IRISH CENTRE FOR DIVERSITY
Following on from its success in the UK, the Irish Centre for Diversity is proactive in taking a holistic approach to diversity and inclusion in the way it engages with businesses and organisations
A holistic approach to supporting business
There are many organisations in Ireland that offer support around diversity and inclusion but they tend to focus on one particular area, such as gender or LGBT. Established a year and a half ago, The Irish Centre for Diversity (ICFD) is allencompassing, according to country director for Ireland Caroline Tyler.
“This means we are able to bring a fresh approach to how the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion are supported and implemented in a variety of organisations,” she says. “Our holistic approach covers nine grounds for discrimination under the legislation in Ireland.” These are gender, marital status, family status, age, disability, race, sexual orientation, religious belief and membership of the Traveller community.
“But we know that diversity is more than just our physical differences or our preferences. It is shaped by our backgrounds, beliefs, values, feelings, personalities, likes, dislikes, life experiences and social upbringing,” says Tyler.
The ICFD uses cutting-edge tools and services that measure and inform on workplace fairness, respect, equality, diversity, inclusion and engagement (FREDIE). It has built up expertise and benchmarking over the years from data collated from across the UK and is building on that from its work in Ireland.
// INVESTORS IN DIVERSITY
One of the ICFD’s initiatives was to introduce the Investors in Diversity industry standard in Ireland, which to date has been achieved by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and AIB.
The Investors in Diversity’s framework provides a way of facilitating and managing the diversity and inclusion agenda. The process involves an initial diagnostic to help organisations to understand and define the context within which diversity and inclusion operate and helping them to understand this area in its broadest sense.
A survey of the organisations which have achieved the standard in the UK have experienced numerous benefits. For example, 59.4% reported a reduction in incidents of bullying being witnessed among staff and 77.1% of organisations reported a reduction in incidents of discrimination being witnessed among staff.
WORK WITH COMPANIES
Over the past 12 months the ICFD has been working with companies across a variety of sectors. For example, it undertook a culture audit for wholesaler Musgrave to provide the company with a reflection of where it thinks it is on its diversity and inclusion journey compared with where it actually is.
“This allowed Musgrave to set a clear and focused agenda on diversity and inclusion,” says Tyler. “We recently partnered with international law firm Matheson to run an employee diversity and inclusion survey.”
After launching the Investors in Diversity programme here in Ireland, Tyler realised the ICFD needed to reframe its approach to be more geared towards Irish businesses. This led to a partnership with Ibec and the DCU Centre of Excellence (see page 10). The ICFD also partnered with the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) this year, as a result of the work the organisation does with UK construction companies.
“Our partnership with CIF meant we were able to produce guidance for diversity and inclusion within the sector, which was launched at the CIF’s breakfast briefing in September,” notes Tyler.
BUSINESS SENSE
In Tyler’s experience, more and more companies in Ireland agree that diversity and inclusion are important and they are increasingly being given greater prominence on board agendas across the country. The proportion of executives who cited inclusion as a top priority has risen by 32% since 2014, according to a 2017 survey by Deloitte.
The same survey shows that over two-thirds of executives rate diversity and inclusion as an important issue (up from 59% in 2014), while 38% said the primary sponsor of the company’s diversity and inclusion efforts was the CEO. “A 10% increase in inclusion can result in you winning back one day of work for every person you employ,” says Tyler.
Regarding financial performance, a 2015 study by McKinsey highlighted that those companies that had higher gender diversity were 15% more likely to have financial returns above their national industry average. Furthermore, companies that were racially/ ethnically diverse were 30% more likely to have financial returns above their industry average.
According to another Deloitte study last year, good pay and positive cultures are most likely to attract both millennials and Generation Z, but diversity/inclusion and flexibility are more important in terms of keeping them happy. Nearly 75% of this generation thinks that a “work from home” or “work remotely” policy is important.
“By 2025 it is estimated that roughly 75% of the global workforce will be millennials, so if employers want to attract and retain the best talent, diversity and inclusion need to be a priority,” says Tyler.
From a personal point of view, Tyler has always believed wholeheartedly in fairness, justice and equality. “Seeing how people respond and helping them to grow in confidence should never be underestimated or undervalued,” she says. “People and teams that live by the values of fairness help to build bridges. I believe we can all play a role in creating a fairer society by standing up and taking action.”
A 10% increase in inclusion can result in you winning back one day of work for every person you employ