Building a culture of Inclusive Behaviours at Essity UK & RoI

Essity is a leading global hygiene and health company that is breaking barriers to well-being. Belong at Work started working with Essity UK & RoI in 2021 to explore and analyse colleague feedback about inclusive behaviours at work. Following a series of colleague discussions, we worked with the UK & RoI Country Management Team to agree a learning programme to build a stronger culture of inclusion.

The approach

Belong at Work designed a half-day workshop that was piloted with members of the DE & I Advisory Group. The interactive session covered the Good, Bad and Ugly of behaviours. We learnt about a case study of neurodivergence in the workplace and explored different examples of microaggressions. Vitally, the programme was centred in change and focussed on challenging negative behaviours. Essity followed the Belong at Work mantra it starts from the top, but don’t forget the middle. Following a face to face roll out to the leadership teams in Spring of 2022, line managers attended virtual sessions. This approach enabled leaders to encourage attendance and engagement with the topic. Increasingly as the programme rolled out, colleagues turned up saying that they were seeing changes in the workplace. People were noticing more inclusive behaviours and could share examples of negative behaviours being called out and challenged. We are now working together to train up internal facilitators to ensure the programme can be delivered to all colleagues. Importantly, Essity appreciated the Belong at Work mantra you don’t change culture in a one-day workshop. The programme was supported by several wider actions and a robust DE & I strategic plan.

Impact

We had a phenomenal response and more than half of attendees gave this workshop the maximum 5/5 rating, with an average score of 4.5. Some examples of the great feedback received are shown below:

“I now have a clearer understanding of the topic and am more aware and more confident on how I could handle if I found myself in this situation or witnessed this taking place.”

“On reflection I need to alter how I deal with these types of incidents, taking no action is not an acceptable outcome.”

“Emma clearly knows the subject matter and this was demonstrated throughout the course.”

“A fantastic trainer on a really interesting & beneficial topic.”

“I hope all Essity colleagues will be attending and completing this workshop.”

“A great course, very well delivered. I found it very insightful and got a lot out of it. I would strongly encourage all Essity colleagues to undertake this training.”

Client comments

“Emma brought vast insight and practical support in developing this workshop on inclusive behaviours to deliver a purposeful education programme to the organisation’s leaders. There was strong collaboration and it has been a pleasure working with Emma, from helping shape those initial briefs to crystallising the roll out approach to the wider organisation. All in all, embarking with Emma on this initial education programme has made such a positive contribution to our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion journey.” - Louisa Oliveira, HR Director, UK & RoI

“Emma has created and delivered an impactful workshop for our leaders to gain an understanding on the topic of microaggressions, and really allow them to become ‘challengers’, so we drive an inclusive culture across our organisation. I am looking forward to continuing working with Emma as we set up an internal facilitation network to ensure we deliver this topic and workshop to all our colleagues across the UK & RoI.” - Mark Young, Learning & Development Manager, UK & RoI