My D&I Journey with:
Janet Tidmarsh,
Head of Diversity & Inclusion,
Whitbread
My D&I Journey with:1. What was your journey into diversity and inclusion?
My background is in talent and learning. When I was working for Virgin, I lived in South Africa for a couple of years, and witnessed positive discrimination, discussions about race, and really got an understanding around privilege and equity. This experience lived with me, and whilst pursuing other HR roles, the role that diversity and inclusion played in them increased – roles across talent, leadership and recruitment really helped me understand how the concepts of both diversity and inclusion worked in these areas. I have now been in Diversity and Inclusion as a specific role for a couple of years and am enjoying it immensely.
2. How would you describe a typical day in your role?
I get involved in lots of very different topics – some related to colleagues, some related to guests and others around supply chain. I love the diversity of topics, and the opportunity to be involved in everything from IT projects to uniform, to working with our supply chains. I truly get to see every part of our wonderful business.
3. What is the best part of your job?
Making a positive impact to our under-represented groups and their experience – whether that is a new policy, a religious celebration or working with our amazing network groups. I love working with people who have lots of positive energy for D&I!
4. What advice would you give to someone looking to move into D&I?
Educate yourself and be an active ally. Read, watch and do. There is so much to learn, and fortunately, more than ever, so many mainstream resources to help us all understand others’ lived experiences. Be curious, and have empathy.
5. What are the main challenges faced by D&I professionals at the moment?
I think it is hard to be emotionally connected with lived experiences’ of our teams without shouldering the whole burden for some real societal issues e.g. racism or transphobia. As a D&I professional, you are often in a small team (at best) or working alone, and therefore if you aren’t careful, you can feel that you are ‘owning’ this agenda rather than facilitating it through others.
6. Name three skills that support you to succeed in D&I
– Coaching skills: asking, listening, asking again, trying to understand what is happening
– Tenacity and bravery: these two really go together. Being brave to voice the difficult conversations, and being tenacious to keep going!
– Being collaborative: finding people to support, help and drive change, regardless of role, both inside and outside your organisation
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