Whether your organisation has a dedicated Equality, Diversity and Inclusion resource, or if EDI is embedded into a Human Resources, Learning & Development or Organisational Development function, getting started can seem like an insurmountable challenge.
To help you create a strong foundation, here are some top tips to consider as part of your approach to EDI action planning, supporting you to generate the best outcomes possible.
Look at what is currently available and working well.
Conduct an internal EDI audit to generate data and experiential insights - to benchmark your organisation and inform your strategy. Consider how your strategy will align with legal requirements, regulations and standards.
EDI should not be pursued because it's the ethical thing to do, nor to achieve the sole aim of addressing skills. There is now a strong business case that highlights just how progressing EDI makes sound financial sense, boosts innovation and productivity, drives up profitability, as well as attracting and retaining talent.
Your organisation has the opportunity to demonstrate a clear business case within your organisational and wider sector context, to generate senior leadership, middle management and operational EDI buy-in. Developing a strong business case for EDI can serve to enhance your organisations profile, reputation and meet demands of current and future commitments around technology, environmental and social challenges.
Routes to Diversity & Inclusion is the first toolkit of its kind for the Highways and Transportation sector.
It provides a route map to success and offers practical guidance, case studies and links to reliable sources of expert advice for employers to help recruit, retain and develop diverse talent, and increase capacity within the industry.
By clarifying purpose and shared understanding of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, you can reduce ambiguity, misalignment and generate accountability.
Develop your high-level vision and ambitions aligned with business goals and corporate values.
Your strategy may include objectives across key areas to create a golden EDI thread in your organisation. This will help to generate ownership, accountability and generate meaningful outcomes.
Key areas to consider include:
· Executive summary
· Context and rationale
· Mission, EDI definitions
· Strategic priorities
· Objectives and metrics – informed by data and insights
· Timelines – achievable road map broken down year and quarter
· Ownership
· Communication and engagement – consult with your workforce, conduct survey/s to gather diversity data and insight. Use focus group model to develop your strategy
· Resourcing
· Monitoring
· Review and Iteration arrangements
· Risk mitigation and contingency
· Supporting evidence/information
Create an internal road map clearly detailing your objectives and metrics, informed by data and experiential insights - – clear, achievable goals, considering your organisation and sector context etc.
Co-produce with key internal stakeholders so that EDI is embedded a golden thread across your organisation, aspiring to a business-as-usual approach.
Aligned to each strategic priority, detail what success looks like and timelines.
Collect baseline metrics so you can measure change and adapt your approach.
An enhanced approach to EDI goes beyond minimal compliance, yet setting out legal requirements, standard and reviewing your policies and processes helps to identify areas of alignment and improvement, and ultimately to affect systemic change.
As a foundational starting point, you may wish to refer to key Equality legislation, depending upon your organisation’s context and geographical structure.
Robust, regularly reviewed policies should be accompanied by transparent processes that are adhered to in order to prevent a delivery gap of policies, which can serve to entrench inequity, equality and exclusion.
ERGs can provide vital opportunities to embed EDI into your organisation by connecting people with shared experiences and characteristics. In order to prevent silo working, burnout and even, they should be supported with a clear remit, strategic alignment, cross-ERG collaboration and infrastructure – leveraging ERGS to drive real impact.
ERGs leaders should be encouraged to align their objectives to organisational strategy, and feed into a cross-ERG group and EDI steering group, to advocate for inclusion. They should have leadership buy in/sponsorship, and advocate for inclusivity and allyship in terms of membership.
Systemic change is required, combined with individual willingness to reflect and apply learning, thereby contributing to a shift in workplace culture and generating sustained inclusive behaviours. Framing your organisational and external learning offers as driving inclusive professional practice can help to engage your workforce in being part of the change to better serve communities that we serve as a sector
The future workforce depends upon organisations approach to EDI related learning as one of the ways to generate change and respond to an ageing workforce, skills shortage and fixing a leaky talent pipeline.
CIHT Learn
CIHT Learn is our learning platform, which includes a wide range of modules developed by experts that can help fast-track your knowledge and skills.
Subject areas cover specific EDI topics, inclusive mobility and professional practice, and technical and safety subjects.
Mentoring can significantly increase the chances of success at professional reviews and in general wider career terms. Mentors can help mentees to gain perspective, set goals, identify their strengths and weaknesses and ultimately help them to be successful.
Your organisation may develop a new mentoring programme or leverage existing programmes.
CIHT Mentoring
The CIHT Mentoring platform includes support and guidance, video conferencing and progress tracking tools.
The professional review element of our platform is now live, with the wider career element in development.
Register now as either a mentor or mentee and utilise the support of CIHT’s member network to further your workforce careers and knowledge and much more
EDI awareness days present a useful mechanism to promote awareness and generating conversations around inclusion, although year-round action and sustained commitment is vital to affect meaningful change.
The CIHT Awards is an annual global competition that provides the work you are most proud of with the international recognition it deserves. The awards celebrate your innovative work, what it takes to be the best and the incredible benefits your work and the highways and transportation sector bring to society, including within an EDI category.
Your role is to produce incredible work, our role is to celebrate best practice, promote your professionalism and give it the biggest stage.
CIHT invites organisations to participate in the CIHT Partnerships Network EDI Community of Interest.
This Community of Interest provides a shared space for partner-led knowledge exchange, collaboration and learning, bringing together organisations that support our commitment to advancing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion across the highways and transportation sector.
The Community focuses on three themes:
Whilst the Community is primarily designed for CIHT Partners, participation is open to organisations that share CIHT values and are committed to advancing inclusive professional practice and sector‑wide impact.
Individuals who comprise the EDI Community of Interest are experts in or have a strong interest in EDI and represent their employers.
We host interactive, themed and virtual sessions where group members share, discuss and debate the common key issues we face across the sector.
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