2020 Conference Workshops
Workshops
White Allyship – Leyla Okhai
This session provided an overview of race inequality, language and how to be a genuine ally to People of Colour. The aims of the session were to:
• Understand the language around race
• Link the Black Lives Matter Movement to the workplace
• Explore the frameworks around white privilege, white fragility and white centring
• Decide on actions you can take both personally and professionally.
Equality Pays – Michelle Gyimah
This workshop, delivered by Michelle Gyimah from Equality Pays, aims to discuss the gender and ethnicity pay gap in the UK. With over 12 years’ experience working at the Equality and Human Rights Commission supporting employers to understand the impact of gender and ethnicity discrimination.
Combined with personal experience, Michelle focuses her training on strategies for talking about gender and ethnicity pay gaps in your company. This workshop is based on research for her upcoming whitepaper on this subject which will be published on 20th July.
How to Develop a Successful EDI Strategy – Mac Alonge
This workshop will give attendees an insight into what equality, diversity and inclusion is, why it is important and how to implement an impactful EDI strategy – focused on helping organisations to measurably demonstrate progress.
Active Bystander – Scott Solder
Racism, bullying, sexual harassment and other inappropriate behaviours contribute to a toxic culture. The impact they have on people can be hugely detrimental – leading to stress, anxiety, and mental health problems.
This innovative and award-winning training, delivered by Scott Solder from Active Bystander, aimed to equip delegates with decision making and assertive communication skills to challenge unacceptable workplace behaviours, including those which may have become normalised over time.
How do we get more people from working class backgrounds into the industry? – Roger Harding
There’s growing interest in the need to tackle class diversity and inclusion, but how big a problem is it? What does social mobility or working class really mean? And, how do we go about it tackling it?
To help us explore this issue and these questions, this session will be run by Manchester charity RECLAIM – leaders in supporting a new generation of talented young people from working class backgrounds.
Whether you’re from a working class background yourself or are just interested in this emerging area of inclusion, please do come along to this exploratory breakout session. RECLAIM will help kick start the conversation by taking us through some of the insights from their work and national research, and explore how these issues manifest in the nuclear sector.
Workshop Leads
Leyla Okhai (she/her)
Diverse Minds UK LTD
Leyla Okhai is the CEO and Director of Diverse Minds UK Ltd, providing workplaces with training, coaching and consultancy on race equality, culture, mental health,wellbeing and inclusion Previously, Leyla was the Head of Centre for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Imperial College London, for five years.
Prior to joining Imperial College, Leyla worked at the University of Oxford for six years. Firstly, in student recruitment specialising in increasing applications from underrepresented Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic young people. To then becoming Oxford University’s first specific advisor for race and religion. She is also a Council Member at the University of Leeds.
Michelle Gyimah (she/her)
Equality Pays
Michelle is the Director of Equality Pays, a gender and ethnicity equality consultancy dedicated to closing workplace pay gaps.
With gender pay gap reporting regulation, possible ethnicity pay gap reporting and a workplace talent shortage looming, redressing gender and racial inequalities in the workplace is more important than ever.
Michelle’s unique understanding of employee engagement, workplace challenges and personal experiences enables her to embed practical application into her consultancy.
Michelle is a passionate advocate for enabling women (and men) to progress in their careers in a way that suits their outside of work responsibilities and lifestyle choices. She does this by empowering workplaces to radically rethink how they can support their employees to thrive at work.
Michelle has over 10 years’ experience of working at the Equality and Human Rights Commission and holds a Masters in Human Rights from The University of Manchester.
Scott Solder (he/him)
Active Bystander Training Company
As one of the founders of The Active Bystander Training Company, Scott appears at conferences and events demonstrating psychological and assertiveness techniques which are highly effective in challenging unacceptable behaviours.
Scott is a former Editor at BBC News and Current Affairs and a specialist in language, influence and persuasion. His book, ‘You Need This Book to Get What You Want’, is a globally published and widely translated guide to improving your powers of persuasion.
The Active Bystander Training Company operates in eleven countries. Their clients include listed companies, government and leading universities.
Mac Alonge (he/him)
The Equal Group
Mac is the Founder and CEO of data-driven, equality, diversity and inclusion tech company, The Equal Group – using data and technology, they help organisations identify and overcome their biggest equality, diversity and inclusion challenges.
Over the last 10 years, Mac has worked with and for some of the world’s largest private and public sector organisations, including the likes of KPMG, National Grid, Scottish Power, Capita and the Scottish and UK governments.
Roger Harding (he/him)
RECLAIM
Roger Harding is Chief Executive of RECLAIM, the working class youth leadership charity. RECLAIM fights to ensure working class people are represented and heard wherever decisions are made that affect their lives. It does it through programmes to support a diverse new generation of young working class leaders, helping them campaign for change, and working with organisations who want to be inclusive of working class talent.
After being raised by a single mum in a council house, Roger began his career fighting for social justice at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation before becoming Director of Communications, Policy and Campaigns at Shelter. Since 2017 he has been a Non-Exec Board Trustee of Victim Support, and in 2019 was selected to join the Mayor of London’s new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group.