Thread by @BDavisBriz

Looking forward to what should be a timely debate on whether our failure to recruit & operationalise diverse talent is an underlying root cause of slow growth & whether more diverse workforces are more productive ones #LSEtii

https://twitter.com/LSE_TII/status/1633053879649685505

First @claire_l_crawf says explains that there is a growing body of evidence to show greater diversity helps to improve productivity at all levels (eg women on boards). However, not all evidence suggests diverse workforces are automatically more productive ones #LSEtii

Looking at the upcoming research project, Crawford says it will take a much longer-reaching look at diversity in all levels of the workforce and at all stages of career progression - both before & during employment - to better understand how & when diversity matters #LSEtii

Crawford expresses her hope that the research will help education providers to equip school leavers with the skills that are needed for work, as well as companies looking at ways in which colleagues from diverse backgrounds can feel more included #LSEtii

Next @AussieBelton says that he hopes that the research will give progress greater transparency around diversity & inclusion to help them understand their baseline, and providing a framework to measure progression #LSEtii

On whether Govt policy or big businesses should lead the way on this change, Flournoy says while he has benefited by working with big corporates, who have the resources to invest in programmes, government & policies are needed to support #SME businesses on their journey #LSEtii

Dr @aliyahrao explains how the project will focus beyond "pre-existing binaries of diversity", including neurodiversity & viewing race, gender & sexuality as spectrums rather than binaries. This will help with qualitative research to capture richer lived experiences #LSEtii

Now @LSE_TII's Daniel Jolles explains the work he is doing on team productivity. This will recruit workers from key industries to participate in an online team exercise. He hopes this will build quantitative evidence to prove link between D&I and productivity #LSEtii

Jolles says that the results of the experiment will create a series of deliverables which he hopes will provide some "real life examples" for businesses to justify the need to promote more diverse workforces within their workforce #LSEtii

Jolles explains that the project will take around an hour, and calls on organisations who may be interested in participating to contact him #LSEtii

Crawford now explains her work on promoting economics in schools. Explains that she hopes this will help understand the benefits of having school leavers with diverse skills, how school-leavers feel by being more skilled & how this affects their career progression #LSEtii

Crawford hopes that this project will provide evidence that will alter policies so that schools will be more adaptive to the skills they offer young people to help them have the skills they need to follow more productive career pathways #LSEtii

On university applications, Crawford hopes that the research will help inform application decisions of potential students (eg high return courses), but also help universities themselves consider how they promote high return courses to more diverse communities #LSEtii

Overall, Crawford expresses her belief that greater exposure to a wider range of skills should allow students to make more informed decisions, allowing them to access better skills, which means they can pursue more diverse better choices for FE & careers #LSEtii

On confidence, Rao says this is a factor that they are monitoring. Notes that many individuals tend to shape their confidence levels in a situational context - noting people feel more confident & productive when they also feel supported #LSEtii

Crawford stresses that the project will seek to make recommendations that will improve policies made both by governments and businesses. However, she stresses that this will always be backed up with evidence from the project #LSEtii

Flournoy welcomes the project, saying there is potential to shift the conversation away from "how to we employ more people from X group?" towards "how do we make our workplaces more inclusive for X?" #LSEtii

The webinar now moves on to a Q&A session #LSEtii

On the role of beliefs (esp. the beliefs of organisation leaders) on improving D&I and productivity, Crawford says this is supported by literature on the importance of environment in terms of D&I and self-belief. Believes this will be borne out in their research too #LSEtii

Rao agrees, noting that they have been very careful on the characteristics that they have chosen to focus on - notes this are not only under-researched groups (esp 🏳️‍⚧️folk), but are also important identies for people in the workplace #LSEtii

With a Q on how one's identity helps one contextualise one's own skills, Rao agrees that this project will help us better understand under what contexts people feel supported & included, as well as hindered & excluded - this will include skills, colleagues & processes #LSEtii

Jolles is asked about how inclusion will be measured in his experiments. One will be self-reflection from questionnaires. This will include how included they felt as well as their feelings throughout the programme #LSEtii

As well as self-reflection, Jolles also explains that people's behaviours will also be observed during the experiments - including curiosity, their willingness to engage, as well as how willing they are to include others #LSEtii

On the importance of transparency, Flournoy explains how in #NewYork🗽, businesses will be required by law to publish salary ranges & believes this will have benefits for ensuring greater D&I of employees #LSEtii

Crawford says 🇬🇧 generally culturally adverse to discussing wages & has had mixed success - noting #GenderPayGap reporting has some evidence of "holding back men's wages rather than accelerating women's wages", but agrees that transparency is key to improving diversity #LSEtii

On how to incentivise D&I in businesses, Crawford acknowledges that businesses will also have other tensions such as profits, dividends, remaining operational so D&I can be seen as a "cost". The key is on how to show broad economic benefits of inclusion #LSEtii

In particular, Crawford believes that policies that generally increase opportunities for everyone (which will disproportionately benefit those furthest from the labour market) will be more effective than smaller interventions aimed at smaller groups #LSEtii

Moving on to final thoughts: Crawford & Jolles call on attendees to participate in the research; Flournoy looks forward to seeing the final results; Rao welcomes the questions & expresses her hope the research will lead to change #LSEtii

Really interesting intro on some exciting new research on the importance of D&I in improving productivity. Thanks @claire_l_crawf @AussieBelton @aliyahrao & Daniel Jolles for your insights, to @profgracelordan for chairing & @LSEpublicevents/@LSE_TII for hosting! #LSEtii

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