On 10th July 2025, we hosted the FAIRER Conference in Manchester, ‘Creating a FAIRER world of work - Today’s challenges and tomorrow’s opportunities’. Bringing together over 70 passionate DEI and HR professionals, the conference sought to amplify DEI voices, share fresh perspectives and generate noise that moves us in the right direction.
“Noise has the potential to generate and accelerate impact or reduce it to nothingness”, a sentiment shared by Alicia McDonnell, Group Head of EDI at MAG (Airports Group), while speaking at the conference.
And accelerate impact is what we did, as Alicia puts it: “Hopefully we all held the mic with both passion and purpose.”
In this article, we share the key themes from the conference, recount the important ideas and explore how challenging the status quo might be the key to overcoming current DEI hurdles.
Our event was conducted under the Chatham House Rule. Any direct quotation, name or otherwise identifying details included in this article have already been made publicly available elsewhere.
DE&I has become toxic and divisive: How did we get to where we are today?
Our first panel discussion of the day was centred around navigating the current DEI backlash, which is being fuelled by US politics, conservative activists and notable billionaires.
Our panel was led by:
- Phillip McQuillen, Culture Diversity and People Lead at EON
- Alicia McDonell, Group Head of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Manchester Airport Group
- Chelsea Slater, CEO of InnovateHer
Large organisations, such as Amazon and BT, are rolling back their DEI efforts, cutting investment, scaling back their inclusion programmes and reframing language around DEI.
Despite the criticism around DEI bleeding into UK organisations, three in five UK employees would quit their jobs if their employers scaled back on DEI initiatives, according to IRIS Software Group. And the benefits of DEI for business remains clear, as diverse companies are 35% more likely to outperform their competitors.
When asked how DEI is currently perceived by others within their organisation, most participants described it as “important”.
The consensus from our panel is that, while it’s important to acknowledge the effect of US politics on UK DEI, we need to look forward and steer the conversation in a more positive direction. We know that the anti-DEI trope is discouraging organisations from pushing forward the agenda, but data suggests that more organisations are doubling down on their DEI efforts. For example, Apple, Microsoft and Costco have fiercely protected their DEI policies and rejected anti-DEI proposals, recognising the business case for diversity, equity and inclusion.
We, as DEI professionals, need to act as cheerleaders and reassure each other that what we’re doing is the right thing. We need to have the ear of leadership and get their buy-in – something our panel members recognised as a necessity to move forward.
How do we stop tinkering around the edges of inequity and instead drive systemic change?
This workshop, led by FAIRER Consulting, explored what it would mean to disregard the existing hiring process and instead, reimagine the process to clearly and fairly assess someone’s capability.
Organisations are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence (AI) to write job descriptions and screen candidates. But, while AI can be a useful tool when used responsibly, it is intrinsically flawed as it is programmed with bias. For example, one study showed that AI hiring tools discriminate against candidates wearing headscarves and with ‘Black-sounding names’.
Similarly, job-seekers are increasingly using AI to write their CVs and assist with job interviews, ultimately leading to some candidates landing jobs they are unqualified for, thus creating an unfair playing field where eligible candidates are falling through the gaps. This presents a question to employers: is it time to rethink the hiring process and focus on skills rather than CVs and cover letters?
In this workshop, we posed a further question: if you scrap everything and start again, what would the hiring process look like? Enter the appreciative inquiry model – a collaborative, strengths-based approach to organisational change. The five-step framework focuses on identifying and promoting what works well, rather than fixing problems.
The five steps consist of:
- Define: What is the goal? Reimagine hiring to truly assess capability in an inclusive and effective way
- Discovery: What’s working well now? Think about the best hiring experience you’ve had – as a candidate or recruiter
- Dream: What would a truly inclusive hiring process look like? If we had no constraints, how would we hire people?
- Design: What should the process be? Map a hiring journey that reflects the dream process
- Destiny/Delivery: How can we make it happen? What one action will you take
after this activity?
Here are seven practical tips for reimagining existing systems:
- Be specific about what the role involves
- Review qualification requirements
- Use consistent skills-based assessments and evaluations
- Recognise inclusion as a skill
- Challenge your thinking
- Give and invite feedback
- Track data
For more information, explore our article, ‘The impact of generative AI on DE&I’ or download our FAIRER guide to recruitment.
Case Studies - What can we do differently?
In this section we summarise insights from our three case studies on data, insights and engagement.
Spotlight on data
Hosted by Shagufta Sharif, Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Skipton Building Society.
In this session, Shagufta highlighted the importance of data in creating an evidence-based approach to DEI, contextualising with examples in practice at Skipton Building Society. Often, organisations will wait for the perfect dataset before moving forward with their DEI strategies, but the perfect dataset rarely exists. In fact, a lack of data and measurement was cited as the biggest blocker to DEI by our conference participants.
How can leaders shift from waiting for the perfect data set to making smart, evidence-informed decisions that centre both data and lived experience?
Explore more in our webinar, ‘What gets measured gets done - DEI without a perfect dataset’.
From initiative to impact
Hosted by Brit Pickering, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) Manager at National Energy Systems Operator (NESO).
Brit’s talk, ‘Initiative to Impact’, explained how to take DEIB initiatives and turn them into having a cultural impact rather than being seen as performative, drawing on her personal experience and learnings from NESO.
