A decade or so ago, ‘Equality and Diversity’ were the buzzwords of the day. They were popular for good reason as the Equality Act 2010 had just come into being, making it illegal under one act for people with protected characteristics to be discriminated against.
Nowadays you’re more likely to hear the terms, ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ or ‘D&I’ initiatives at your place of work. Or perhaps an amalgamation of all three: ‘Equality, Diversity & Inclusion’, which is somewhat ‘creatively'(!) referred to as ‘EDI’.
There’s a reason for this of course. In the last ten years, there’s been a lot more study into this area and we’ve learned that inclusion is an integral piece of the puzzle. It was a false equation of sorts before – one that didn’t add up because we were missing that all important value; the value of inclusion.
Both diversity and inclusion are integral parts of how we make our workplaces attractive places to work, where employees are engaged and productive and our teams representative of society. The science and business case for them is incredibly strong, but before we can look at this in detail, we first have to understand the terms.
Written By: Jemma Houghton
