring process based on Objective Assessment, with four key stages: Observe, Record, Classify, then Evaluate.

Observe

A candidate’s behaviour is the sum of what they say and do. This is really only the tip of the iceberg, through which we understand their emotions, attitudes, beliefs, experiences and skills.

Assessors need to pay close attention to a candidate’s behaviour at each point of the interview process. The key is observing, whilst reserving judgement to avoid jumping to conclusions, or any of the other common mistakes interviewers make (figure 1.)

Record

Make relevant, factual notes of what the interviewee says, recording their speech verbatim rather than summarising or interpreting their speech. Avoid making a judgement about their response in the moment – this often leads to unconscious bias creeping in.

Classify

Based on your written evidence, numerically score the individual against each of the core competencies you are assessing them for. Try and think about each one in isolation rather than thinking about whether the collective sum means you’re going to put them through to the next stage or hire them.

Evaluate

Decide whether you want to hire them from the evidence.

Every organisation has a responsibility to proactively try and remove bias from their hiring processes. However, it’s not just the right thing to do – it’s also a better way to do business. Having a diverse workforce has proven links to financial performance and retention.

If you are an organisation looking to scale in the right way, and would like to share tips on what worked, we’d love to speak to you. Please reach out to Claudia at claudia.cohen@lafosse.com.

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