Supporting Women in the Workplace Policy and Compliance Summit 2022
Time: 0900 - 1630 BST (if you can't attend live, register to watch the recording)
Cost per attendee: £295 + VAT
Women hit hardest by the impact of Covid-19 on employment and gender equality
The collective female perspective is that they are feeling more stressed and discouraged since the pandemic began. A lack of adequate support from line managers and organisations is only exacerbating the issue of increased pressure from all angles. This negatively impacts women’s relationship with their employers, as well as creating a sense of disillusionment towards continuing their career paths.
Employers must act now at a personal and organisational level to prevent losing a huge proportion of the female workforce and take the appropriate steps to build back a more inclusive, supportive, and representative workplace culture and society with gender equality in mind.
As we emerge into a post-Covid, ‘new normal’ landscape, are women the forgotten heroes of this pandemic? The gender divide has widened, through a higher rate of female furloughs and redundancies, unparalleled work/life balance challenges, an increase in domestic violence cases, caring duties and mental health and wellbeing setbacks. Recruitment is becoming more and more difficult as traditional female sectors are actively perusing your female employees.
Our hand-picked experts will address:
- The pandemic’s impact on gender equality at work
- The consequences of hybrid working on gender equality and the gender pay gap
- How to implement and communicate a pro-woman inclusive working culture: what brand values most likely to attract women?
- What data do you need to collect to help female employees feel empowered? How organisations can use this data to form policy and implement real change.
- The menopause: how to start difficult conversations and empower male line managers to support this group through workplace and policy adjustments
- Understand, educate, and apply the concept of intersectionality into your working culture, policies, and principles
- Identifying key elements of an equal culture: what are the real and significant changes you can make in your own organisation
With compassion and humour, delegates will explore the issues, engage in live conversations and hear case studies and discussion groups. Practical sessions will equip attendees with the resources and confidence to ensure their organisation remains an employer of choice.
Quotes from previous female-focussed events:
“Empathetic, honest, real and funny – couldn’t ask for better speakers”
“As a middle-aged bloke, I was pretty apprehensive about taking a course on menopause training – to my surprise, I enjoyed the day, the chance to ask real questions and now I feel confident about our policy and how to discuss it”
“D&I has become such a cliché, but these incredible speakers today have inspired me to go back and make sure our policies are innovative and workable”
“The trainers ensured we were comfortable tackling sensitive subjects and gave us plenty of practical pointers on how to start and manage tricky conversations with my staff”
Online platform Zoom: An encrypted platform with password access. Click here for further information and to test access
Which functions will benefit from attending
- HR, Diversity & Inclusion, Occupational Health, Recruitment & Resourcing, Policy & Strategy, Operations, Legal, Talent, Equality, Policy, Organisational Development, Employer Branding, Engagement, Employee Relations, People Development, Learning and Development, Improvement and Quality and all Directors and Line Managers with responsibilities in this area.
Hear from
Schedule
Chair’s welcome, contextual overview, and objective setting
Nichole McGill-Higgins (she/her)
Award Winning Race Equality Campaigner, Founder & Director
Changez Life
Nichole McGill-Higgins (she/her)
Award Winning Race Equality Campaigner, Founder & Director , Changez Life
Nichole is an award-winning campaigner, coach, consultant and motivational speaker on race equality and inclusion. Commended for her work tackling oppression, aggression and prejudice in the workplace, she is dedicated to rooting out injustice, becoming the voice for those who may not have the courage to speak for themselves and exploring intersectionality. Nichole is a global keynote speaker at events which focus on racism and the uncomfortable truths which surround it. Through her authentic storytelling in a direct, jargon-free tone, Nichole wins over audiences and organisations – encouraging everyone to take responsibility and action for diversity and inclusion. As a positive disrupter, Nichole uses coaching and design-led thinking methodologies to help organisations experience their own awakening, changing hearts and minds. Nichole led the CIPD’s internal Race Review project, assessing whether the CIPD was dismantling or upholding racial inequality in response to the murder of George Floyd. As a critical friend, she oversaw the content produced by the CIPD to support people professionals in tackling racism and racial discrimination in the workplace. Nichole is a trustee for Rape Crisis Centre (RASASC), a South London charity, focusing on anti-racism and transgender rights. She leads their D&I strategy, underpinning the support offered to survivors, employee engagement and corporate governance. Nichole was named ‘Campaigner of the Year 2020’ by The Baton Awards for her outstanding contribution to racial equality, working with young people and organisations. Nichole was also celebrated as National Mentor of the Year by the National Mentoring Awards in 2019. Other previous voluntary roles include Trustee for the Croydon BME Forum and founding Co-chair of EmbRACE, the CIPD’s employee resource group dedicated to educating colleagues about race and opening up difficult conversations. As well as speaking at events, coaching and consultancy, Nichole delivers training sessions, designs immersive workshops and implements inclusion strategies to drive racial equality and inclusion for employees and employers.
