Increasing the diversity of workplaces in the north-east will be top of the agenda at a conference coming up next month.
Edel Harris, president of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce (AGCC) and chief executive of Cornerstone, a leading support organisation for people with disabilities, said embracing diversity was “good for the bottom line” of firms.
Ms Harris warned that while north-east firms benefited from the cosmopolitanism of the oil and gas industry, there was still work required to address a lack of leadership by women and the participation of disabled people in the workplace.
She added: “One of the reasons we are hosting the conference is because, as a chamber and as a chief executive of a disability organisation, we really want to put diversity on the agenda so businesses start talking about it.
“On the one hand, I think Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire – compared to other parts of Scotland – are actually quite diverse.
“We are quite a cosmopolitan city. Oil and gas brings all sorts of nationalities into the city.
“On the other hand, we still have a pretty male-dominated business environment.
“I don’t want to make a big deal of this but the fact I am the first female president ever in the history of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce makes a statement in itself.
“There is more we can do to get gender equality, particularly on the boards of business and in leadership positions in business.
“If you take diversity in its widest context, disability for example, I don’t think we are any different to any other part of the UK.
“Businesses still find it incredibly difficult to recruit people with disabilities – for a whole range of reasons.
“Some of it is ignorance, some of it is a lack of understanding and some if it is discrimination, sadly.
“Some of it is about not having the right resources within the workplace, or the right access arrangements.
“There is a whole load of talent amongst the disabled population, which we have seen in Rio, that businesses are missing out on.”
Ms Harris said she did not see quotas requiring representation of women or the disabled in businesses as an effective strategy.
And while AGCC declined to sign up to a Scottish Government initiative to encourage companies and public sector bodies to commit to having women take up 50% of boardroom roles by 2020, she pointed out that the chamber had already achieved this benchmark.
“The chamber board is now 50% female,” she said, adding: “Things are changing, and they are changing despite campaigns and formal processes.”
Power of Diversity is a full-day conference at Ardoe House on October 5, looking at gender equality, disabled rights, ethnic diversity and sexual diversity in the workplace.
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