Apologies for the non-arrival last week. Prepping for two Corporate Affairs Summits (London and Dublin), two awards programmes and a host of other subscriber-related events got the better of me. This week’s newsletter is also slightly different. I am awaiting the return of my illustrator to share the next interview, and other bits and pieces are not yet complete. Consequently, all this week’s content is free to read, but from next week more will go behind our (very cheap) paywall, and I will clearly lay out all the benefits from subscribing to this service. (Lots!)

And don’t forget to register for the Corporate Affairs Summit in London on 8 October. The one-day event, which costs just £50, will once again provide lots of food for thought for today’s corporate affairs professionals.

Edna Boampong was one of the stars of last year’s Corporate Affairs Summit.

The former programme director for diverse and inclusive communications at NHS Confederation was sharing her work as chair of a taskforce looking to improve diversity within the communication functions of the National Health Service.

While the NHS might employ more than 200 different nationalities, there is a distinct lack of diversity when it comes to senior positions. It is particularly true in communications, where fewer than five per cent of senior professionals have an ethnic background. Indeed, 61% of hospital trusts said that their communications departments did not reflect the communities they served.

This misalignment came to the fore during lockdown, when it was important to understand the needs and fear of their communities.

In her district, Boampong led research to understand the rationale behind vaccine hesitancy, which informed communication campaigns. And ultimately saved lives.

As she said: ‘If I wasn't a woman of colour who could see in her community, and in my mother's community, the fear and the potential hesitancy that was coming down the stream with the vaccine, that piece of research wouldn't have been done.’

But COVID also exposed racial divisions within the NHS as nurses, doctors and care workers from ethnic minority backgrounds were dying at a faster rate than their white colleagues.

Many factors played a role, but a major issue was that they didn’t feel empowered to speak up. For example, Muslim men did not like to complain that the PPE did not fit their beards. Pregnant women didn’t like to ask to remove themselves from the front line. ‘They didn’t want to be those people who were standing out,’ said Boampong.

Established last September, the taskforce started from the premise that the NHS is ‘not very good at recruiting and retaining people from ethnic minorities’. This is particularly true in communications, where people drop out early or do not progress in their careers

It focused on three aspects: access, experience and outcomes. Boampong explained: ‘How are they accessing these roles within the NHS? When they get into the roles, what's their experience like? Then do they go on to progress and thrive in those roles?’

Its findings have just been published, and they’re not pleasant reading. While individuals join with high hopes and career aspirations, the reality falls short. Sadly, ethnic minority communicators identify institutional racism and structural disadvantage as part of their daily working lives in the NHS.

More than one in four – 26% – expect to leave within three years, with the number rising to 37% for black respondents. They are seeking better financial rewards, fairer treatment, improved workplace culture and better career progression.

Many of the taskforce’s recommendations, however, are applicable beyond the NHS, and to every corporate affairs director keen to improve the diversity of their teams, they are essential reading.

(I’m only going to highlight the steps recommended to improve access here, because the report is long... )

Inevitably, there are some obstacles that will take time to change. At the summit, Boampong shared that her parents, first generation Africans, were taught that having a profession, such as accountancy, gave you a greater standing in society. They also believed that a more respectable job could potentially reduce racist attacks.

Consequently, there can be a lack of awareness within the BME community about communications as a career, which needs to be addressed with initiatives, such as engaging with schools and colleges, offering apprenticeships or working with universities to develop paid summer internships.

Similarly, the lack of diversity in senior communications roles can deter BME candidates. The report recommends insisting recruitment agencies put forward candidates from diverse backgrounds for senior roles. Job descriptions for senior roles should also stress lived experience.

As Boampong told the Summit’s audience: ‘If you don't have a diverse workforce to start off with, you're less likely to attract the diversity because it can feel really daunting for someone to walk into a role where they're quite often the lone ethnic minority. There’s feelings of isolation. It’s a vicious circle. But you’ve got to start somewhere. We need to increase diversity in the workforce to attract more people.’

There are some simple first steps that can be implemented swiftly, from targeted outreach, to enhancing the application process, to ensuring the interview process is inclusive.

