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Why does my organisation need EDI training?

Why does my organisation need EDI training?

by | Sep 26, 2023 | Employment and HR, News

In today’s rapidly evolving world, embracing diversity and inclusion is essential to help create and maintain a thriving workplace. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) training is a vital tool for organisations looking to create a more harmonious, innovative, and productive work environment.

Let’s take a closer look at the importance of workplace inclusivity, and how your organisation may benefit from Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) training:

The Benefits of EDI Training for your organisation

Creating a diverse workplace where everyone is treated fairly and individuality is supported and promoted is an important part of creating a positive working environment where your whole team feel valued, respected and given the opportunity to thrive and succeed.

EDI Training aims to explain the concepts of equality, diversity and inclusion and their importance in the workplace as well as ensuring your employees understand legislation and the protected characteristics defined by the Equality Act (2010). By providing this type of training to your workforce, you start to promote a culture within your organisation that encourages people to understand and promote diversity. Educating your employees about unconscious bias and how to avoid stigma empowers individuals and gives your whole team a sense of belonging.

EDI training has numerous advantages for your organisation including:

Raising Awareness and Creating Empathy

One of the fundamental aspects of EDI training is raising awareness about the different elements of diversity. It encourages employees to recognise and appreciate the unique backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of their colleagues. This heightened awareness encourages empathy, creating a workplace where individuals understand and respect one another.

Avoiding Unconscious Bias

Unconscious bias can influence hiring decisions, promotions, and day-to-day interactions in the workplace. EDI training equips employees and leaders with the tools to identify and address these biases. By mitigating unconscious bias, organisations can ensure fairer and more equal opportunities for all employees.

Improving Employee Engagement

When employees feel that their organisation is genuinely committed to diversity and inclusion, they are more likely to be engaged and satisfied in their roles. EDI training sends a strong message to your team that your organisation values every employee’s contributions, which helps lead to increased loyalty and commitment from employees and fosters a sense of belonging.

Enhancing Creativity and Innovation

Diverse teams bring together a wealth of ideas, perspectives, and experiences. By creating an inclusive environment through EDI training, organisations tap into this diversity to drive creativity and innovation. Different viewpoints can lead to unique solutions and fresh approaches to challenges.

Meeting Legal and Ethical Obligations

EDI training helps organisations stay compliant with laws and regulations and avoid prejudice and discrimination. Beyond legal requirements, it also aligns with ethical principles, demonstrating your commitment to doing what is right, just, and fair.

Improving Reputation and Attracting Talent

In an age where company culture and values matter more than ever to job seekers, organisations that prioritise EDI stand out as attractive employers. Potential employees are drawn to organisations that actively promote diversity and inclusion, leading to a more robust and diverse talent pool.

Increased Staff Retention

Implementing EDI training demonstrates a commitment to creating an inclusive and equitable workplace, which can boost employee morale and satisfaction. This, in turn, leads to increased staff retention as employees are more likely to stay in an environment where they feel valued and supported. Employees like to know that they are being treated fairly and justly regardless of background, characteristics or circumstances and raising awareness through offering EDI training demonstrates your organisation’s commitment to equity and equality.

Strengthening Customer Relationships

As society becomes more diverse, customers increasingly expect the businesses they interact with to reflect their values. Organisations that invest in EDI training are better equipped to build strong relationships with their customers, resulting in increased loyalty and brand trust.

 

About EDI Awareness Online Training

Developing a diverse and inclusive workplace helps creates a culture that supports, strengthens and promotes the individual skills and life experiences of all employees. An organisation where everyone feels appreciated and supported enhances staff retention, boosts productivity, and increases staff satisfaction, leading to a better experience for customers and employees alike.

EDI Training is a vital investment in a brighter, more inclusive future for your organisation and its people. For more information, support and training, take a look at our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Online Training.Developed by topic specialists and available online, immediately, at a time and place to suit you, this course covers everything you need to raise employee awareness and promote inclusion in the workplace.

Additionally, we have also created Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Training for Managers. This more in-depth course provides real-life scenarios and statistics and covers unconscious bias, unlawful behaviour, vicarious responsibility and leading by example. These courses form a part of our Corporate Governance training library where you can also find out everything you need to know to support your team – including recognising and preventing Modern Slavery and promoting the LGBTQIA+ community in the workplace.

