Diversity

Delivering a diverse and inclusive workplace, where the talents and development of all are recognised and encouraged to grow, is now widely accepted as a key source of competitive advantage as well as ‘the right thing to do’ and is embedded in much of the equal opportunities legislation in the UK (and increasingly the expectations of government agencies when procuring services from suppliers). Occupational psychologists assess the extent of diversity within organisations and work with management teams to develop strategies to improve it including attracting the best candidates from all the available talent pools, designing diversity-friendly HR policies and delivering diversity awareness and practical management training to embed fairness and inclusiveness into the culture of an organistion. Research has identified a wide range of benefits that are associated with developing a more meritocratic and inclusive workplace. These include higher performance from employees through a culture of mutual respect, less bullying or harassment at work, greater creativity feeding into improved products and services and greater success in attracting the best candidates available.