We were delighted to launch our first Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I) strategy as part of our #InclusionMatters webinar event on Tuesday 23rd March. This lively and engaging two-hour webinar explored the theme of inclusive recruitment and employment, as well as showcasing strategies and initiatives that can help us move towards delivering a public service that is reflective of the communities it serves.
The event commenced with an opening address and welcome from Minister Michael McGrath TD Cork South Central & Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform, who highlighted the importance of focussing on ED&I, the Programme for Government, ‘Our Shared Future’, and the role of publicjobs in attracting and recruiting people from diverse backgrounds
This was followed by a keynote speech from Jason Ghaboos, Deputy Director – Civil Service Inclusive Practice, Cabinet Office, UK. Jason provided insights into the UK Civil Service D&I Strategy ‘A Brilliant Civil Service: becoming the UK’s most inclusive employer, 2017 – 2020 and highlighted key learnings, progressive examples of attraction, recruitment and onboarding practices, as well as an insight into the direction of travel with their new D&I strategy.
Nadine Huggins, Executive Director, Human Resources Policies, Strategies & Programs at Royal Canadian Mounted Police, then joined us via recorded video to discuss her experience in shaping the government of Canada’s equity, diversity and inclusion agenda and her role in implementing that agenda. This was soon followed by a panel discussion moderated by Ann-Marie Taylor – Programme Director of Better for Balance along with Jason Ghaboos, Sarah Claxton – Organisation Development Manager at ESB, Anne Marie McMahon – Deputy Commissioner at An Garda Síochána, as well as publicjobs CEO, Shirley Comerford.
Following this, we saw an engaging panel discussion with several contributors from diverse backgrounds giving their perspective of career journeys in a modern Ireland and their experience of and aspirations for attraction, recruitment and onboarding practices in the public and private sectors. The discussion featured Victoria Oyewole from the Department of Education, Gurmeet Kaur from the National Shared Service Office, Fasil Gebre from the Office of Public Works and Karimah Gambo from Workday.
Next up was the final discussion of the day where we were then joined by Salome Mbugua who hosted an engaging panel discussion with several practitioners discussing the Oireachtas Work Learning (OWL) Programme, which is an innovative work-based learning programme designed for people with intellectual disabilities. The discussion featured Margaret Crawley – Houses of the Oireachtas Service, Catherine Halley – Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael McKeown – Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and Emer Grenville – publicjobs who shared their experiences of working with and managing participants from the programme.
The session was both inspiring and practical, as well as building awareness and providing an opportunity for attendees to learn from personal, lived experiences. We thank all of our contributors for making the launch of our first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy such a positive experience.
You can find out more information on our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2021-2023 via the Diversity and Inclusion page of our website by clicking on this link.
