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We caught up with Damian Kitson, Head of Record to Report at ASDA to catch his thoughts on winning The Employee of The Year Award at The Excellence in Diversity Awards 2015. Here’s what Damian had to say:

When my name was read out on the evening I was shocked and a little scared to have to go up on stage in front of so many fantastic ambassadors. It was a huge honour to win the award, particularly in Mental Health awareness week. I have been open about suffering from Mental Illness earlier in my career and to be able to share the evening with those colleagues, friends and my wife who supported me in getting back to my best, was truly special. It will be an evening I will never forget.

How did you feel about the other shortlisted nominees within your category?

The nominees have achieved some remarkable things. To be considered alongside individuals who have been leading on this subject for over 25 years is very special.

The passion for fairness and equality shines through in all the nominations. Work in the private, public and community sectors just shows that this subject is now far reaching and creating real momentum.

I would like to congratulate all the nominees and thank them for their continued efforts on treating difference fairly. Together we can make a real difference.

Where are you going to go from here with your work?

This award has done two things. It has given me the confidence to know what we are doing is right. It has also been a positive momentum within Asda and will be a real spring board to further drive the difference we are making in the space of Disability, both visible and invisible.

2015 will see our Mental Wellbeing campaign alongside charity SANE, extend across our organisation. We will continue to reach out to build our support for colleagues who suffer in silence due to the stigma of Mental Illness. This is not a specific issue to Asda, but one which is a challenge for society. If as an organisation we lead on this agenda and work to break down the stigma, it will make a huge difference.

What does Diversity & Inclusion mean to you?

I like to look at this very simply. If we all appreciate our individual uniqueness and at the same time allow and appreciate the difference of others, we will create an environment for people to be at their best.

The core value of fairness, if consistently applied, results in inclusion.

Where does this rank within your Diversity & Inclusion achievements?

In the words of Tina Turner, “Simply the Best”. Seriously, I have been lucky to work with people who give up their time to make a huge difference for others. I can honestly say that I haven’t achieved anything by myself, ever. As such, I accepted this award on behalf of the great work the Disability Steering group has delivered in Asda. I am just privileged to be able to chair this forum and guide a fantastic group of colleagues.

What were yours and your colleague’s thoughts on the awards?

The awards were a great opportunity to celebrate the work being done by organisations and individuals across the diversity spectrum. My colleagues who attended were buzzing to be part of the evening and I know have continued to share the experience back in the office.

What has been amazing is the number of people who have congratulated me and Asda. Colleagues that I worked with many years ago have seen the media feeds and contacted me to congratulate and celebrate the award.

We spoke to Pam Walton, Equality & Diversity Co-Ordinator at Gentoo to catch her thoughts after winning The Diverse Company Award for The Housing Sector at The Excellence in Diversity Awards 2015. Here’s what Pam had to say:

We are excited and delighted to win! Very proud that the approach we take and the passion and commitment of our staff had been recognised and rewarded in this way.

How did you feel about the other shortlisted nominees within your category?

The housing sector does so much fantastic work in communities, responding to diverse needs, and much of it is under the radar and doesn’t receive recognition. So it was lovely to hear a little about some of that work which is being done by the other worthy finalists. They should all feel very proud.

Where are you going to go from here with your work?

We certainly won’t be complacent! We’re not stopping! We’ll be continuing with our vision “to improve the art of living beyond imagination”, building on our successes and developing new work. For example, we’re developing some work around domestic abuse in same sex relationships, and also about the decisions and challenges faced by older LGBT people when the time comes for them to consider entering sheltered housing or to need care and support.

What does Diversity & Inclusion mean to Gentoo?

It means celebrating difference and valuing and respecting people as individuals. It is about empowering people to feel safe and comfortable to be themselves and to live life to the maximum of their potential. It’s about living authentic relationships, and increasing awareness and understanding of difference as something to welcome and value. And it’s about each of us doing our bit to help level the playing field by taking personal responsibility to make a difference, to address inequality and prejudice, and help change attitudes.