Fudia Smartt
Partner – Employment Law , Spencer West LLP
Fudia Smartt is a Partner at Spencer West LLP. She joined the firm in September 2019, having previously been Partner at a boutique employment practice in Chancery Lane. Her previous work experience includes practising in highly regarded employment teams at both Russell Cooke LLP (a top 100 London firm) and City firm Fox Williams LLP. Covering every stage of the employment life cycle, Fudia advises on non-contentious and contentious matters for both employers and employees on topics such as bullying, harassment (including sexual harassment), unfair and wrongful dismissal, restrictive covenants, discrimination, whistleblowing, maternity and other family-friendly matters. She has experience across a wide range of sectors, with particular expertise in technology, media, financial services and professional services. Fudia has significant experience in the following: Advising on day to day HR operational issues, which includes on how to avoid grievances and disciplinary/dismissal issues; Senior executive appointments and departures (which often include regulatory issues); Bringing and defending complex discrimination and whistleblowing claims in the employment tribunals; Advising employers and employees (as well as partners) on the enforceability of restrictive covenants and confidentiality agreements, including in relation to team moves; Drafting contracts of employment, service agreements and HR policies; Advising companies on restructuring exercises, redundancies (including collective redundancies) and employment issues arising from insolvency; Advising on TUPE-related matters including in relation to outsourcing and property transactions; Advising both employers and employees on data protection issues; Advising business start-ups in a wide range of industries on how to protect and grow their businesses at a reasonable cost; Providing HR advice and tailored training to clients and external bodies on all employment law matters, from recruitment to dismissal and beyond; Advising members on joining LLPs; and Drafting, negotiating and advising on settlement agreements. She has acted on a number of high profile (and commercially sensitive) matters which has resulted in six-figure settlements for her clients. She has also acted on matters in the County Court, High Courts, Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) and Court of Appeal. Fudia is praised by her clients for her creative problem-solving skills and her ability to provide commercial, tailored legal advice in a friendly and empathetic manner. She has a high emotional intelligence which she uses to assist with getting the results her clients want. Fudia is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association.
Elizabeth Smith
Director of Research , Business Forums International Ltd. (BFI)
Elizabeth is director of research and a founding co-director at Business Forums International. She is responsible for all programme content and writing, and researches current areas of interest for senior HR professionals in large organisations. BFI is the UK’s leading HR risk specialist conference and training provider, delivering key and timely information to over 3,000 delegates a year both through public and in-house training courses. Before founding BFI in 1996, Elizabeth specialised in researching corporate financial programmes in Asia and the Middle East, based in Dubai. She also worked in advertising and publishing in the Middle East and London. Elizabeth was educated in the West Indies, Saudi Arabia and Belgium before reading Modern Languages at Durham University. She is currently developing an online training course for line managers to raise awareness of menopause symptoms and ways that employers can work to make their workplaces more inclusive.
