As I have moved deeper into my career I have long thought that the places I enjoyed working at the most have been where the culture of the organisation has been welcoming, fair and progressive. In such an environment you can see people flourish, getting the opportunity to bring out the best in themselves, realising their potential. The upside for the organisation, the employer is that their staff, both individually and in teams tend to be better engaged, effective in their work and as a consequence, more productive. Creating and sustaining a good work culture is something that needs nurtured and monitored periodically. This includes addressing negative aspects such as discrimination, in all the ways that it can manifest itself.

It is also worth reminding ourselves that good people, wherever they are in their career journey, are sought after by many potential employers. They are also the ones that that employers are the keenest to keep a hold of. Meaning that these same good people have choices about which organisation they are willing to work for. They are less likely to want to come to work for or stay with an organisation that has a poor work culture, one where discrimination is not addressed.

So what has PIARC been doing to address discrimination. In 2021 the Promotion of Gender Inclusion & Diversity Team was created and assigned as a permanent group to the PIARC Executive committee. Going forward the PIARC Council adopted the Promotion of Gender Inclusion and Diversity (PGID) as a value of the organization and approved a Gender Inclusion and Diversity strategy in 2022. A summary of the Gender Inclusion and Diversity strategy has been included as an appendix to the Strategic Plan 2024-2027. While 2024, the PGID Team became the PGID Commission.

For all the foregoing reasons for creating and sustaining the right work culture it has been my privilege to have recently taken on the Chair of the PGID Commission. Please do see PIARC’s produced PGID training resources which I would commend, you can find them on the PIARC website for registered members.