During the summer of 2020 our news and social media was dominated by toppling statues, global marches and George Floyd. It was a time when everyone promised to do more. To be better.
Since then, the news cycle has moved on, other topics dominate our headlines and the conversation inevitably changes. However, at Solutions Driven, we are determined to do more than just talk about diversity.
As recruitment partners to global businesses, we see first-hand how important diversity in recruitment and the workplace is. That’s why it felt important to spend some time doing the educating we said we would. We’ve held workshops and diversity training for our employees, provided diversity workshops for our clients and brought in consultants to help us start our diversity journey the right way.
We know that diversity isn’t something that can be added on to a job role, fixed with a few workshops or managed by people who don’t have a lifetime of experience. Which is why Salma El-Wardany has been brought onboard the Solutions Driven team to imbed diversity into our process and kickstart our inclusion initiatives for next year and beyond.
After graduating with a degree and Masters, Salma started her career as a Business Development lead in a global recruitment firm. She then moved on to Head of Content for the UK and Ireland before heading up marketing departments for recruitment businesses and venture capital funds. In 2016 she founded her own marketing company which focused on the recruitment sector and building diverse brands. Her career, which spans media, publishing, recruitment and marketing, has always focused on giving voice to marginalised groups, creating inclusive workplaces and helping organisations become diverse and inclusive businesses.
As a recruitment partner we understand that we have a responsibility to help our clients with all their talent, hiring and workforce needs and so diversity must, and has to be, part of that process. While diversity and inclusion are simply the right things to do, they’re also beneficial for business operations. According to McKinsey, the top companies for gender diversity are 21% more likely to have financial returns above the median. And for ethnic diversity, that’s 35%. So we’re working closely with our clients to support, educate and help them with their own diversity and inclusion initiatives. We’re keen that our learning journey benefits not only our team but our partners, clients, and peers.
Diversity takes all of us, and we want to play our part in keeping that conversation going. We’ll be creating free content including ebooks, podcasts, and videos that will help us all recruit diverse talent and realise the benefits of inclusion and diversity in the workplace. Diversity and inclusion training and consultancy will also be offered to our clients so all businesses we work with, whether large or small, are able to bring better diversity into the workplace.
This is our starting point and promise to our sector, clients and peers. Commitments are worth speaking out loud, which is why we wanted to be vocal about our diversity journey. We hope you’ll come along with us.