The chairs will set the scene for the day regarding the pandemic’s impact on gender equality at work so far, then delegates will be split into small groups for a short icebreaker exercise to discuss their objectives for taking part and exchange relevant experiences with fellow HR professionals.
What if your job was good for you? Hybrid working - the reality and what women want
Louise Aston
Wellbeing Director , Business In The Community
Louise is an award winning, high profile ambassador for health and wellbeing with a proven track record as an outstanding campaigner in both the private and public sectors. Operating at board level, a skilled influencer, with a demonstrable track record of creating and delivering business case led and people focused solutions. Pioneered ground-breaking resources that actively tackle the stigma that surrounds mental health, including the challenging topics of suicide, domestic abuse and sleep and recovery. Excellent interpersonal skills, creative, passionate campaigner and in demand, high profile public speaker. She has established wellbeing as a core responsible business component and a strategic boardroom issue. Experience of collaborative working with complex stakeholders, including business, government, charities, professional bodies and third sector organisations, towards a common purpose.
- Understanding the inadvertent consequences of hybrid working on gender equality and the gender pay gap if women are spending more time working from home than men
- Empowering your women in a hybrid working environment – ensuring work design and organisational culture drive positive outcomes and meet women’s wellbeing needs
- A design issue, not a policy issue: how to tailor your hybrid working model to reduce remote working constraints on women
Utilising data collection and analytics for an updated gender pay gap report and pro-female workforce planning initiatives
Mary Lewis
Head of Workforce Planning , Health Education England
Experienced Head Of Workforce Planning with a demonstrated history of working in the health and social care industry. Skilled in Coaching, Facilitation, Workforce Data Analytics and Modelling, and Management. Strong community and social services professional with a Master of Science - MS focused in Health Care Management from University of Birmingham.
- Using real data to assess covid’s impact on your organisation’s gender pay gap
- Measuring your female employees’ current employee experience and career progression
- Building a pro-women workforce planning initiative with data and analytics
Open discussion: Hybrid working and gender inequality
Louise Aston
Wellbeing Director , Business In The Community
Louise is an award winning, high profile ambassador for health and wellbeing with a proven track record as an outstanding campaigner in both the private and public sectors. Operating at board level, a skilled influencer, with a demonstrable track record of creating and delivering business case led and people focused solutions. Pioneered ground-breaking resources that actively tackle the stigma that surrounds mental health, including the challenging topics of suicide, domestic abuse and sleep and recovery. Excellent interpersonal skills, creative, passionate campaigner and in demand, high profile public speaker. She has established wellbeing as a core responsible business component and a strategic boardroom issue. Experience of collaborative working with complex stakeholders, including business, government, charities, professional bodies and third sector organisations, towards a common purpose.
Mary Lewis
Head of Workforce Planning , Health Education England
Experienced Head Of Workforce Planning with a demonstrated history of working in the health and social care industry. Skilled in Coaching, Facilitation, Workforce Data Analytics and Modelling, and Management. Strong community and social services professional with a Master of Science - MS focused in Health Care Management from University of Birmingham.
Comfort break
Cultivating inclusive workplaces: How to create a pro-woman gender equal culture
Funke Sadare
HR Director , Global University Systems
A CIPD qualified and experienced Senior HR Professional with operational and strategic HR experience complemented with strong commercial/business awareness. With proven track record of successfully delivering the people agenda in line with overarching business objectives. I've led and delivered HR initiatives and projects including - Business re-organisation, Contract harmonisation, TUPE, Redundancy and Restructures, Employee engagement strategy to aid staff retention, employee relation strategy, succession planning, talent management, implementation of flexible and competitive employee benefits, equality and diversity bench-marking, pay bench-marking, salary moderation, managing target operation model, pay banding, performance management and implementation of HR systems. Possess strong leadership and coaching skills expended on the team of HR professionals within my team and key stakeholders across the organisation.
