Background to this research

“I find it really hard to find information about what actually works – there seems to be a huge knowing and doing gap”

There are thousands of reports, recommendations, commitments, EDI toolkits and even some compilations of toolkits out there. However – much of the content is theoretical and can feel overwhelming and, at times, conflicting.

This research was designed with the intention of offering a practical and realistic reflection – not of what we should be doing – but what companies and organisations in different sectors are doing, and what is working well and not so well.

The research included a survey of members, interviews with over 25 organisations across the public and private sector, including IHPN members, NHS, health tech and charity, regulation, finance, sport, law, consultancy and more.

The conversations highlighted consistent themes and specific problems that organisations were grappling with across sectors. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to cultivating a diverse and inclusive workforce, but we hope that the experiences reflected here prompt discussion, ideas and action for IHPN members.

A note – to enable the quotes and learnings from the research to be as open and frank (and useful!) as possible many of them are unattributed – but all of the content here came from the direct conversations included within this research.