 

Menopause Symptoms You Might Not Be Aware Of

Menopause Symptoms You Might Not Be Aware Of

by | Sep 5, 2023 | Health and Wellbeing

Menopause is a process that’s different for every woman, and menopause symptoms are often different for everyone too. We’re probably all aware of the classic telltale signs of menopause most often talked about in the media, and symptoms like hot flushes are somewhat synonymous with the process, but there are plenty of other menopause symptoms that can affect women that can be potentially challenging to cope with.

In this blog we talk from first-hand experience, and share the insights and experience of menopause experts like Dr Louise Newson, to help uncover some of the less well-known symptoms that can arise from menopause.

Menopause activist Davina McCall states “I used to think that menopause was an age thing and now I realise it’s a woman thing.” Regardless of what age you are or whether you identify as female, male or non-binary, this is a process you’ll either go through yourself or that colleagues, friends or loved ones will go through at some point.

Being aware of the symptoms including some of the less well-known ones can help you support those close to you, or it could help you to minimise the distress of your own seemingly disparate symptoms when they arise, putting you in a stronger position to advocate for yourself and get the professional support you may need.

menopause less known symptoms

A quick introduction to menopause

Whilst most of us use the word menopause to refer to a time in life when a woman’s hormones and periods begin to change before eventually coming to a stop, signaling the end of their reproductive years, menopause is actually a process that can typically take around a decade to go through.

A woman is said to have reached menopause at the end of this process, once she hasn’t had a period for a full year. In the time prior to this, a woman is going through perimenopause, not menopause itself.

There are numerous changes that happen in a woman’s body during perimenopause as a result of fluctuations and ultimately reductions in the key female hormones, oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Receptors for these hormones affect every cell in the body which can lead to wide and varied symptoms.

The British Menopause Society states that 75% of women experience menopausal symptoms, and a quarter of those describe their symptoms as severe.

It’s important to state however that some women report sailing through menopause, hardly even noticing, illustrating just how different every woman’s body really is.

The start of this transition period can be tricky to not only navigate but to identify, often leading to symptoms occurring out of the blue, seemingly without a clear cause. The belief that menopause is something that doesn’t happen until women are in their late 40s or 50s and amounts to little more than a few hot flushes can be extremely damaging and means many women aren’t adequately prepared for the start of the perimenopause process.

“There’s definitely not a one size fits all approach to dealing with the myriad symptoms that perimenopause can bring”.

The pervasive image presented by the media is the outdated notion that menopause is little more than a few hot flushes has finally begun to change, with an increase in women happy to share their experiences and advocate for better support and greater treatment options as well as those raising awarenes of menopause, providing educational resources, and advancing the field of research and treatment.

menopause less known symptoms

Menopause symptoms

The NHS UK website has been updated this year and finally includes a broader list of menopause symptoms. These include some that were previously less well-known like UTIs and muscle and joint aches.

  • Changes to periods
  • Changes in mood, including mood swings
  • Increased feelings of anxiety
  • Problems concentrating, brain fog
  • Low mood
  • Low self-esteem
  • Hot flushes
  • Night sweats
  • Difficulty sleeping
  • Worsening of headaches or migraines
  • Muscle and joint aches and pains
  • Changes to body shape and weight
  • Reduced sex drive
  • Changes to skin
  • Vaginal dryness
  • Frequent Urinary Tract Infections (UTI’s)

NHS Scotland includes a number of lesser-known menopause symptoms as follows;

  • Palpitations
  • Tinnitus
  • Hair loss or thinning
  • Increase in facial hair
  • Discomfort during sex

Combatting perimenopause symptoms

There’s definitely not a one size fits all approach to dealing with the myriad symptoms that perimenopause can bring. Dealing with the symptoms can be simple for some and extremely challenging for others. I know women who have had a few years of hot flushes, a sprinkle of insomnia and a couple of kilograms of weight gain who didn’t feel the need to use HRT or any supplements.

I’ve known others – including myself – who’ve had a much tougher journey. Some have been diagnosed with perimenopause disorder and may have spent years on HRT trying to get the dose and combination of hormones right, trying every supplement under the sun, making big lifestyle changes, meditating, going to bed early and even being prescribed anti-depressants to deal with mood swings of the intensity last encountered during puberty, not to mention benzodiazepines to curb heightened anxiety.