- Understanding what your female employees need from you to help them feel more supported, empowered, and motivated in their working lives
- Providing fulfilling learning and development opportunities for your female employees as well as committing to and ensuring equal career progression opportunities
- Coaching and training your line managers to support women in their team effectively and increase engagement
- Stamping out discrimination regarding working mothers and maternity leave in your organisation
Open discussion: Identifying key elements of an equal culture: What are the real and significant changes you can make in your organisation?
Funke Sadare
HR Director , Global University Systems
A CIPD qualified and experienced Senior HR Professional with operational and strategic HR experience complemented with strong commercial/business awareness. With proven track record of successfully delivering the people agenda in line with overarching business objectives. I've led and delivered HR initiatives and projects including - Business re-organisation, Contract harmonisation, TUPE, Redundancy and Restructures, Employee engagement strategy to aid staff retention, employee relation strategy, succession planning, talent management, implementation of flexible and competitive employee benefits, equality and diversity bench-marking, pay bench-marking, salary moderation, managing target operation model, pay banding, performance management and implementation of HR systems. Possess strong leadership and coaching skills expended on the team of HR professionals within my team and key stakeholders across the organisation.
Safeguarding talent: Ensuring your post-covid recruitment and retention initiatives are catered for and attractive to women
Stella Jackson
Head of Recruitment , Mount Anvil
Stella has over 10 years’ experience working in Recruitment, Talent Acquisition & Talent Management for companies such as IBM, Lendlease AND currently heads up the Recruitment and Talent function at Mount Anvil (a London based Real Estate Developer). Over the last 5 years, she has worked with the Executive and Leadership team at Mount Anvil setup an in-house recruitment function where she implemented various selection/assessment processes to ensure employees joining the business have the right technical ability to fulfil their roles but are also a great cultural fit. She’s predominantly worked for firms within the Real Estate, Construction and Facilities Maintenance industry and partners with Senior Leaders to ensure they’re making the best people decisions across the business. Stella is passionate about finding, retaining, and developing top talent whilst working closely with key stakeholders to ensure candidates have the best onboarding experience. Stella has a CIPD Level 7 in Resourcing & Talent Management AND Organisational Design & Development. Her key strengths are Stakeholder Management and resolving Organisational Design and Development issues. Stella’s skillset ranges from managing/overseeing recruitment processes, designing selection/ assessment processes, resource & workforce planning, interview coaching, analysing recruitment metrics and talent trends, improving candidate journey and onboarding whilst taking the lead on various change improvements projects. The most rewarding part of her role is seeing talent the business has hired progress in their career – it really brings joy to her heart, and she feels honoured to be part of their career journey!
- Talent sourcing with diversity and inclusion at its core: being open and proud about your support for women in your organisation and encouraging people to bring their ‘whole self’ to work from day one
- Knowing what your women want! - Being aware of women’s needs to retain them from flexible working to wellbeing support and prioritising their individual requirements where possible
- Creating a nurturing environment that empowers and rewards your female employees’ skills and talents
Open discussion: Recruitment and retention initiatives with women in mind
Lunch
An optional breakout room will be open over the lunch period for networking with your fellow delegates and to carry on any fascinating conversations you're part of.
Banishing stigmas and empowering your colleagues who are going through the menopause
Claire Jepras
HR Director , Ipsos UK & Ireland
Claire Jepras is HR Director for Ipsos in the UK and Ireland. She joined Ipsos UK in 2016 with 20 years HR experience with major multinational companies including Marks and Spencer and Compass plc. Her focus at Ipsos UK is on creating an organisation where people can be themselves and reach their full potential. This has included working with the business to develop an Inclusion and Diversity strategy and this year sees Ipsos UK become the first market research company to report their ethnicity pay gap. She has also been responsible for the development and implementation of the employee value proposition and the launch of a global wellbeing strategy which resulted in Ipsos UK being awarded the coveted Grand Prix title at the Employee Benefits Awards 2020 for their approach to mental wellbeing and the overhaul of its defined contribution pension scheme strategy. Claire volunteers with the charity Pilot Light which offers strategic business support to charities and social enterprises to enable them to become more efficient, effective and sustainable. She also mentors the founder of a community enterprise organisation which provides food parcels to children and their families in Lewisham. Claire is an Economics graduate, has an MBA and is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD.
