Frazer and Ben are joined by two DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) champions in this bumper episode of All Things Business – The Podcast. Ranjit Singh and Gamiel Yafai are co-founders of the Milton Keynes Ethnic Business Community, an organisation that aims to platform minority ethnic business people and support them and their businesses to grow.
Ranjit’s day job is as Philanthropy Director at the MK Community Foundation, while Gamiel is the CEO of Diversity Marketplace, a global DEI consultancy that has worked with businesses of all sizes from one-man bands to the likes of Santander and the V&A Museum.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Business
Both Ben and Frazer have been anticipating this episode for a long time, as they are eager to learn more about this increasingly important topic for businesses. Gamiel lays out the nine protected characteristics: race, disability, sexual orientation, religion, sex, pregnancy and maternity, age, marriage and civil partnership, and gender reassignment.
Since the pandemic, Ben has developed a vision of work as a safe space where people need to feel comfortable. Happy employees are more productive, so there’s a business case as well as a culture case. Ranjit inadvertently titles the episode by offering the insight ‘inclusion is the absence of fear and judgement’.
Important and dense discussions are had around terminology; providing resources for marginalised people to become more competent, rather than just trying to diversify senior positions for the sake of it; around DEI needing to have a similar cultural breakthrough to mental health; and policies and procedures that can help produce a more inclusive company culture.
The Practice of Cloaking
Gamiel brings up the practice of cloaking, which is when someone has a protected characteristic but hides it. He says the only way to overcome these practices is by fostering a culture of openness about things like mental health, as well as the different experiences of those with protected characteristics. Making these things visible is incredibly important. Ranjit has implemented a ‘Time for Tea’ system, where employees are paired off to spend some break time together and hopefully get to know each other better and help foster a more open culture. Ben loves the idea and hopes to implement it in his own business.
As the episode draws to a close, the four reflect on how culture has improved and become more inclusive over their careers. The frequency of directors and other upper management hot desking among workers has increased dramatically, allowing for more open cultures to develop throughout organisations. The episode finished with a classic ATB dinner party question.
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