Yahoo Finance INvolve’s Suki Sandhu on how any company can build an inclusive environment
Improving diversity and inclusion (D&I) in organisations should start from the top, with senior role models who can clearly communicate the message to employees.
Speaking to Yahoo Finance UK, Suki Sandhu OBE, one of the UK’s leading diversity champions, said companies must first define what D&I means to them.
“Has the CEO actually made a statement — be it in an email, via a video, whatever it is — so … the employees can see the CEO talking about it,” said Sandhu who is the founder and CEO of diversity-focused executive search firm Audeliss and INvolve, a network that helps businesses transform their cultures to be more inclusive.
“The leaders at the top are the culture carriers of the organisation, that’s where everyone is going to be looking to for behaviours and they need to role model them,” Sandhu said.
Sandhu said an inexpensive way companies can begin to build a more inclusive environment is by running an employee survey to collect data to identify the issues they should be addressing. He also advised companies to set up inclusion networks which offer a safe space to women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ and people with disabilities to share their stories and experiences.
Celebrating the achievements senior leaders have been making in this area, Sandhu’s INvolve this week released its annual EMPower Ethnic Minority Role Models lists.
Topping the 100 Ethnic Minority Executives list was Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga, while Salesforce business operations manager Farah Sidiqqui led the Future Leaders list. The top spot for this year’s Advocates ranking was Nick Owen, chairman of Deloitte North-West Europe.