- Learning the facts, symptoms, and side effects of the menopause
- Recognising when support is needed and facilitating open conversations with people about what they’re experiencing
- Updating your wellbeing policies to reflect the menopause and establishing internal support and peer groups
Open discussion: How to start difficult conversations and empower male line managers to support menopausal colleagues through workplace and policy adjustments
Claire Jepras
HR Director , Ipsos UK & Ireland
Claire Jepras is HR Director for Ipsos in the UK and Ireland. She joined Ipsos UK in 2016 with 20 years HR experience with major multinational companies including Marks and Spencer and Compass plc. Her focus at Ipsos UK is on creating an organisation where people can be themselves and reach their full potential. This has included working with the business to develop an Inclusion and Diversity strategy and this year sees Ipsos UK become the first market research company to report their ethnicity pay gap. She has also been responsible for the development and implementation of the employee value proposition and the launch of a global wellbeing strategy which resulted in Ipsos UK being awarded the coveted Grand Prix title at the Employee Benefits Awards 2020 for their approach to mental wellbeing and the overhaul of its defined contribution pension scheme strategy. Claire volunteers with the charity Pilot Light which offers strategic business support to charities and social enterprises to enable them to become more efficient, effective and sustainable. She also mentors the founder of a community enterprise organisation which provides food parcels to children and their families in Lewisham. Claire is an Economics graduate, has an MBA and is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD.
Understanding and applying the concept of intersectionality at your workplace to strive for a true equality
Funda Kalemci
Global Leader - Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Well-being , NielsenIQ
Funda is the Global Leader of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Corporate Citizenship at NielsenIQ. In this role, she is responsible for managing NielsenIQ's global DEI strategy and initiatives as well as the company’s corporate citizenship strategy and programs. Her responsibilities include establishing and leading the company’s plans to meet gender, racial/ethnic representation aspirational targets as well as drive the agenda for diverse abilities, multinational and LGBT+ programs; Employee Resource Groups and Inclusion Impact Teams globally; creating NielsenIQ’s corporate citizenship strategy and roadmap; volunteering program; and ESG reporting. With 9 Employee Resource Groups, 58 active Inclusion Impact Teams in over 84 countries, 500 Program Leaders and 3,000 ERG members; the company’s mission is to shape an inclusive culture and create an engaging employee experience by embedding diversity, equity & inclusion in all the processes within the company. During her 11-year tenure at Nielsen/NielsenIQ, Funda served in various teams across the organization and successfully launched different process improvement solutions within the operations teams. As a stretch assignment, she also led the Women in Nielsen (WIN) Employee Resource Group in Turkey, served as an Inclusion Ambassador for Europe, and launched 2 other ERGs (PRIDE & N-GEN) in Turkey even before joining the DEI team. She has also led Nielsen Cares and Nielsen Green teams locally and globally, creating opportunities for all associates to participate in different programs and volunteering opportunities aimed at making an uncommon impact in the communities where we live and work and improving diversity & inclusion in the organization and community. Before joining NielsenIQ, Funda has worked in a wide range of industries from retail to education to special projects. Funda currently serves as an Advisory Board Member in African Diversity & Inclusion Center and is an active member of LEAD Network. Funda has a bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature with a minor in American Culture. She holds a professional certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. She is married with two sons.
