Over the last few weeks, we have been taking a deep dive into diversity, equity and inclusion at Elysium. Abdul Abubakar is the Co-Chair of Beyond Differences, the Elysium Race and Ethnicity Employee Resource Group. He tells us more. 

How many people have joined Beyond Differences? 

We’ve been really pleased to see how many people have joined the group, and it keeps growing! We have over 190 members made up of people from right across Elysium – clinical, non-clinical, hospital managers, directors, head office colleagues, corporate colleagues and many, many more. It stands out that the group can draw upon the knowledge and experiences of people from the length and breadth of the organisation. 

How has the Elysium Race and Ethnicity Employee Resource Group evolved?  

Beyond Differences has given birth to a forum created by our international colleagues, which functions as an overseas staff forum. It is a forum for all internationally educated professionals: Occupational Therapists, Psychologists, Recruitment, Nurses and others, including International Healthcare Support Workers. It’s grown to more than 600 members and is a really powerful resource for people. 

How does the forum work?  

There are monthly meetings via Teams. The main aim of that forum is to serve as a peer support network, offering some guidance and mentorship for people with common aspirations and goals. We also bring in a resource person once a month who might speak about immigration or visas, freedom to speak up, etc. However, some are just open forums. Kiru, who is also the Vice Chair of the ERG, is the leader of the forum. 

What work is Beyond Differences doing?  

We are drafting an anti-racism policy for the organisation, which has been shared with our members for feedback. We have filmed some anti-racism videos, and they have been used at conferences. 

We also have two draft proposals that we are working on. The first is a 12-week mentorship programme for internationally educated managers that would cover three or four main modules, including leadership and management, effective communication, career progression and cultural identity.   

And what is the second? 

The second is Elysium Cultural Awareness Week. We want to do something across all Elysium sites, a one-week programme with daily activities around cultural awareness. That could include mini presentations from colleagues about their backgrounds. They could share their culture, food and music. There would be workshops around building a culture of competencies. The expected outcome for this particular work is for us to increase cultural awareness, appreciate our staff and strengthen the sense of belonging and inclusiveness for all colleagues. 

We want to enhance the understanding of anti-racism and the importance of diversity in the workplace. We hope it will be in September.