Tag Archives: Inclusivity

Business, Business News

Leading with inclusion: Women pioneering change at Hospital Innovations

Hospital Innovations, a leading UK medical supply company, is set to mark International Women’s Day on March 8th, 2024, by reaffirming its commitment to the theme of #InspireInclusion

At the helm of this initiative are Sarah Lister-Sims, Kate Fisher, and Rachel McClure, leaders within the Pontyclun-based organisation, which boasts a leadership team where women hold 50% of key positions.

Sarah Lister-Sims, serving as Managing Director since 2008, has been instrumental in shaping the company’s trajectory within the UK Human Tissue market. Drawing from her extensive experience across various male-dominated industries, Sarah champions ethical practices and gender parity within Hospital Innovations and the broader industry landscape.

Sarah said: “I have spent my whole career in male dominated industries – retail, oil and gas, and blow mould manufacturing, prior to medical. I have personally experienced bias and the focus on obstacles, not just for women, but also for young people, especially young females.

“It is important to encourage each other and to be proud of being ambitious. As we experience success, we have a duty to be part of the solution and not just point out obstacles or other women’s shortfalls.

“Here at Hospital Innovations, we have an equal opportunity policy which I am proud to say is alive and well.  Both men and women are empowered and encourage each other. There is no bias to getting hired or being promoted, as we evidence. I am proud of our inclusive work culture that finds solutions for the challenges that women experience whilst working.

“Our senior men recognise the female talent pipeline as much as we do; and together we are able to celebrate our differences, working together in a stronger fashion. Our male colleagues act as champions to help women advance and succeed. I really believe that they agree women should not be the exception in any decision-making process; hence the 50/50 ratio that we have.”

Kate Fisher, appointed Operations Manager in 2020, oversees the functioning of supply chain operations across multiple sites, ensuring efficiency and adherence to regulatory standards. With a strong commitment to ethical conduct and operational excellence, Kate plays a pivotal role in maintaining Hospital Innovations’ reputation for reliability and quality service delivery.

Kate stated: “I’m fortunate to have a fantastic team at each of our supply chain sites, who represent a mix of not only genders, but also ages and ethnicities. We are proud to celebrate diversity within our modern-day workforce.

“I’m confident in the knowledge and experience that I bring to my role but welcome ideas and suggestions from my team to improve the processes we perform and the service that we offer to our customers. I strongly believe that a diverse team is integral to the generation of new ideas, across a mix of different strengths and views.

“I have two young daughters and hope to inspire them and to show them that they can follow whatever career path they choose in the future”.

Rachel McClure, serving as Medical Education Manager, brings over two decades of experience to her role, advocating for education and inclusivity within the orthopaedic sector. In her role, Rachel is responsible for enhancing medical education initiatives, facilitating knowledge sharing, and promoting best practices in the field of Human Tissue allograft.

Rachel remarked: “I have been passionate about IWD and their work for many years. I believe in inspiring inclusion by leading as an example. It’s up to all of us to break down gender bias and encourage those around us to fulfil their potential.

“I’ve witnessed firsthand the transformative power of inclusivity, and I’m committed to playing my part in driving positive change. By championing diversity and equality in my actions and leadership, I hope to inspire others to join me in the journey towards a more inclusive and equitable workforce.”

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. It is observed annually on March 8th and serves as a call to action for accelerating gender parity and promoting women’s rights worldwide. IWD has been celebrated for over a century and is recognised as a significant occasion to raise awareness about gender equality issues, celebrate women’s accomplishments, and advocate for positive change.

About Hospital Innovations:

Hospital Innovations is a Human Tissue Authority (HTA) licensed supplier of specialist products, including human tissue and specialist medical instruments, used in orthopaedic and corrective surgeries, working in partnership with five of the world’s leading tissue banks.

Business Research, Diversity & Inclusion, News

A Failure To Consider Language Diversity In EDI Provision Causes Problems For Multinational Firms

Multinational companies are struggling to effectively produce and embed effective equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) focused agendas, according to research from Durham University Business School.

Despite operating on a global basis and pulling in a workforce that spans multiple continents, cultures and languages, multinational companies are often disappointed with the progress they make with regards to EDI management.

According to research by Martyna Śliwa of Durham University Business School, Sylwia Ciuk of Oxford Brookes University, and Anne-Wil Harzing of Middlesex University, the difficulty often stems from having too narrow a focus when it comes to what matters in EDI provision.

Martyna Śliwa says,

“Multinational companies recognise the importance of the EDI agenda, but often struggle to implement it and leverage its strategic potential. Often, their focus lies on a small range of diversity and dimensions which fail to include other important factors, such as language.”

A lack of attention to the management of linguistic diversity is revealed to be of particular concern. Even though language based stereotyping and discrimination are recognised barriers to work and career outcomes for minority individuals and groups, the researchers say too little focus is paid to fostering linguistic diversity and inclusion in such organisations.

Their study seeks to address this by proposing a two-step framework for multinational companies to apply when creating and implementing their EDI agendas.

The first step seeks to change the way multinational companies think about diversity and differences.

Martyna Śliwa says,

“We need to stop viewing diversity and differences primarily in negative terms, or seeing them as challenges to overcome or work around. Instead, viewing diversity in a positive light, and differences as something fluid can allow us to act differently.”

To achieve such a shift, those leading teams or departments within multinational firms must recognise multiple languages and multi-lingual workers as a resource, and question the assumption that the non-dominant languages of the company are somehow inferior.

The second step concerns changing multinational companies’ actions.

Deliberate steps need to be taken to challenge expectations and norms that members of non-dominant groups – those who communicate at work in a foreign language – need to adjust to the dominant group’s way of communicating.

Sylwia Ciuk says,

“Displaying positive attitudes towards language differences and an openness to non-standard language norms, as well as adjusting the communicative behaviour of all members of the organisation are all small, but vital steps to enhance inclusion.”

Reciprocity is key here. Anne-Wil Harzing says,

“Successful interactions between those with different levels of fluency in the language of their interaction should not solely depend on the skills of non-dominant language users. Aside of putting additional pressure on such colleagues, there is a significant danger of miscommunications occurring.”

The framework proposed by the researchers brings considerable practical implications for those operating in human resource management. Though the study displays the framework as a means of linguistic diversity in particular, the researchers state the framework can be applied to any other area of the EDI discussion.

The study has been published, and is available to read via the Human Resource Management Journal.