ACTION is needed to eradicate religious and cultural hate from Scottish workplaces, according to a diversity expert set to address leaders of some of the nation’s most important businesses.
Lisa Charlwood-Green, director and founder of the WOW network, was speaking ahead of the Strive to Thrive diversity conference in Glasgow later this month, which aims to create belonging in the workplace through diversity and inclusion (D&I).
Close to 100 business leaders are expected to attend the event, organised by Connect Three, which has been hailed as an opportunity to equip Scotland’s business leaders and change makers with actionable tools to advance workplace diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB), while also demonstrating the associated benefits and opportunities for progressive businesses.
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Ms Charlwood-Green, a DEIB expert with more than 20 years’ experience, and headline speaker at the event, said: “We need to be very mindful of the fact that although Scotland is a welcoming country, there are still pockets of hate borne through religion and culture. That hate can come into the workplace too.
“Unfortunately, although many do, some businesses still aren’t taking diversity and inclusion seriously, and many organisations are guilty of tokenism and othering which are incredibly harmful and need to be eradicated from Scotland’s workplaces.”
Ms Charlwood-Green, who is operations strategy manager at Network Rail, where she last year won the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Champion of the Year award, will be sharing personal stories at the event to highlight the struggles faced by marginalised employees as well as some of the solutions available to businesses.
Ms Charlwood-Green added: “As a nation, we need to make sure that we don't just speak with ambition, we show it with our actions too, being active allies and celebrating a diverse population and by extension, workforce. A more diverse workplace is happy, more creative and has better staff retention.
“My advice for business leaders is to embrace reverse mentorship, where a junior employee helps to fill knowledge gaps of a senior employee, to truly understand lived experiences, and then do something about it.”
Other speakers at the April 28 event include Viana Maya, founder of pRESPECT, Thiago Carmo, managing director at Passion4Social, and Dr Sonali Mohapatra, chair of the New Voices in Space working group.
Scottish salmon firm moves into direct-to-home market
A SCOTTISH salmon company that supplies leading restaurants has moved into the direct-to-consumer market.
Loch Duart, which farms more than 6,000 tonnes of salmon in Sutherland and the Outer Hebrides each year, has opened an online shop, giving people the opportunity to enjoy its wares in the home.
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