IGNORING the significance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace could be detrimental to your career, a senior female banker has warned.
Speaking in a panel discussion, the Bank of England’s Afua Kyei said with “diversity and inclusion becoming ever higher on the agenda”, one would have no choice but to embrace it.
“If you don’t embrace it, it will be a detriment, not just to yourself, but to your career,” Kyei said. “And your way of thinking, the openness and the benefits that being diverse and inclusive, can bring to a business are huge.
“There are people resistant to it, but those who feel that it’s a challenge, I would really encourage them to embrace it and start with very basic things like unconscious bias training and take these baby steps just to understand what it’s about. Then only you’ll see the benefits it can bring,” Kyei said.
On whether they have experienced discrimination in their respective careers, Nikki Vadera said her roles has always been given based on merit.
“In terms of applying for roles or getting roles, I don’t believe there’s been discrimination in that respect…I believe if I’ve got a role, it’s been on merit and if I haven’t got a role, I always ask for feedback. I have never felt there’s been any tension there,” Vadera said.
“In the beginning of my career, I excelled quite quickly. I believe there was a sense of discrimination on age – how is someone half my age doing the same job as me probably on the same salary? I was at that company for about a year, but what I’ve realised that it is linked to a culture of a company.
“I got this role (at Henkel) as marketing director at the age of 32, and I do not believe there has been any form of barrier or obstacle of my age. I think that in any role, as long as you do the job, you prove yourself and you deliver results, that it really doesn’t matter,” she added.
Kyei said it is difficult to pinpoint the past when it came to discrimination while persisting for a role or position.
“In terms of discrimination, I would say that sometimes it’s very difficult to pinpoint past. You may not necessarily know the reasons why you didn’t get a role, you may go for a role, you may go for a promotion, and it’s not clear why that was the case. I think the main thing to, focus on is putting yourself forward and, being persistent,” Kyei said.
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