- A moral imperative - learning what intersectionality is to correct collective biases and create a culture of true equality
- Know how to advocate for women’s causes, LGBTQ+ issues, racial equity, disability and neurodiversity rights, and economic circumstances through an intersectionality lens to cultivate safety, belonging and inclusivity
- Understand and overcome intersectionality-related adversity and specific challenges in a work environment
Comfort break
Intersectionality roundtables
Magda Markowska
Team Leader , NielsenIQ
Magda works as an Insight Team Manager at NielsenIQ. She’s also a leader of European Women in NielsenIQ network and for 5 years was leading Pride (LGBT+ and allies) network in the company. She was recognized as 2021 Top 100 LGBT+ Future Leader and in 2022 was listed as Top 10 Future Leaders by British LGBT Awards. Magda is a non-binary queer person. She was born and raised in a small town in Poland in the 80s. She moved to the UK in 2019 where she lives with her wife. A total geek, shy introvert and punk at heart. A firm believer in diversity, equality and inclusion and an advocate of intersectionality.
Nichole McGill-Higgins (she/her)
Award Winning Race Equality Campaigner, Founder & Director
Changez Life
Nichole McGill-Higgins (she/her)
Award Winning Race Equality Campaigner, Founder & Director , Changez Life
Nichole is an award-winning campaigner, coach, consultant and motivational speaker on race equality and inclusion. Commended for her work tackling oppression, aggression and prejudice in the workplace, she is dedicated to rooting out injustice, becoming the voice for those who may not have the courage to speak for themselves and exploring intersectionality. Nichole is a global keynote speaker at events which focus on racism and the uncomfortable truths which surround it. Through her authentic storytelling in a direct, jargon-free tone, Nichole wins over audiences and organisations – encouraging everyone to take responsibility and action for diversity and inclusion. As a positive disrupter, Nichole uses coaching and design-led thinking methodologies to help organisations experience their own awakening, changing hearts and minds. Nichole led the CIPD’s internal Race Review project, assessing whether the CIPD was dismantling or upholding racial inequality in response to the murder of George Floyd. As a critical friend, she oversaw the content produced by the CIPD to support people professionals in tackling racism and racial discrimination in the workplace. Nichole is a trustee for Rape Crisis Centre (RASASC), a South London charity, focusing on anti-racism and transgender rights. She leads their D&I strategy, underpinning the support offered to survivors, employee engagement and corporate governance. Nichole was named ‘Campaigner of the Year 2020’ by The Baton Awards for her outstanding contribution to racial equality, working with young people and organisations. Nichole was also celebrated as National Mentor of the Year by the National Mentoring Awards in 2019. Other previous voluntary roles include Trustee for the Croydon BME Forum and founding Co-chair of EmbRACE, the CIPD’s employee resource group dedicated to educating colleagues about race and opening up difficult conversations. As well as speaking at events, coaching and consultancy, Nichole delivers training sessions, designs immersive workshops and implements inclusion strategies to drive racial equality and inclusion for employees and employers.
Mary MacInnes
Compliance and Business Ethics Manager
Cambridge University Press & Assessment
Mary MacInnes
Compliance and Business Ethics Manager , Cambridge University Press & Assessment
Mary is an experienced leader in academic publishing, having spent over twenty years working in the area on both sides of the Atlantic. Mary is an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities in the workplace. Whilst working at Tideway (building London’s Super Sewer ) , she helped establish and led their Ability Action Group. She has written about and advised on issues such as accessibility, equality of opportunity and disability rights generally.
Stella Jackson
Head of Recruitment , Mount Anvil
Stella has over 10 years’ experience working in Recruitment, Talent Acquisition & Talent Management for companies such as IBM, Lendlease AND currently heads up the Recruitment and Talent function at Mount Anvil (a London based Real Estate Developer). Over the last 5 years, she has worked with the Executive and Leadership team at Mount Anvil setup an in-house recruitment function where she implemented various selection/assessment processes to ensure employees joining the business have the right technical ability to fulfil their roles but are also a great cultural fit. She’s predominantly worked for firms within the Real Estate, Construction and Facilities Maintenance industry and partners with Senior Leaders to ensure they’re making the best people decisions across the business. Stella is passionate about finding, retaining, and developing top talent whilst working closely with key stakeholders to ensure candidates have the best onboarding experience. Stella has a CIPD Level 7 in Resourcing & Talent Management AND Organisational Design & Development. Her key strengths are Stakeholder Management and resolving Organisational Design and Development issues. Stella’s skillset ranges from managing/overseeing recruitment processes, designing selection/ assessment processes, resource & workforce planning, interview coaching, analysing recruitment metrics and talent trends, improving candidate journey and onboarding whilst taking the lead on various change improvements projects. The most rewarding part of her role is seeing talent the business has hired progress in their career – it really brings joy to her heart, and she feels honoured to be part of their career journey!
