Long-established, Midlands-based training provider, Righttrack Consultancy have joined forces with Made in the Midlands and Made in Yorkshire, privately run peer groups for leaders of Manufacturing and Engineering firms, to instil a culture that truly embraces Diversity and Inclusion in the manufacturing industry across the UK.
According to Deloitte’s Human Capital Trends survey 2017, the number of executives who cited inclusion as a top priority has risen 32% since 2014. However, the Forbes Global Diversity Ranking Index, shows that Manufacturing ranks 11th out of 14 industries with only the Construction, Utilities and Mining industries falling behind.
Across the UK manufacturing and engineering sector, there are widespread concerns regarding an ageing workforce and an insufficient number of skilled people. The sectors also lags behind others with regards to the number of females and individuals from diverse backgrounds or with disabilities it employs.
As part of Made in the Midlands’ ‘Inclusivity Campaign’, which is a direct response to addressing the UK’s engineering skills gap and something that could make businesses more productive and profitable, Righttrack has designed a health check for businesses to use as a ‘litmus test’ and identify where they are already following best practice and where they need to focus to make improvements.
Righttrack’s senior specialist Gamiel Yafai, award winning Diversity and Inclusion strategist and author of Demystifying Diversity is leading the project, he said: “An inclusive and diverse workforce allows organisations to benefit from a variety of views and perspectives, allowing them to find more creative solutions and harness different talents to be more successful.
“It is proven that organisations which are more diverse and inclusive perform better and are ultimately more profitable but there is still a way to go until the manufacturing industry has a reputation for being sufficiently diverse and inclusive.”
To create a culture that truly embraces diversity and inclusion, Yafai believes that it is critical that managers at all levels lead by example, he added: “To be an inclusive leader, managers needs to create an environment where everyone is confident to speak up, to challenge and make themselves visible. They must create a safe environment to propose novel ideas and empower team members to make decisions, and mistakes.
“Becoming an inclusive and diverse employer will help you gain a competitive advantage. Not only will you be addressing the skills gap, but you’ll be future-proofing your workforce.”
According to ‘Innovation, diversity and market growth’ research by Talent Innovation, organisations with inclusive leaders are 70% more likely to have captured a new market in the past twelve months and 45% more likely to increase market share.
As a result of joining Made in the Midland’s Inclusivity Campaign, businesses will be invited to a half-day workshop led by Gamiel Yafai, and a comprehensive toolkit that has been designed to give those that attend the confidence and skills to embrace diversity and inclusion at all levels of the organisation, and reap the benefits as a consequence.