For example, advertising roles through community organisations or platforms that cater for under-represented groups. Or working with organisations, such as the Taylor Bennett Foundation.

As the report makes clear, many ethnic minority communicators have less access to professional networks that might lead to news of job openings.

Simplifying the language in job descriptions to remove industry jargon or nuance. Stressing the value of diversity within advertisements. Committing to interview every BME candidate who meets the minimum criteria. Implementing end-to-end blind recruitment processes to reduce bias. Remove information about which establishments candidates attended. These are all quick wins.

Ensuring the interview process is inclusive is also key. At the very least, it should be mandatory that interview panels be diverse and mixed which will, in turn, provide a supportive environment for candidates from underrepresented groups.

As Boampong pointed out, somebody from a more diverse background might have a thick accent, and may not be as articulate as other candidates, but could have more knowledge and substance, which might not be recognised by a non-diverse panel.

The report also suggests providing questions ahead of the interview to help candidates prepare, while also ensuring these feature scenario-based and experience-based questions. Training interviewers on cultural competency and unconscious bias will help equip them with strategies to create a more inclusive environment.

And finally, providing constructive feedback to all candidates post-interview, identifying areas for improvement, will help build their confidence for future opportunities.  

As Boampong concedes in the report: ‘The work ahead requires collaboration, courage and a willingness to challenge established norms.’

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

What’s the value of volunteering?

It’s an interesting question. Back in 2024, the Royal Volunteering Service (who obviously don’t have a vested interest in the matter), in conjunction with Pro Bono Economics, calculated that volunteers actually had improved productivity levels when working back at the day job, perhaps as a result of gaining new experiences or confidence.

It suggested those in managerial or professional occupations who volunteer actually boost their productivity levels by as much as £4,551 per annum, which is worth £4.6 billion to the wider economy.

AXA UK has taken a different approach. The insurance giant gives employees 21 hours of paid volunteering leave per annum. Recently, it tracked 387 AXA colleagues who went litter picking at 15 locations across the UK, collecting an impressive 2.8 tonnes, which is not quite as heavy as a blue whale’s tongue (three tonnes, since you ask) but is considerably heftier than a rhinoceros (2.3 tonnes).

A whopping 93% of those colleagues felt volunteering positively benefited their wellbeing, while 86% felt closer to their team mates as a result. And 98% said they would do it again.

ODDS & SODS

🤯 Trying to unsubscribe from Open2Europe releases, after hearing for the second time this week that Schmidt Group is buying a stake in an interior design group. The response: Your answer cannot be taken into account. I’m doomed.

🦉Steph Spyro, deputy political editor at the Daily Express, offers a handy bit of advice for PRs bemoaning their inability to get their clients in the media.

Use the Sunday for Monday slot. Any journalist working a Sunday shift will be eternally grateful for a well thought out PR pitch. Note the key words: ‘well thought out’. Journalists may be desperate for content, but that doesn’t mean they will drop their standards.

Now is not the time to pitch a piece about working hours wasted on toilet breaks. (Yes, I’ve been the lucky recipient of such a release. I’ll spare you my puns!) But the Sunday shift is far from the worst. There’s a Bank Holiday coming at the end of this month, and some poor soul is likely tasked to fill both Monday and Tuesday slots.

If you’ve got a RELEVANT pitch, you could be onto a winner. And, if you have eye-catching imagery to accompany that, well… there will be a journalist somewhere squealing with delight. They’ll likely name their first born after you.

And for those super-organised among you… put a big round circle around Easter in next year’s diary. That’s three days to fill for some unlucky hack!

💡Those friendly folks at Hard Numbers have produced a handy primer on Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), which offers advice to PR professionals on how to optimise content for generative AI. If you want to get noticed by ChatGPT, this one’s for you.

👍There appears to be a myth in the marketplace that I know where all the vacancies are. Er, I don’t. (As for where the bodies are buried…) And while I try to help when possible, I regret that I simply can’t meet everybody who asks for ‘a chat about potential opportunities’. One handy tip: I ‘like’ every vacancy I see mentioned on LinkedIn.