Grow your team
When you become an Inclusive Employers’ Member you grow your I&D team.
Your account manager works with you to understand your goals, your challenges and achievable next steps.
Do you need more support for your inclusive culture to thrive?
1) Can you tell us how you came to be in your role
My current role of Senior Inclusive Employers Standard (IES) Programme Lead has been in my sights for a rather long time. It was one I had my eye on even before I came to work at Inclusive Employers.
Before working here, I was an academic researcher focusing on improving access to healthcare services for people from marginalised groups. During my time as a researcher, I was lucky enough to support Inclusive Employers on several healthcare focused projects, and through that I was able to become an IES assessor.
This was when I fell in love with the IES; it’s the perfect blend of inclusion best practice, cultural change, and data analysis to make a data nerd like me very happy. After a few years now of being a full-time Senior Consultant with Inclusive Employers, I am very excited to be able to lead on the development of the Inclusive Employers Standard.
2) Can you share an ‘inclusion moment’ with us – a time when you have felt included either at work or in your personal life?
The moment that comes to mind is my first day in a new research role. I was so nervous because as an Autistic person I find working with new people quite difficult, and my social skills are some what of an acquired taste, making impressions definitely not one of my strengths.
The principal investigator on the project got the whole team together for a coffee to get to know each other. Needless to say, I was quite nervous about messing this up, but instead of having to do my normal introduction of ‘Hi, I’m Emily, I’m autistic, if I say something that sounds rude I probably didn’t mean it, please just tell me rather than getting annoyed’, the principal investigator said something else.
She told the team that we are going to be working together for a few years and to do that we need to work well as a team. She said that if someone does or says something that we don’t like, we are to assume it is a miscommunication and to talk about it together. For the first time I felt like someone understood what I was nervous about. It made me feel so welcome just to have the pressure of making a bad first impression taken off my shoulders. To this day I am still in touch with members of that team, and they still make me feel welcome.
“Many organisations do the Inclusive Employers Standard multiple times, so I get to see them mature and develop from a perspective that many people who work within the organisation don’t get to see.”
Find out how Emily can support you to develop with the Inclusive Employers Standard
3) What do you love most about your role?
I love that I get to work with data. I know for many people that would sound boring, but for me it’s so fun.
I get to support many organisations by helping them to identify their strengths and areas for focus, and work with them to create a plan of action. Many organisations come back and do the Inclusive Employers Standard multiple times, so I get to see them mature and develop from a perspective that many people who work within the organisation don’t get to see.
It’s also so nice to see the joy on people’s faces when all their hard work and effort is recognised with an accreditation.
4) What is a typical day like for you?
It depends on the time of year. The Inclusive Employers Standard runs two rounds a year, so my job is a real mix of reports, recommendations and strategy sessions to support organisations on their inclusion journey or project development, research and benchmarking to ensure the IES is providing the highest standard of inclusion advice.
I love the variety of my role and I still get to work on consultancy projects too, which is a great part of working for Inclusive Employers. There are always opportunities to stretch your skills.
5) What’s been your most memorable moment in your inclusion career?
There have been so many opportunities and moments, it is very difficult to pick one. I recently got to travel to Romania to support a European Charity with the co-development of an inclusion toolkit to train medical professionals around inclusion healthcare. This was an amazing opportunity!
Getting to hear so many different perspectives and experiences from across Europe, then develop a programme that would meet all these needs. It was also amazing to learn so much more about inclusive language in languages other than English. I am looking forward to the next phase of the project!
Do you have more questions for the Inclusive Employers team?
If you would like to know more about working with us and have a question for the team please use the form below to get in touch.
Grow your team
When you become an Inclusive Employers’ Member you grow your I&D team.
Your account manager works with you to understand your goals, your challenges and achievable next steps.
Do you need more support for your inclusive culture to thrive?
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