A minister’s recent criticisms of public sector spending on diversity consultants ignore the reality that EDI is crucial to efficiency and competitiveness, argues Dr Olajumoke Okoya.
Reading Esther McVey’s recent comments in the Daily Mail questioning whether spending on consultants to teach equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in the public sector was wasteful, my impression was that the ‘Minister for Common Sense’ has missed the point.
In her article, which focuses on her priorities for tackling “wasteful” public spending, McVey said that while she recognised the need for gender, ethnic and geographical diversity in public sector roles, she said the most “common-sense” thing to do would be to practise it, not “waste thousands of taxpayer pounds preaching it”.
As someone who has been appointed to the Cabinet to apparently show us how to behave more sensibly, McVey has not acknowledged a crucial point; human beings are not born interculturally fluent. Whatever our background, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity, we know very little about other groups until we engage with them. Simply put, understanding social cues, empathy, and normative behaviour are fundamental to how the world works.
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Despite our withdrawal from the European Union, the UK remains part of the global economy. Our universities welcome and educate students from around the world. British-born students represent the heritage of our commonwealth. We cannot cocoon ourselves in non-viable notions that not acknowledging differences will erase them. EDI training equips and prepares people, especially young adults, to be confident in engaging with people from other cultures and backgrounds in the workplace.
The University of East London’s Office for Institutional Equity studies trends and data which can be applied to training and further education. The UK’s growing skills shortages can only be mitigated by increasing the talent pool. This means including skilled and qualified individuals from all backgrounds in the recruitment process and appointing diverse candidates who meet the criteria.
Once appointed, candidates should be confident that they will not encounter bullying or harassment based on their gender, social or ethnic characteristics – especially in the public sector. As someone who is responsible for ensuring that EDI principles are enshrined in every facet of work, I recognise that this is crucial, with the Department for Work and Pensions itself suggesting that generationally-blended working environments may bridge the skills gap, especially if more people with disabilities are encouraged to join the workforce.
A 2018 report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research found that the economic cost of workplace discrimination to the UK economy totalled £127bn annually, while Acas reported that from 2021 to 2022, 156,000 employees contacted them for advice about difficulties in the workplace, while more than 14 million people searched their website.
Figures like these show that if public sector employers fail to understand what is acceptable, or simply don’t know what is legal under the Equality Act, then the costs are high, hindering the country’s ability to compete internationally as a market for inward investment. Upskilling employers so they understand the fundamentals of equity, enabling businesses to work more effectively and more impactfully, is a worthy investment in the public and private sectors.
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