Blog

The true value of EDI

4 Apr 2025

I have watched with a genuine mix of interest and disbelief as the American government and a series of high-profile corporations proceed to very publicly disinvest their diversity commitments.  

The human cost, reputational damage, and commercial impact is, to me, staggering. 

Yet while some organisations may be choosing to beat a hasty equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) retreat, I have been heartened by the contrary stance of many employers, Ingeus included, and the enlightening conversations those transatlantic actions have prompted.  

During one such discussion recently on Radio 4, Martha Lane Fox, entrepreneur and President of the British Chambers of Commerce, spoke eloquently about EDI benefits: good governance, social justice, and competitive advantage amongst others. I vehemently believe in fairness and that embracing our differences is the right thing to do, but I also agree with Martha’s argument that the numbers simply speak for themselves: 

• Businesses that embed diversity have 25% higher financial results. 
• 76% of potential employees care about diversity when making a choice about where to work. 

In a corporate world of competition, change, and persistent skills shortages, ignore those figures at your peril.   

My role at Ingeus is all about that corporate world of competition and change. I look at opportunities for Ingeus to grow – to fulfil our mission of enabling better lives for more and more people. Our incredibly talented teams are instrumental in making that happen and by supporting them to be their best, our teams can deliver exceptional services to participants on all our programmes.  

We are all made up differently and I’ve always had a keen interest in how, when embracing these differences when compiling teams, better outcomes are frequently delivered. I lead on social value for the UK, represent Ingeus at the APM Global Disability and Inclusion Group (APM is Ingeus’ parent company), and Chair a UK Disability Advisory Group of external specialists who advise on industry practices and keeping Ingeus’ services inclusive and accessible. I have a particular interest in neurodiversity, and we have just established a working group of Ingeus-wide colleagues examining how to improve accessibility for neurodivergent participants. Simple but effective changes have already seen us adapt lighting and reduce noise. 

Through APM, we were also recently honoured to become the first employability provider to be invited to join the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Global Business Disability Network. I attended an international meeting of business and non-governmental organisation leaders in Geneva last November to share learning. One takeaway that resonated with me from that visit are now set to bring tangible benefits to Ingeus colleagues, their families, and our participants. 

The ILO meeting advocated that organisations hold licences for accessible technology at an enterprise level. By providing enabling tech company-wide, the complications of divisional budgets, manager discretion, and indeed the requirement for individuals to highlight their requirements, are removed. The meeting also provided a reminder that disabilities aren’t nine to five and that supporting employees and their families with disabilities outside of work is all part of the mix. 

With our own EDI Group, I’m delighted to say that over the coming weeks our partnership with assistive technology experts Everyway (formally Texthelp) will provide their Read&Write  software to all our teams, their families, and our participants. With thousands of potential users, this represents a significant investment by Ingeus and takes our use of supportive technology to a new level, building on our existing tools including ReciteMe. 

Read&Write supports anyone who finds everyday literacy tasks a challenge, or indeed anyone who wants to change-up their handling of digital text. We all have different working styles and Read&Write can cater for everyone’s individual preferences, not exclusively those with diagnosed conditions. It provides a screen reader,dictation abilities, voice notes, spelling and grammar checks, and visual adaptations to support ease of reading. I for one sit for too much of the day and will benefit from standing and listening or dictating. So, here I prove my own point, diversity initiatives can benefit everyone – that’s true inclusion at work. 

I’m pleased we’ve been able to act on lessons learnt from Geneva and I’m also keen to offset current headlines with positive conversations around EDI. Having recently spoken on a Neurodiversity Celebration Week forum with more than 120,000 registrations I’m confident that this conversation is going from strength to strength. The more closely Ingeus represents the communities we serve, the better we will become at supporting our participants, changing their lives for the better and delivering positive outcomes for the wider economy.