Working in small peer-led groups using discussion and exercises, delegates will have the opportunity to reflect on their own positions and organisations to examine the ways in which professional action and personal behaviours can help spread awareness of intersectionality to create a culture of true belonging, equality, and inclusivity.
Delegates will select from one of the following four groups and after discussing for 20 minutes, the group leader will summarise and feedback to the whole summit.
Magda Markowska, Team Leader, NielsenIQ - LGBTQI+
Nichole McGill-Higgins - Race
Mary MacInnes - Disability and neurodiversity
Stella Jackson - Economic circumstance
Keeping your women safe: Managing and supporting employees experiencing domestic abuse
Julie Dennis
Head of Diversity & Inclusion , Acas
Julie is a Diversity and Inclusion specialist with 20 years’ experience, gained within the public and voluntary sector. As Head of Diversity & Inclusion at ACAS, Julie is responsible for leading and providing expert advice on all diversity & inclusion related matters, with the aim of building an inclusive culture that drives engagement and ultimately performance. She has successfully developed and delivered strategic diversity and inclusion initiatives relating to employment and service delivery and is one of the country’s most experienced professionals in this field. Graduating from Sheffield Hallam University in 1998 with a BA (Hon’s) in Women’s Studies, Julie has a passion for diversity and inclusion. Her first diversity role was with Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service where she implemented the services first Diversity Strategy along with an extensive training programme on harassment & bullying. Over the years, Julie has developed and sustained robust corporate diversity and inclusion infrastructures including internal diversity staff networks and diversity champions, a wide range of positive action initiatives, internal diversity monitoring across all diversity strands, award winning diversity campaigns in order to increase awareness of diversity and inclusion and its relationship with cultural change, along with a suite of diversity and inclusion training packages, including unconscious bias and inclusive leadership. More recently Julie has been focusing on the impact of Covid 19 on workers from diverse backgrounds and ongoing employer obligations along with helping employers implement flexible and inclusive practices. This has included advising employers on supporting employees experiencing domestic abuse. She is proud to be a diversity ally and a champion for mental health awareness, often sharing her own personal story about living with anxiety caused by PTSD. Julie is passionate about diversity and inclusion in the workplace and strives to create an environment where people can be themselves at work.
- What is considered domestic abuse and what are the signs someone is suffering?
- How an increase in working from home has led to a sharp rise in domestic abuse cases
- The steps to help - recognising a problem, responding appropriately, providing, and referring support
- Consider creating a domestic abuse policy and providing the relevant training for staff so they can help those suffering from abuse
Comfort break
Making work/life balance and positive wellbeing an achievable reality for women in a post-covid working world
Arti Kashyap–Aynsley
Global Head of Health and Wellbeing , Ocado Group
Arti Kashyap-Aynsley started her career by qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, whilst also embarking on a 15 year journey in the Professional Services Sector. She has worked between all of audit, tax and advisory services, spending the largest chunk of her time in the world of Management Consulting, where she focused on large scale Finance Transformation programmes that had her looking at strategy, learning and development, stakeholder and change management, technology implementations, process improvement, executive coaching and other things alike. Working and travelling the globe opened Arti's eyes up to the impacts of what our working lives can have on our overall wellbeing, along with the truth behind not being able to easily compartmentalise the lives we live between home and work. With the experience she gained in her career, she decided to pivot a few years ago into the world of wellbeing, where she first worked with Deloitte in Consulting in the UK, to design, develop and deliver on a comprehensive wellbeing strategy that was linked to the overall business focus. By being able to create positive shifts and change in the business, Arti was inspired to continue to grow in this area and is now leading the Ocado Group Globally from a wellbeing standpoint. Outside of her day to day working life Arti continues to emulate a life committed to the wellbeing agenda as she is also a qualified life coach and personal trainer, as well as an Advisor to various organisations from a responsible business standpoint.
