People and Skills Network (Northern Ireland)

The pandemic has impacted us all, but the severity of the impact varies across society with women, young workers, and ethnic minorities being hit the hardest. At the same time, Diversity and Inclusion has remained high on the business agenda throughout the crisis, with two-thirds of organisations planning to increase their diversity and inclusion activities in the two-to-three years beyond 2021. But companies now also have a unique opportunity to build back better and to reimagine diversity and inclusion practices, looking ahead to what can be achieved in the next two to five years.

By drawing on good practices that have proven to boost diversity and inclusion in the past, and key learnings from the business response to COVID-19, the aim of this session is to enable businesses to map out solutions for building a more inclusive economy and a better society as we come out of the ongoing health and economic crisis. It is also an opportunity for organisations to reflect on their key ambitions that they want to achieve on diversity and inclusion in the medium to long-term.