This case study highlights proactive leadership, the importance of incorporating the lived experiences and voices of employees in transforming workplace culture and how policies, aligned to corporate values embeds diversity and inclusion as a strategic imperative.

ABOUT THE MATERIALS PROCESSING INSTITUTE

The Materials Processing Institute is the UK’s national innovation centre for metals and is a globally recognised centre for the innovation, development, and commercialisation of technology for advanced materials, industrial decarbonisation, digital technologies, and the circular economy.  These innovations are delivered by scientists, engineers, and project teams with expertise in materials science and advanced processing, utilising state-of-the-art equipment, laboratories, workshops, demonstration, scale-up and production facilities to develop technology, enhance materials and improve processes.  The Institute is a not-for-profit organisation, with an 80-year track record and a strong societal and ethical mission. The core value of the Materials Processing Institute is ’Integrity’ and its message, “come as you are, and you will be welcome” ensures that we commit to this value in attracting talent to the business and creating a culture which is inclusive and embraces diversity. 15% of the 85 staff are women, and a small percentage from an ethnic minority and veteran background. https://www.mpiuk.com/

COMPANY BACKGROUND

Executive CEO Chris McDonald is passionate about the institute having a diverse workforce. He draws from his personal lived experience of not hearing about engineering until he left school at age 16, to work for British Steel, who then sponsored him to study at university. In appreciation of the life changing support that he received, Chris set up the Millman Scholarship, that supports one local student from Teesside and from a low social economic background to study at any UK university in a Materials Science or Engineering degree.

The scholar gets a £1500 annual grant, guaranteed paid work experience at the institute during Summer holidays, access to a mentor and industry experts. Chris promotes a culture of integrity and mutual respect, whereby everyone is valued for their contribution, with the phrase ‘come as you are, you will be welcome’ embedded into policy. Chris recognises that to have a thriving business, the institute needs to prioritise diversity as a core lever of driving growth.

 

 

HR Director and ED&I Lead Melissa Bevington joined the institute in 2021, and has been instrumental in delivering staff training, and driving the equality, diversity, and inclusion strategy. Melissa is passionate about ED&I and believes that harnessing diversity of perspectives and breadths of experience are core attributes of a successful and inclusive workplace. With the HR theme for 2023 as ‘inclusion ’, Melissa endeavours to ensure that the institute meets and exceeds the legislative obligations, whilst committing to embed ED&I as a strategic objective.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION OVERVIEW

With a straightforward message of ‘come as you are you will be welcome’, and  corporate values of ‘mutual respect and inclusion’, the institute positions itself as an equal opportunities employer and strives to create an inclusive and supportive workplace. The ED&I policy is not only for conforming with legislation, but it also accentuates the institute’s commitment to providing equality of opportunity, valuing diversity and for the moral purpose of eliminating discrimination, so that all colleagues can reach their full potential. All policies are interlinked to Equalities Act 2010 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

ED&I CHALLENGE

The institute is project based, with a matrix structure that is designed to facilitate communication and reporting lines, as clear communication can become blurred and important strategic initiatives that improve business performance may be lost. It was essential that business improvement, growth and success were delivered through the institute’s colleagues. This included unconscious bias training on the language used at work for example understanding that banter can be harmful. Training was essential to ensure that the company message was clear, that all colleagues had personal ownership and responsibility to ensure that discrimination does not exist at the institute.

APPROACH

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion need to be more than policies, they need to be part of the day-to-day culture and language of the institute. To establish a truly inclusive workplace, learning started with the Management Board to ensure that they were up to speed with legislation, why ED&I is important strategically, competitively, and essential to success of the Institute. It was crucial that workshops were led by a member of the management board, supported by HR, and workshop delegates came from a cross section of the Institute and were as diverse as possible.

A ‘train the trainer’ approach was adopted which meant the management board were trained to deliver the workshops. Training was then provided to all colleagues with the expectation that learning needed to be a continuous journey, for the institute to embed longstanding sustainable change. All colleagues were made aware that they are valued for their contribution, which means colleagues able to ‘be themselves and bring their whole selves to work’ to succeed. Understanding differences, unconscious bias, why behaviour matters and treating each other with respect and dignity are emphasised as the cornerstones of the Institute’s integrity value. To understand the employees’ experience, questionnaires were shared at workshops, then applied the issues in place and those identified to a PESTLE analysis and a mind map to enhance the ED&I policy.

