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Inclusivity in the workplace: Fostering openness around disability

Thursday 19th January; 9.30am to 11.00am

Virtual Workshop

With 1 in 3 people touched by disability, creating an inclusive culture is a priority for all organisations. An environment that promotes inclusion must be created and valued if business benefits are to be truly realized, and where ALL employees can be open & access support. However, for many employers, creating such a culture and encouraging openness amongst both your employees and prospective employees remains a challenge.

Individuals are reluctant to be open for numerous reasons including the negative judgements they fear will be made, being perceived as a ‘hassle’ and being treated differently in front of their peers. However, as employers, you want individuals to be open about their disability or health condition to be able to support them both during the recruitment process and in the workplace.

During this workshop delegates will build their understanding about why individuals are so reluctant to be open with employers and gain practical insights into how to address this reluctance and to encourage openness. We will move on to look at how to create an inclusive culture and, as part of this, we will also explore allyship and the concept of someone who is not a member of an underrepresented group taking action to support that group.

Finally, we will also look at inclusive recruitment; no organisation intentionally has barriers in its recruitment process however it is crucial to objectively review your end-to-end process through a disability lens to ensure that no barriers exist. At each stage of the process, you need to be asking yourself the question: Are we doing enough to create a level playing field?

To bring the subject to life, we will be joined by individuals who will share their own concerns about being open about their disability, and their insights into how employers can best address these.



Speakers

Headshot of Christine De Marco

Christine De Marco

Christine is a Vice President in Morgan Stanley, working in finance change. She is a chartered accountant and fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), she has worked in a variety of consulting and accounting roles across financial services during the last 15 years and has served on the ACCA members panel for Glasgow and the West of Scotland.

Christine is an active charity fundraiser and can often be found doing adrenaline inducing events to raise money for organisations she is passionate about.

She is a parent to a young Autistic child and is a diversity and inclusion ally for under-represented groups.  She is an advocate within her sons school and promotes awareness of neurodiversity within her workplace and external networks.


Headshot of Serena Vaughan

Serena Vaughan

Serena is a member of the Fidelity International Early Careers Team, leading on Attraction, Diversity, and Engagement. This includes global equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives and programmes, as well as working with schools and universities, and social media. She is a recent joiner to Fidelity and to the Financial Services industry, having spent three years at Unilever working in a number of different roles as a graduate - from Reward, to factory Employee Relations, to Social Equity and Inclusion.

Serena has ADHD, which she was diagnosed with as an adult - after a family member shared an article about women with ADHD and said, ‘this sounds like you’! She has also undergone treatment for OCD, and Emotional Intensity Disorder. She is now focused on empowering people with disabilities to advocate for the adjustments and boundaries they need and removing the stigma that still persists around mental ill-health.


MyPlus Recruiters’ Club Platinum and Gold members are entitled to 2 complimentary places. Additional complimentary places may be available depending on room capacity, with priority being given to Platinum members.

MyPlus Recruiters’ Club Silver members are entitled to 2 complimentary places. Additional places may be purchased by Silver members at a reduced price of £50 +VAT

Non-members may purchase places at a price of £95 + VAT.

Contact lise@myplusconsulting.com to purchase places or to find out more about joining the Recruiters’ Club.

MyPlus run a variety of these types of events for employers. For details of the different types visit our events page. For details of forthcoming Recruiters’ Club events taking place visit our employer events calendar page.