Inclusion at Work Panel: report on improving workplace diversity and inclusion

The ‘Inclusion at Work Panel’ was established in June 2023, under action 69 of the Inclusive Britain plan, to tackle bias, ensure fairness and promote inclusive workplaces.

Made up of leaders from the private and public sector, and advised by a leading Harvard academic, the Panel set out to identify effective and ineffective D&I practice, explaining what works, why, and how. 

The panel assessed the evidence on D&I initiatives from peer-reviewed academic research as well as the latest available survey data on D&I practices in UK workplaces. They found that the benefits of D&I in the workplace are widely accepted and significant resources are committed by organisations in pursuit of inclusion. However, organisations continue to adopt D&I interventions that have been shown to have little or no impact, and in some cases are counterproductive or unlawful.

The Inclusion at Work Panel’s report sets out how employers can do away with ineffective, divisive, and poor quality D&I practices, and instead focus resources on interventions backed by the evidence that represent value for money.

The panel concluded its work in December 2023 with its final report published on 20 March 2024.