New Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) resources to help build capability for people professionals

The CIPD has published two new resources to help people professionals take intentional action to create more inclusive workplaces. As a function at the heart of business and with a direct impact on the working lives of all employees, the profession is ideally placed to drive sustainable change and fairer workplaces. Helping the profession to build individual, people team and line manager capability in EDI is integral to the CIPD’s purpose: championing better work and working lives. 

The new resources form part of a suite of guides, reports, factsheets, research and learning on the topic of equality, diversity and inclusion.

A new accredited learning programme to build capability and confidence 

The first new resource is a learning programme designed specifically to build people professionals’ capability and confidence to lead, influence and integrate (secure ownership) EDI throughout the organisations strategic and operational plans. By taking part in our new EDI Accredited Programme, you’ll learn about: 

• The tools and building blocks of an EDI strategy and how it can be integrated into the overall business plan, values and mission. 
• How to assess and evaluate (assessing root causes, barriers, blockages and biases). 
• How to engage, involve and create ownership with all stakeholders including those with lived experience, senior managers and middle managers. 
• How to create a culture of EDI through continuous EDI learning and development, effective governance, accountability, managing and measuring progress.  
• How to create culture of EDI including how to empower and work with internal ERGS (staff groups) and external organisations.  

A new guide to support meaningful disability workforce reporting 

The second new resource is a guide on the general principles of disability workforce reporting.

We’ve worked with Business Disability Forum on a disability workforce reporting guide and report that set out the case for disability workforce reporting and provide an overview of the current landscape, considering issues like why disability workforce reporting matters now, the scope of reporting and who already collects data and why. They also look at the benefits, challenges and critical success factors to making disability workforce reporting work.  

The guide is aimed at anyone involved in developing and managing disability workforce data for organisations. It takes a principles-based approach to allow organisations to apply what is meaningful to their own context.

Increased creativity, better decision making, greater levels of motivation 

Increasingly, organisations are recognising the value and importance of EDI – increased creativity, better decision making, greater levels of motivation, higher retention and improved performance. This in turn impacts business outcomes, something 78% of leaders are aware of, according to our Inclusion at Work report 2022.   

Although not always acknowledged, the business benefits of EDI also include ethical and legal considerations. In the UK, for example, the Equality Act 2010 requires employers not to discriminate against anyone at work and to create a safe working environment where all staff can feel safe and achieve their full potential. But we know from our research that 52% of organisations don’t have an EDI strategy – and of the 48% that do, 74% don’t evaluate their strategies.