Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Why Focus on Inclusion and the Value of Difference?

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is as an essential part of any business and people strategy. Businesses already see the benefits of addressing best practice in recruitment, knowing that diversity and commitment to inclusive company values are an important factor for job candidates when they are evaluating companies and job opportunities. The latest recruitment trends show 76% of job candidates say diversity was an important factor when evaluating companies and job opportunities.

Wider than this though, studies continue to find a direct link between inclusive leadership and better business performance with inclusion increasingly seen as integral to business growth. Leaders need to create, support and value teams of difference so everyone thrives at work. Which is why leading businesses are increasingly seeing the value of difference and inclusion if they want to succeed. It’s the route to attracting top talent, keeping their best people and is seen as attractive to investors and key stakeholders.

Why SYLO | Beyond HR and Value of Difference Programme?

Our support is designed to help teams develop an environment where people feel they belong, be their “best self” at work and address issues which are embedded in systemic practice in the organisation.

This is why we take a practical approach to navigating inclusion by providing a framework that helps the business understand how well you’re doing and then creating a tailored support programme to match your needs.

Our programme includes the following, and is depicted here:

  • An Inclusion Audit – looking what you’ve got in place and what feedback you’ve had from your people
  • 3 half day Learning workshops – tailored to your company values and behaviours and if appropriate, the audit outcomes
  • Group discussion and learning between workshops
  • Support from us to develop a tailored ED&I Toolkit, a suite of complementary policies, plus processes and procedures to support an Inclusive workplace and embed inclusive ways of working

We’ve provided all of these support options knowing inclusion takes more than the good intentions of a group of people. Their efforts must be supported by systems and processes too. When people and systems work effectively together to embrace difference through inclusive thinking and working, then you can start to create real value for your business.

By providing a range of integrated solutions, we can partner with you on whichever part of the programme is the right starting point for your business. For example, you may already have conducted your own audit and want to initially focus on the systems or workshops.

Who is this programme suitable for:

  • C Suite Leaders and Senior Management Teams
  • Middle Managers with responsibility for managing people
  • Wider teams to support the roll out of values and behaviours

“I found attending the recent Value of Difference briefing was a useful and practical ‘tune up’ for me. It was well delivered by professionals from SYLO who clearly understood this important subject area.” Tim Cawdron – HR Professional

Other support Options

At SYLO | Beyond HR we pride ourselves on our ability to deliver (affordable) bespoke Training to meet the needs of any size organisation and provide an extensive range of other Learning and Development options including coaching. Our job specific training includes communication skills, recruitment and leadership. All topics are relevant to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Check out our Action Rocket case study to see the results from just one of our programmes.

The presentation from our latest Value of Difference Webinar (2244 downloads ) , is included here.

“As always, SYLO delivered a thoughtful and insightful session and I enjoyed hearing their thoughts on valuing difference in the workplace. It has helped me to be able to think about how I can encourage the people I work with to consider how effective their inclusive policies and practices are.” Karen Tate – MPDN

“Thank you, amazing webinar.” Anna – Ashton Fire

For a free 30 minute consultation, please email us or contact us on 01844 216290.

What our clients think
  • We have been using Breathe over the last term to track our staff holidays. This is a great system as it highlights different cohorts of staff and when is free for others to book on the calendar. This has supported our ratio requirements and helped us to track holiday entitlements.

    We like the system so much that we have extended it to using the staffing schedules to log staff attendance and hours needed to be processed for payroll. Sharon has been so helpful in helping us set up different employees work patterns and it has been really effective for our nursery needs.

     

    Phillipa Arnold – Operations Manager. Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries – Cambridge Franchise

  • Sarah allows our business to concentrate on the jobs we set out to do, and not have to worry about the HR input, with a highly professional service that she provides. 

    Stuart Barr, Director – Barr Group, Thame

  • As always, SYLO delivered a thoughtful and insightful session and I enjoyed hearing their thoughts on valuing difference in the workplace. It has helped me to be able to think about how I can encourage the people I work with to consider how effective their inclusive policies and practices are.

    Karen Tate – Employee Relations Lead MPDN

  • The wonderful support from SYLO Beyond HR has enabled us to ensure our foundations are in place to support growth, whilst also maintaining and driving the culture that is important for us to have in place.  They have truly worked in partnership with us and provide consistent support to help us drive priorities forward.

    It’s great to have an HR partner that feels part of our team, is available for whenever something comes up and that continues to work with us as our organisation grows.

    Carolyn Hicks, Co-founder/CFO COO – Brill Power

  • The coaching sessions I had with Sally were hugely empowering, nurturing and constructive. Sally provided a wonderful and safe space in which I could reflect on where I am and where I want to be. She helped me work through and build practical strategies, laying down a personal plan for how to progress and reach my goals. I would recommend SYLO’s services to anyone looking for a tailored and forward-thinking approach to professional and executive coaching.

    Hannah McCracken, Client Services Director – Global Management Consultancy

  • ​I found working with Sally incredibly comfortable.  She helped me to define the real issues and then guided me through figuring out a solution. This resulted in a huge shift in the workload I was carrying to manageable levels, greater and welcomed empowerment for the talent in my team, and a manager (mine) who was fully up to speed on what was actually going on.

