EDI Case Study resource 2025

Spotlight on ‘the messenger’

Just as Acacium discovered that communications from leadership were significantly more effective than messaging from HR or the EDI team, the choice of ‘messenger’ is critical to the success of any EDI initiative.

“The penny dropped when we realised that the credible answer to “what’s your maternity policy” is not “let me find you a female Partner to chat to.” We demonstrate our inclusive culture when our senior white male Partners are able to confidently and openly speak about our organisational response to women’s issues and race issues as they would any other business critical issue” – Head of HR Operations, Large Global Management Consultancy.

The large global management consultancy has worked hard to find a balance – the consulting firm sees it as important that candidates meet a diverse range of people during their application process, but also makes sure that everyone they meet in that journey, regardless of gender or ethnicity, is able to reflect the culture and ensure everyone feels that they belong.

A global construction firm, has an informal mentoring programme through its Women’s ERG – but importantly, given the lower numbers of women in senior roles, mentees will be paired with senior men if that is more appropriate and relevant. “We see it as more valuable to match people across regions – this is a key factor in enabling people to think more openly, see opportunity and think beyond their current role and team.” The firm is also realistic about the impact – it doesn’t work for everyone but ‘there’s always someone who takes something from it. We are still one baby step closer to progress.”

EMS Healthcare reflected that the thing that had made the most impact for them was changing it from being CEO and HR driven, to driven by colleagues. They set up a colleague committee and asked people to apply to be champions for various elements such as EDI. Those individuals now have it in their job description, are expected to put the time in their timesheet (rather than squeezing it alongside the day job), and in their annual objectives.