If you suspect you may be experiencing any of the symptoms listed above, make an appointment to discuss them with your GP. They will usually listen to your symptoms and are likely to offer you a blood test to check key hormone levels. As these fluctuate throughout the month, you may be asked to have more than one blood test to give a clearer picture of your hormone levels and then appropriate support or treatment can be discussed once perimenopause has been identified.

Do as much reading and research as you can yourself and do consider starting with lifestyle, exercise, meditation and so on. Understand too, that many GPs are still woefully oblivious to perimenopause symptoms as they would have to choose to specialise in this area to receive any training in it.

Do bear in mind too, that according to Menopause Support, “41% of UK medical schools do not have mandatory menopause education on the curriculum” leading to 25% of women being either misdiagnosed or having menopause-related symptoms missed. So if your GP doesn’t know how best to help you, or doesn’t take your symptoms seriously, ask to see a different GP and keep going until you find one that does have an understanding of perimenopause.

Helpful menopause resources

 

Are You Sitting Comfortably? (Choosing the Correct Office Chair)

Are You Sitting Comfortably? (Choosing the Correct Office Chair)

by | Aug 3, 2023 | Health and Safety

With an average desk-based worker spending approximately 40 hours per week sitting in an office chair, workers in the UK spend a long time sitting down!

Aside from providing a place to sit, a well-designed office chair is an essential tool for productivity, comfort, and overall well-being. With hours spent hunched over desks and engrossed in computer screens, the correct office chair can offer vital support, promote proper posture, reduce strain on the body, and minimise the risk of chronic pain or musculoskeletal issues. Wherever you work, choosing the appropriate office chair lays the foundation for a healthier and more efficient work environment.

Choosing your office chair

A suitable office chair should have:

  1. A back rest that provides comfortable support for the back
  2. A seat with an adjustable height
  3. Five castor wheels to allow easy movement while seated

The correct chair will be adjustable, mobile, and comfortable. It should ideally have recline-ability, adjustable height, adjustable arm rests, and lumbar support for your back.

Your chair should be stable with an adjustable back support and enable you to sit with your posture fully protected, free from aches and pains.

You should sit back in your chair with your shoulders back, your back upright, your lower back and spine supported. You should relax your arms and keep forearms horizontal.

The correct set-up can improve energy and productivity levels.

It is unusual for most workers to have a desk with an adjustable height, therefore it is important when setting up your workspace that you adjust the height of your chair before doing anything else.

The correct chair height is when your forearm is horizontal and level with your keyboard without causing you to shrug your shoulders or slouch.

 

Factors to be Aware of

The image above might look like the worker is doing everything correctly, with a suitable chair and his feet flat on the floor. However, take note of his laptop. Using a device at this height can strain the neck and eyes and cause musculoskeletal problems. Always use a riser so that the top of your screen is level with your eyes. You should also make sure that your screen is approximately arm’s length away from you (for laptop users this might mean investing in a separate keyboard and mouse to get the positioning right). There’s no point having the correct chair if your screen height is also wrong!

When working from home remember that heavily carpeted floors may be more difficult for your chair to move on (and wheel tracks may indent your carpet) so it could also be worth investing in a chair mat.

The material that a chair is made from affects how it feels to use as well as how it looks. If you find yourself sticking to your leather executive chair on a hot day, then it may not be the right one for you! If possible, try out several chairs to find the right one for you and your workspace.

 

Possible Causes of Discomfort

Are your feet comfortably on the floor? If your feet don’t touch the floor once your seat back is at the right height, this could cause pressure on the back of your thighs. In this case, you might need a footrest.

Is the seat pan a suitable depth? You should be able to fit 2 fingers between the front edge of the seat pan and the backs of your knees. A seat pan that is too short mat not give adequate support. A seat pan that is too long may cause the front edge of the seat to contact the back of your legs and cause discomfort.

Are you tall? Some tall people cannot comfortably fit their legs under the desk once their seat is the right height. In extreme cases you may need to have your desk raised or consider a standing desk.

Are you perching on your seat? Your back does not get the support it needs in this position.

Are you crossing your legs? Try to avoid this as is can lead to problems with circulation and cramp.

 

Display Screen Equipment (DSE) Training

Employers are legally obliged to provide suitable health and safety information training for employees who regularly use Display Screen Equipment (DSE) as a significant part of their work. This training also explains in more detail about how to choose and use the correct chair and workspace set-up for you.

If you’d like a free trial of our DSE training or need help training and supporting your workforce in any other health and safety matters, please get in touch with us now.