    Georgina Carey, Senior Manager – Transport For London

  • SYLO delivered on the brief by matching me with an excellent coach, Elizabeth, who I trust implicitly…the coaching ensures I am in the best position possible to execute my duties and add value to this fantastic business. 

    Rich Blunden, Group Managing Director – Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries, Berkhampstead

  • We met with SYLO to discuss creating an in-house Leadership Programme and felt confident in their ability to help us deliver our vision.  They designed and delivered various modules and one-to-one coaching for the Leadership.  

    The SYLO team pivoted from face-to-face to online training during the COVID-19 pandemic and our employees were able to continue to learn and develop. It has been a pleasure to work with the SYLO team this past 5 years and they continue to contribute to our business success.

    Claire Madle, Training Advisor – Jonas Software, Wallingford

  • SYLO | Beyond HR. are great to work with – they are challenging but supportive, highly skilled and adaptable. Together we have developed a sharp, focused appraisal process, to enable managers to be more consistent, staff to develop their professional capability, and the school to provide competencies-based evidence of staff performance. 

    Maxine Evans, Head Teacher – Rush Common Primary School, Oxfordshire

  • We found SYLO very approachable and professional – they took the time to understand the specific needs of our business and delivered a course which has provided real assistance and focus to time management across the various elements of our business.

    Mark Pelopida, Partner – Machins Solicitors LLP, Luton

  • We contacted SYLO back in 2013 as a growing company in need of some HR support. SYLO has proved invaluable in helping us find our way through the complexity of HR policy and procedure. 

    Since the initial contact, we have doubled in size and our partnership with SYLO has gone from strength to strength. They have been there every step of the way providing endless support from recruitment to employment contracts, to business development, and everything in between!

    Duncan Doig, Managing Director – Doig Furniture, Thame

  • We are looking forward to SYLO Beyond HR helping us sustainably grow our business in 2022. Our people are at the core of our services and with SYLO’s retained support, we will be able to nurture and grow our team with the right HR frameworks in place to succeed. Exciting times ahead! 

    Lexi Clarke, Agency Director – Action Rocket, London

  • Businesses must act and not just speak the words of inclusion but support the world to become more equitable. We needed support to guide these conversations within our agency and to get the whole team involved in creating change.  SYLO | Beyond HR gave guidance and clarity to create an agenda over 6 engaging workshops with experienced facilitators.  This year we look forward to working with SYLO on developing more training sessions and organisational process improvements. 

    Lexi Clarke, Agency Director – Action Rocket, London

  • We outsource our HR and have been supported by SYLO for over two years; they have handled everything in a timely and professional manner. Communication is clear and regular reviews mean we remain compliant with all regulation. The cloud-based HR system has proved particularly helpful. I would recommend SYLO without hesitation. 

    Gareth Wakefield, Chief Technical Officer – Xerion Healthcare, Bicester

  • We appointed SYLO for a one-off project. The confidential, professional manner in which they approached the project, gained the confidence of those taking part resulted in an informative report of great use to us in the futureso much so, we have asked SYLO to undertake another project for us. 

    Ann Midwinter – Thame

  • During COVID-19, we decided to rework and update all aspects of our HR & GDPR and health and safety policies. We engaged SYLO to help guide us through what can be a very daunting, and complicated set of processes. We have been very impressed with their speed and attention to detail.  

    Simon Percy, Managing Director – Little Shadow, London

  • Sarah and Sally from SYLO are loyal and enthusiastic supporters of Lord Williams’ School. They deliver sixth form workshops with an employment-related focus, provide work experience placements, and attend the school business breakfast meetings. Sally and Sarah adapt their experience to the classroom situation to engage and inform our young people in their preparation for the workplace. 

    I am delighted with and very grateful for the support SYLO has shown Lord Williams’s School and I look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with them in the coming years.

    Nicky Stallwood, Personal Development Curriculum Manager – Lord Williams’s School, Thame

  • We are coming up to our second anniversary of using Breathe HR and I can honestly say we would be lost without it now.  It’s improved our HR recording beyond measure with everything being secure in one place and no paper files!!  The massive time-saver is the annual leave functionality, which is automated and intuitive and makes the whole process painless. I have a bird’s eye view of it all. 

    Seana McLachlan, Office Manager – Doig Furniture

  • As the recently appointed voluntary Commercial Director of a small-town sports club I was faced with the daunting task of establishing employment contracts with my part-time bar and catering staff, and also putting in place an HR documentation system. With the support of SYLO this has been accomplished to my total satisfaction and at a cost that I consider very reasonable. The SYLO team that I have worked with have been very fast, efficient and extremely professional and I cannot recommend them more highly.

    David Leggett, Sports Club Commercial Director – Marlow

  • CEA have been working with SYLO for 3 years now. We’ve been very happy with their continued support. They are knowledgeable, professional and offer a wide range of useful services.

    Josh Axford, Head of Operations – The Centre for Effective Altruism