The aim was to ensure that the institute continues to be an attractive place to work for current, new, or prospective colleagues, with a viewpoint that the institute needs to compete in more than just salaries and benefits, but also as an attractive and inclusive workplace. The institute endeavours to be aligned to the ethical and societal values that candidates and colleagues seek, thereby it embeds the language of inclusivity, fairness and exemplifies the ‘come as you are and you will be welcome’, not a strap line, but as the institute’s business strategy and competitive advantage.

 

ACTIONS & OUTCOMES

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

  • Training and development of all colleagues, with ongoing monitoring and reviews, regular check-ins, and evaluations of the effectiveness of policy to maintain momentum and promote good practice.
  • Valuing the skills and experiences that diverse colleagues bring.
  • Ensuring that the institute provides an inclusive, non-discriminative environment in their workplace culture, in the communities it serves and in the way it engages with their supply chain.

Recruitment, Progression & Promotion 

  • Designing and building a flexible and diverse workplace is paramount to the institute maintaining its competitive advantage and prepare itself for the future.
  • Addressed the skills shortage and avert bias in recruitment by introducing anonymous applications.
  • Created an inclusive and flexible institute thus augmenting talent attraction and retention.
  • Around 30% – 40% of staff work to a hybrid work pattern, with 3 working from home permanently.

Right to Disconnect,  Flexible / Working from Home

  • Colleagues are not expected to engage with work after hours.
  • Encourages colleagues ‘to flourish wherever they are’, thereby being inclusive of those who may wish to work flexibly due to parental or carer responsibilities, and to support those who may have mental or other extenuating reasons.
  • Allowing flexibility of where and when colleagues can work was found to be beneficial in meeting and retaining the expectations of current colleagues and in attracting diverse talent.
  • In supporting colleagues in terms of managing the rise in cost of living and support their wellbeing, flexible/hybrid working is allowed.

Assistance Animals

  • Training all staff on the different types of disabilities for instance, in the case whereby a colleague has an assistant animal, colleagues are advised on why they should not pet assistance animals.

Menopause

  • Discussions helped colleagues to understand how to be better allies not just to colleagues experiencing menopause, but also empowers them to better support a partner experiencing menopause.
  • Understanding the physical and psychological side effects to a woman’s body and recognising that a colleague experiencing the menopause can be significantly affected by it.
  • Actively supporting and informing all colleagues about the help and assistance that the Institute provides, and its commitment to safeguarding support and assistance to any colleague who is going through the menopause.
  • Sanitary products provided in the male and female bathrooms, as a way to support the trans community who may need to use sanitary products and use the bathroom of their choice.

LEARNINGS FROM LIVED EXPERIENCES

The TransFIRe ED&I team visited the institute on 30th January 2023 and facilitated a focus group on the topic of ED&I. Our host during the visit to the institute was Chairman of the  institute, Jon Bolton. The institute showcased diversity of highly skilled employees including veterans and those from an ethnic minority background. A participant expressed the importance of role modelling, describing how they visit schools locally and further afield, to inspire children, particularly those from an underrepresented background, who have never seen someone who looks like them working in a materials science career. Additionally, we met others age 55+ who joined the institute as returners after retirement. They informed us that they felt valued for their knowledge and experience. Collectively, the focus group expressed they felt a sense of belonging, that the institute was welcoming, inclusive, they felt valued, listened to, had pathways to progression, and they had not encountered any discrimination or microaggressions at work. It was evident that the institute incorporates listening to the lived experiences of their colleagues when designing policies. A multigenerational workplace is inclusive, it enriches diversity of ideas and innovation, thus boosts the institute’s competitiveness. The institute should avail mentoring / reverse mentoring, sponsorship opportunities.

We deemed the Millman Scholarship as an excellent example of the institute promoting social mobility in the community they serve, Teesside. The scholarship provides access to opportunity, improves diversity, provides quality education and work, reduces inequality, and fosters upward social mobility, thus advancing several UN sustainable development goals at a local company level. Ideas discussed included the institute looking into talent development, progression, and succession planning, so that they ensure that in the future, the leadership reflects the diversity of the workforce. Additionally, to help address gender, race, and socioeconomic mobility, the institute should endeavour to also award a deserving female scholar from an ethnic minority background who meets the rest of the scholarship requirements, as this cohort is disproportionately underrepresented in STEM careers,  recruiting and reskilling from non-traditional routes such as the job centre and community. The TransFIRe team heard from the focus group discussions that the institute fosters an open and transparent culture, employees feel empowered to address issues and leaders are engaged, approachable and proactive.

Written by Ciel Newton