Webinar examines best practices for benchmarking diversity and inclusion in the workplace

The Dubai Chamber Sustainability Network Task Force on Diversity & Inclusion recently organised a webinar advising businesses on global practices for benchmarking diversity & inclusion at workplace.

The webinar, titled Global Best Practices and Benchmarking for Designing and Driving Diversity & Inclusion at Workplace, was attended by 96 participants from 37 companies. Sessions examined various types of best practices that can be widely adopted to empower different group of employees, improve relationships or team building, and boost employee engagement and productivity.

Participants learned about how inclusion at workplace means overcoming prejudices of all forms and this needs comprehensive efforts in the form of designing and driving diversity and inclusion strategy with in an organisation.

During the event, a panel experts joined by Berivan SÜZGÜN
Head of Talent – MESCATA ENGIE, Pavleen Sagoo,Talent and Colleague Experience Manager, Serco Middle East and  Mira Toukan
UAE Diversity & Inclusion Lead, Dow, shared their experiences and advice for businesses on creating a baseline, setting up a road map, implementing initiatives as per the action plan, measuring results, monitoring impact and then accelerating progress towards an inclusive work environment. 

The panelists advised businesses to use their own global and local context for benchmarking, set realistic targets and consider employees value preposition for diversity and inclusion. They suggested that companies work towards four milestones to achieve, namely creating awareness among employees, communicating ambitions and targets, forming policies and procedures and embedding diversity and inclusion into culture and values of the organisation.

The impact of diversity and inclusion efforts cannot be assessed only using quantitative results, the panelists noted, adding that it is equally important to capture improvements in employees experiences as a result of diversity and inclusion initiatives.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a unique challenge to the business community in successfully engaging diverse backgrounds of people together,” said Dr. Belaid Rettab, Senior Director, Economic Research and Sustainable Business Development Sector, Dubai Chamber.

Dr. Rettab noted that the webinar proved to be an ideal platform for member companies of the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force to share best practices, global benchmarking standards and procedures. He added that the event highlighted the need to raise awareness on how to set key performance indicators, targets, design action plan, implement and measure the impact of the same to ensure a diverse and inclusive workplace.

The Dubai Chamber Sustainability Network is an essential platform for the business community to exchange information and experiences on matters related to corporate social responsibility and sustainability.