Protocol, a leading full-service recruitment and staff consultancy agency in the education, skills, training, and public sector for the last 25 years, has signed up for NCFD’s Investors in Diversity Award (IiD).
NCFD Adviser Vanessa Rhodes, recently joined Protocol as HR & Partnership Director and here, joined by her colleagues, she tells Solat Chaudhry, NCFD CEO why she recommended going for the IiD award and how the management team and Protocol Board recognised the benefits immediately.
I have known Vanessa since 2009 when she was working as an HR Director in a Welsh college. Investors in Diversity was in its infancy then, so I am keen to find out from Vanessa what she thought.
“Well, Solat, back then there was no other product like IiD on the market and I could see its worth. As a HR professional, it gave me a framework. When you visited us at the College about a decade ago Solat, IiD felt organic, and it was right for us to start on the journey. We knew we had a challenge that’s why we decided to go for the award.”
“When I moved on to a new college it was a natural thing for me to stay affiliated with NCFD in terms of support and to use the excellent tool which helped me harness our EDI work and strategy. It solidified everything we were doing. I was chuffed when we were awarded the Best Newcomer Award in what was then, the NCFD Grand Awards.”
“There was a clear relationship between my work as a practitioner in the Further Education (FE) sector, working on EDI and working with NCFD, it was tangible how organisations really benefited from the expertise and support and take off,” Vanessa told me.
Keen to explore this I ask Vanessa to elaborate.
“As soon as you get involved, everything takes off because the IiD standard covers the 10 destinations. It is a noticeably clear path for any organisation to follow and to make sure everything is covered, to become an inclusive organisation. I loved it. When I left the college and set up my own business, you contacted me Solat, asking if I had thought of becoming an Adviser. I never saw myself as a leader in that field, but you gave me the confidence, training, and support. I worked with colleges, housing, and the care sector, as well as private engineering and manufacturing firms- a nice broad range of clients.”
Now that Vanessa has joined Protocol, I am keen to find out how easy it was to get the green light from the management team and Board to start IiD.
“Protocol specialises in providing staffing solutions to the education sector, so once again it was a natural organic progression. I was offered the opportunity to work for Protocol and part of my role is to build external partnerships and lead on specific areas, such as EDI.”
“When I asked Ian Sackree, CEO about IiD he asked me to present the proposal to the People and Performance Strategy Group, and I was pleased to be given a unanimous yes.”
“Another factor Solat, is the NCFD FREDIE principles. They are so important here, as everywhere, Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement. We’re ready to be part of the standard and to influence our external partners as well,” Vanessa said.
“When I came to Protocol, I was looking to work for an inclusive organisation, but I also wanted to see demonstrable inclusion. I had the benefit of already knowing many of the team here and I wanted to find out if they had the same values as I did. We had a lot of conversations about what my role would look and feel like.”
“Protocol represents diversity really well. If you walk the floor, you’ll see this from a recruitment point of view. We look for people who going to be part of Team Protocol. I wanted to know that the organisation would take IID seriously.”
“What I’m hoping to see developed is much more of a conscious awareness of the bias that we can bring into recruitment. The way to start is with our recruitment teams who will understand more about bias, because of what we learn on the journey. Everyone here is excited about the IiD journey as we can take EDI even further, grow and really showcase our amazing organisation.”
“I could see the Board thought that IiD was really important. What’s special about this is we are a private equity company. The typical perception of a private equity firm is a focus on profit and so it is refreshing to see EDI so high up on the Board agenda.”
For Ian Sackree, Protocol’s CEO, there was a personal and professional rationale. “The two are very definitely intertwined. From a personal perspective it is important that we encourage healthy discussions which include everyone. We try and move away from group -think and encourage diversity of thought. To achieve this and to get everyone behind our objectives, our people must be able to express themselves and have their opinions respected. It helps stimulate debate.”
“From a professional perspective, as a recruitment company, we see our role as breaking down barriers to help individuals progress through their lives and careers. Equality, diversity, and inclusion are staples of how a good recruitment company should be thinking all the time. We want to make it part of our day-to-day culture, it should just be the default setting in terms of how we think and how we act, and it should be how and what we look like to the market.”
This is encouraging to hear and as a recruitment company, in a sector that has quite a high level of attrition, I can see how Protocol welcomes and supports people coming in with different ideas.
Beth Curtis, Head of Business Development and Strategy, agrees: “The world is changing rapidly so we need to embrace that and get it into our day-to-day thinking as well as investing more time in it.”
The Further Education Sector (FE) is Protocol’s main customer and Ian recognises the importance FE has in the Government’s levelling up agenda. “Since the 1990s FE has had a mission to deal with the effects of inequalities and pick up post- 16 learners who for whatever reason have not embraced or engaged in mainstream education, to enable them to fulfil their potential. FE colleges are the intermediaries for where a person is and where they could be.”
“That’s why we instil EDI into our core values across our teams because we know that when we are looking for candidates, from management through to teaching and support roles, it is important to us that our teams not only understand but recognise the challenges that exist in FE.”
“It’s clear to me that the team here has a great passion for the agenda and are enthusiastic for fairness in all. “
“It is important that EDI is understood, and we get it right, as this in turn leads to a good return on investment and improves performance”, Ian concluded.
For me as CEO of NCFD I can see that when recruiting for all roles, the team at Protocol focus on the most appropriate CV. They have a strong culture, using collaboration naturally across the teams and opening discussion around diversity, so everyone feels included.
I leave the last word to Ian: “Inclusion is the holy grail. You can achieve equality and diversity through policy and process, but creating an environment where people feel they belong is the most important of all.”
