industry focus
Shop window diversity and the need to turn 'fine words' into action
The economic shop window provided by the retail sector – the UK’s biggest employer – must reflect the diversity and inclusion (D&I) of its wider customer base and look to turn positive words into meaningful shop floor action.
This is the view of Ali Hannon, a leading equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) consultant who argues that the sector has the perfect opportunity to showcase diversity by reflecting the wider society that it serves by openly embracing a proactive and honest approach to inclusion across retail.
"Today’s Generation Z is looking for organisations to live up to the very high standards they have for themselves when it comes to social issues like gender, race, disability, neurodivergence and intersectionality,” said Ali, a motivational speaker and business mentor.
“There's a lot for leaders to get their heads around and fear of getting this all wrong is holding the wider conversation back.”
In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) published a report – Diversity and Inclusion in UK Retail: where we are now and what comes next? – which highlighted that although 89 per cent of retailers were forming D&I strategies, only 47 per cent of employees felt that it was effectively communicated.
Indeed, the report, written in conjunction with accountants PwC and executive recruiters The MBS Group, found that only half of employees believed that D&I was high on their boss’s agenda.
Tellingly, the report said 100 per cent of D&I strategies were gender specific with 90 per cent also including race and ethnicity while 68 per cent also focussed upon LGBTQ+ inclusivity.
Non-binary Ali, who is hosting an expert panel discussion on D&I among LP and security personnel at the Retail Risk conference at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium on October 6, talks openly about businesses that are frozen in the headlights about ‘getting it wrong’ when it comes to acronyms and pro-nouns.
“Businesses often prefer to say nothing than actually say something and possibly get it wrong when it comes to a person’s identity,” said Ali, who has worked in both customer service and retail in previous roles.
“This means we are at risk of making people feel detached and disenfranchised – they will either conform to fit in or they under-perform or exit the business because they can’t be themselves and don’t feel included. This will result in retailers not making the best of the talent that they have and employees not being truly representative of the diverse customers who choose to shop there.”
Ali, an LGBTQ+ activist who is a comedy performer who uses humour as part of the D&I message delivery, added: “If I misgender someone, they are not going to spontaneously combust as a result. The real question is how do we move on from that mistake?”
“Now is the time to have that grown-up conversation about turning the fine words around diversity into real action. Many CEOs and boards talk in terms of a business case, but this is a real human being issue - people are by far the greatest asset most organisations have. Making sure they have everything they need to do their best work seems like common sense to me!"
Ali will be joined by an expert panel from the loss prevention industry at Retail Risk in order to open up the floor for the wider discussion across the profit protection and security sector, an industry that has traditionally struggled to embrace wider D&I representation.
