Share your tip today
We’ll collate the best advice and share it here, as well as across social media – to help guide more inclusive thinking and practises across engineering and technology.
Why is inclusive thinking important?
Inclusion is critical for success yet only 16.5% of the engineering workforce are women (Engineering UK, 2022) and only 3 in 10 engineering organisations have taken action to improve the diversity of their engineering and technical workforce (IET Skills and Demand in Industry Survey, 2021).
Inclusion is vital to achieving true equality and diversity of thought, but sometimes knowing where to start can be daunting – this was echoed by research we recently conducted where some people told us they were unsure what they could do to improve inclusion in engineering and technology.
Embedding inclusion in your workplace may seem like a huge task, but sometimes small changes can make big impacts. That's why we've launched this campaign - to make embedding inclusion as easy as possible.
Share your tips, insights and hacks via our form above, and we will #PassItOn
You may be unsure where to begin on the journey of being more inclusive – so we want to make it as easy as possible.
Remember – it doesn’t have to be one big thing; what may appear a small change to you can really make a difference.
Need inspiration?
Inclusion tip #1
“If you’re in a conversation with or asked a question by, a wheelchair user - reply to them! Include them in the conversation and make eye contact.”
Katy Deacon
IET Trustee and Chair of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) working party
Inclusion tip #2
"As a leader, it's vital to create a culture of openness and active listening - taking opportunities to respond to questions and ideas from colleagues, and seeking input from those less likely to contribute in formal meetings."
Ed Almond
IET Chief Executive and Secretary
Inclusion tip #3
"Ensure continuity. Organisations should price in succession planning whenever a Head of Diversity is appointed. I've seen ambitious diversity programmes stall when an individual leaves their post."
Dr Ollie Folayan MBE
Co-Founder of AFBE-UK, and Head of Process and Safety Engineering at Optimus Plus
Inclusion tip #4
“Avoid consciously making early assumptions about people you meet, especially those who do not look like you.”
Sir Julian Young KBE
Former IET President
Inclusion tip #5
“Before accepting an opportunity, stop and consider if there is someone more suited who is often overlooked.”
Dr Ciara McGrath
Lecturer in Aerospace Systems at the University of Manchester, and YWE winner 2021
Inclusion tip #6
“Wherever possible, offer options that anyone can choose between, rather than always expecting disabled or neurodivergent people to come and ask for accommodations.”
Dr Rachel Dugdale
Founder of Complexical Ltd
Ready to share your advice on how to embed inclusion?
EDI at the IET
What are we doing about EDI at the IET?
We know how important it is to embed equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in an organisation to achieve greater productivity, innovation and well-being – and we’re committed to this, both internally and externally.
Check out our EDI strategy and other projects and initiatives we’re working on via our EDI hub.