When asked to rate whether DEI efforts felt performative or meaningful, participants gave an average score of 3.1 on a scale of 1 (performative) to 5 (meaningful)
Brit shared a tried-and-tested five-step plan to help make enact meaningful change within the workplace:
- Clarity – What does success look like?
- Committee – Who is responsible for driving change?
- Commitment – Get organisational buy-in
- Continuity – Continue with sustained efforts
- Measurement – Track the metrics that matter
To see Brit’s framework in practice, read our expert interview with her, where she explains her journey in partnering with the Disability Confident Scheme.
Spotlight on engagement
Fireside chat, hosted by Phillip McQuillen, Culture, Diversity and People Lead at EON and Kane Joyce, Head of Workforce Strategy at Manchester City Council.
In this fireside chat, Phillip and Kane explored the challenges of extending DEI globally while keeping a one-organisational approach and avoiding over-localising DEI efforts.
Operating with a one-organisational approach ensures consistency in values, processes and messaging, which is crucial for building trust among employees and accountability across different markets. However, over-localising DEI can undermine core values, create inequities and even perpetuate exclusionary behaviours under the guise of cultural norms.
When companies adopt the ‘embassy model’, they can establish inclusive DEI practices within their own organisations, regardless of local and cultural norms in the countries where they operate. This approach helps to create a safe and inclusive environment for employees wherever they are in the world, in the same way an embassy provides protection for citizens in a foreign country.
Discover how FAIRER Consulting helped a global management consultancy company to boost inclusivity across its worldwide business.
Build the skills required to be an effective D&I influencer
Workshop, hosted by FAIRER Consulting.
In this workshop, we explored the role of listening, self-regulation and storytelling in becoming an effective DEI influencer.
Given the opposing views and hardening of positions that many people now demonstrate when it comes to DEI, this workshop provided practical skills and techniques that enable people to work through their resistances and to show up as authentic advocates of inclusive culture change.
- The first skill is listening, which includes honouring someone’s perspective, experiencing how they are impacted and understanding their opinions and judgements.
- Next, participants were encouraged to tap into self-regulation, understanding how their own emotions impact others, remaining resilient in the face of adversity and being transparent and honest.
- Finally, we explored the notion of storytelling, drawing parallels to The Wizard of Oz’s ‘yellow brick road’. This involves grabbing your audience with a strong start (such as the tornado in the Wizard of Oz), imagining a new world (the land of Oz), having a main character for others to relate to (Dorothy) and a challenge to respond to (such as the Wicked Witch).
To conclude the workshop, participants were encouraged to reflect on the following questions:
- What is the DEI challenge you are facing with the person/group?
- What is the outcome you are looking to achieve?
- What have you done to try to influence them so far?
What can get us through DEI’s current existential crisis?
Keynote speech by Professor Erinma Bell, Community Peace Activist.
In her speech, Professor Bell explored how we keep diversity, equity and inclusion alive and meaningful – even in the face of criticism and pushback. She discussed how real, sustainable inclusion is built not just through policies but through trust, community, and shared opportunity.
Professor Bell left us with an inspiring message: “DEI isn’t dead — it’s evolving”, she said. “Together we can open doors, build bridges, and keep communities strong.”
And it seems our audience mirrored this sentiment, as our participants expressed a strong sense of confidence in their ability to drive meaningful DEI change over the next 12 months, giving an average rating of 4.1 on a scale from 1 (not confident) to 5 (very confident).
For more information on building inclusivity in turbulent times, watch our on-demand webinar, ‘Building and sustaining an inclusive culture in uncertain times’.
What’s coming in London?
Creating a FAIRER World of Work – Today’s Challenges and Tomorrow’s Opportunities
- 2nd October 2025
- St Paul’s, London
Following the success of our Manchester conference, we're coming back with a bigger and bolder conference in London – a day designed to inspire, inform, and ignite action. The focus will be practical and non-political, offering attendees the opportunity to hear and share best practices and new approaches on DEI, hear real-life case studies from HR and DEI leaders, and engage in meaningful roundtable discussions on best practice.
Specific areas of focus will cover:
- What’s working that we can build on?
- What do we still need to develop to influence fair and inclusion actions?
- How can fairness be embedded into the very fabric of organisational culture?
- What does good DEI practice look like, and how can we measure fairness and inclusion effectively?
We’re bringing together some of the most influential voices in DEI, including:
- Tom Way, CEO, Hays UK & Ireland
- Helen Ousley, Global Head of Culture & Community, Freshfields
- Simon Blake, CEO, Stonewall
- Jo Conway, Head of Inclusion & Culture, EMEA & Asia Pac, DLA Piper
- Julie Thomas, Director of Inclusion, Diversity & Equity, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
- Char Erskine, Diversity & Talent Senior Manager, Osborne Clarke
- Keiren Sharman, Co-Chair, Rainbow LGBTQ+ Network, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets
- Annisha Taylor, Head of EDI, Ofcom
- Lutfur Ali, Senior Policy Advisor, CIPD
…and more to be announced soon!
Expect bolder conversations, authentic storytelling, and fresh perspectives on the future of work.
Pre-register now to be the first to hear when tickets go live.
If you would like to speak to a member of our team about how to integrate any of the ideas mentioned on the day into your organisation, please get in touch. Alternatively, view our selection of DEI training programmes and consultancy services.
