Diversity & inclusion in the workplace has been thrust into the spotlight over the past few weeks — and for just cause.
First, was the harrowing independent report into the London fire brigade with anonymous accounts from more than 2,000 staff members highlighting problems of institutional misogyny and racism. Then the resignation of Lady Susan Hussey, Prince William’s 83-year-old godmother, after she repeatedly challenged Ngozi Fulani, founder of the domestic abuse charity Sistah Space, on where she is from.
“The workplace and professional environments should always be safe spaces where racist, misogynistic and classist behaviour is unacceptable. An embedded culture of inclusivity is something all organisations of any size should strive for,” says WPG’s Dr Máire Kerrin.
Here at WPG, it’s D&I challenges like these that we help to address. Using the very latest research and thinking we seek to understand causal factors to develop new ways to promote inclusive work environments.
Winning solutions
Which is why we are delighted to have won two awards for projects in the D&I space at this year’s Association for Business Psychology (ABP) Awards.
Held on November 10th, the 2022 awards celebrate and highlight the achievements within the world of business psychology and showcase levels of excellence that have been achieved in the workplace.
And the winner is…
Our independent review of the statutory consultation process for the Judicial Appointments Commission investigated fairness, reliability, and utility of the process. And won the Excellence in Assessment and Selection award.
While our work with Health Education England (HEE) on the development and practical application of an evaluation framework to explore and improve diversity and widening access into medicine, scooped the Business Psychology for Social Impact accolade.
Ending the year on a high
Professor Fiona Patterson, WPG’s founding director, says: “We are passionate about helping our clients to address social mobility, diversity and inclusion within all their organisational practices. It’s important to acknowledge that this is a really complex area to deal with. And we do this week in, week out by collaborating with organisations around the world using the latest research to help improve performance, communication, and fairness.
“We want to help bring about real change through research-led organisational psychology solutions. So, to have the team’s work nominated, shortlisted and awarded two ABP accolades is fabulous recognition for the team and a wonderful end to the year”.
An award-winning organisation
It’s not the first time we have won an ABP award. In 2020 we won the Social Impact accolade for a piece of work looking at differential attainment (DA) and diversity in medicine. While our own associate director, Emma Morley, scooped the Award for Excellence in Using Psychology for Social Impact in 2019.
The award recognised Emma’s work leading a WPG team in partnership with the British Medical Association (BMA) to develop a new tool to help medical students and junior doctors make informed decisions regarding their choice of medical specialty.
If your organisation is facing a D&I challenge in 2023 then please do get in touch. We’d love to chat.