- Helping your female employees to keep on top of their mental health and making stress and burnout prevention a lifestyle
- Encouraging people to put WFH boundaries in place: juggling care, house, personal and work responsibilities, and pressures effectively
- Prioritising your female employees’ mental and physical wellbeing needs
Discussion rooms and networking session
Arti Kashyap–Aynsley
Global Head of Health and Wellbeing , Ocado Group
Arti Kashyap-Aynsley started her career by qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, whilst also embarking on a 15 year journey in the Professional Services Sector. She has worked between all of audit, tax and advisory services, spending the largest chunk of her time in the world of Management Consulting, where she focused on large scale Finance Transformation programmes that had her looking at strategy, learning and development, stakeholder and change management, technology implementations, process improvement, executive coaching and other things alike. Working and travelling the globe opened Arti's eyes up to the impacts of what our working lives can have on our overall wellbeing, along with the truth behind not being able to easily compartmentalise the lives we live between home and work. With the experience she gained in her career, she decided to pivot a few years ago into the world of wellbeing, where she first worked with Deloitte in Consulting in the UK, to design, develop and deliver on a comprehensive wellbeing strategy that was linked to the overall business focus. By being able to create positive shifts and change in the business, Arti was inspired to continue to grow in this area and is now leading the Ocado Group Globally from a wellbeing standpoint. Outside of her day to day working life Arti continues to emulate a life committed to the wellbeing agenda as she is also a qualified life coach and personal trainer, as well as an Advisor to various organisations from a responsible business standpoint.
Julie Dennis
Head of Diversity & Inclusion , Acas
Julie is a Diversity and Inclusion specialist with 20 years’ experience, gained within the public and voluntary sector. As Head of Diversity & Inclusion at ACAS, Julie is responsible for leading and providing expert advice on all diversity & inclusion related matters, with the aim of building an inclusive culture that drives engagement and ultimately performance. She has successfully developed and delivered strategic diversity and inclusion initiatives relating to employment and service delivery and is one of the country’s most experienced professionals in this field. Graduating from Sheffield Hallam University in 1998 with a BA (Hon’s) in Women’s Studies, Julie has a passion for diversity and inclusion. Her first diversity role was with Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service where she implemented the services first Diversity Strategy along with an extensive training programme on harassment & bullying. Over the years, Julie has developed and sustained robust corporate diversity and inclusion infrastructures including internal diversity staff networks and diversity champions, a wide range of positive action initiatives, internal diversity monitoring across all diversity strands, award winning diversity campaigns in order to increase awareness of diversity and inclusion and its relationship with cultural change, along with a suite of diversity and inclusion training packages, including unconscious bias and inclusive leadership. More recently Julie has been focusing on the impact of Covid 19 on workers from diverse backgrounds and ongoing employer obligations along with helping employers implement flexible and inclusive practices. This has included advising employers on supporting employees experiencing domestic abuse. She is proud to be a diversity ally and a champion for mental health awareness, often sharing her own personal story about living with anxiety caused by PTSD. Julie is passionate about diversity and inclusion in the workplace and strives to create an environment where people can be themselves at work.
A chance to reflect on this afternoon’s learnings and practical takeaways around supporting domestic abuse and women’s wellbeing. There is also an opportunity to make contacts, swap details and build a network of likeminded professionals.
End of summit
Event supported by
Launched back in 2004, Mindful Employer is a UK wide initiative run by Devon Partnership NHS Trust. Providing employers with easy access to professional workplace mental health training, information and advice; our goal is to help empower organisations – large or small – to take a lead in supporting the mental wellbeing of staff.