Delegates at the Diversity Forum, held in association with the Spanish Tourist Office at the PwC headquarters in London, heard how size does not matter when it comes to building an inclusive workplace – simply starting on the journey is more important.
In the “What gets measured gets done: Practical tips to implement change in your business”, the panel included Dr Tamsyn Dent, lecturer in cultural work at King’s College London; Sajeeda Merali, chief executive of the PPA; Phil Donnelly, chief people officer at Travelport and Joanna Aunon, director of WiHTL.
When asked how smaller businesses can affect change in the same way as larger organisations, Dent said: “Even in a smaller organisation, you can have transparency – have those conversations with your employees.
“We see small organisations that have really robust D&I policies, sometimes even more so than the bigger organisations. It is possible to have robust transparent openness with employees even if you’re a SME.”
Merali agreed, adding: “Sometimes the smaller ones are more able to be more agile and can make decisions quickly. With more corporate ones, yes they have bigger budgets but it’s a lot more structured and sometimes can be more difficult to move [processes] along.
“It’s a marathon and not a sprint. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming because there is a lot to do.”
Citing the work the PPA is doing, Merali said they have launched a steering group on D&I including their members to share best practice.
“The idea of [these] networks has been really positive for our smaller members. They have the same challenges, and being able to talk to people that share those challenges has been a really positive experience.”
Aunon said: “It never ends, it’s continual. Diversity is as a result of inclusion. If you’re putting things into place it will come.
“Really look at the organisation and say ‘do we have a leader on this’ – if you’re wanting to drive change, ask how do you get your leaders engaged.
“It may come from your heart or your brain – however you get people to the table, it doesn’t matter. They’re at the table.”
Donnelly described how Travelport has created a global diversity council in order to craft a D&I strategy that would then hold the organisation to account.
“You’ve got to start somewhere – first start by cultivating trust about why you’re capturing the data and what you’re going to use it for. You need that to be able to measure process over time. [Creating the council] allowed us to set aspirational goals… we’re measuring our progress against those goals.”
“It is clear to me that we have changed the tone of conversation on D&I at Travelport – we have engagement survey 3-4 times a year. I feel people believe we are committed and we are making progress and doing our best,” he added.
On the question of key takeaways for travel companies large and small, Donnelly said: “This is overwhelming, where do you start? Start at the beginning, start small, do start though. Don’t let the scale of the challenge paralyse you. Develop a plan, create priorities and execute.”
Merali said: “One of the big learnings is about being brave. A lot of you reperesent commercial organisations. Sometimes it can be to the detriment of not taking money from client. But when you’re clear about your own values, that represents a growth in commercial over time.”