Where does this rank within your Diversity & Inclusion achievements?

Receiving national recognition is wonderful. For us, we’re particularly proud of this award because we know that the judging was influenced not just by our submission about ourselves, but more importantly by what a variety of third parties had to say about us – our staff and also other external organisations.

What were yours and your colleagues thoughts on the awards?

Awards evening was a great night. Well organised and a great feel and good atmosphere, well hosted by Steph McGovern.

We spoke to Anna Sirmoglou, Diversity & Inclusion Manager at Centro after they successfully won The Diverse Company Award for The Public Sector at The Excellence in Diversity Awards 2015. Here’s what Anna had to say:

We were delighted to find out that Centro won the Diverse Company award for the Public Sector. We were proud of our achievement and appreciative of the recognition of our efforts to improve public transport accessibility for our customers and employment fairness and inclusivity. Winning also confirmed that we are on the right track and gave us additional motivation and drive.  

How did you feel about the other shortlisted nominees within your category?

We were up against high calibre companies with wide ranging remits and great diversity practices and were therefore ecstatic to be chosen as the winner. We are keen to find out more about these companies’ diversity remits and exchange ideas on initiatives and practices that can help us further the equality agenda.

Where are you going to go from here with your work?

We will continue to implement initiatives and practices that can help improve outcomes for employees and customers. We are currently developing a neurodiversity strategy which will improve outcomes for current and future employees. We are also working with disability organisations in the region to develop new accessibility aids that will help people with disabilities get around more easily when using public transport. We have also rolled out a new online equalities training session to all Centro staff.

What does Diversity & Inclusion mean to Centro?

It is about valuing individual differences, creating a positive and fair working environment and providing services that meet everyone’s needs, regardless of their individual circumstances. Creating an inclusive working environment will undoubtedly improve employee relations, productivity and ultimately customer satisfaction. It is the right thing to do, but also makes great business sense.

Where does this rank within your Diversity & Inclusion achievements?

Right up there! We were delighted to have been nominated but winning diverse company of the year for the Public sector made us very proud.

What were yours and your colleague’s thoughts on the awards?

We are glad that these awards exist so that individual and organisational’ efforts are recognised. It is also a great way for people to get an understanding of what is being done to improve inclusion and equality and to highlight the importance of the equality agenda.

We spoke to Jane Hatton, Director of Evenbreak about her feelings after being crowned The Diversity Champion for The Private Sector at The Excellence in Diversity Awards 2015! Here’s what Jane had to say:

I was very surprised and extremely delighted to win this award!

How did you feel about the other shortlisted nominees within your category?

The other shortlisted nominees have done some amazing work, and it was an honour to be counted amongst them.

Where are you going to go from here with your work?

I would like every inclusive employer to advertise their roles on Evenbreak, accessing the amazing talent to be found in the disabled population. Disabled people have so many skills and abilities to offer, and they should enjoy access to the same opportunities in the workplace as the rest of the population.

What does Diversity & Inclusion mean to you?

For me diversity and inclusion mean initially respecting and celebrating all of our differences, and then ensuring that everyone enjoys the same access to jobs, training and promotion in the workplace regardless of those differences.

Where does this rank within your Diversity & Inclusion achievements?

This award was particularly special in showing that disability should not be a forgotten part of diversity and inclusion activities, and that the hard work of the team at Evenbreak and me has been recognised by our peers.

What were you thoughts on the awards, did you enjoy it?

It was a wonderful evening – sharing the room with people devoted to making the world a fairer place was a delightful, positive and humbling experience. A very special and memorable event.

We caught up with Colin Dean, co-founder of Special iApps to catch his response after Winning The Best Diversity Resource Award at The Excellence in Diversity Awards 2015! Here’s what Colin had to say.

We were all totally surprised and really delighted. We didn’t expect to win.

How did you feel about the other shortlisted nominees within your category?

We thought they were very strong contenders; it was great to meet so many inspiring people.

Where are you going to go from here with your work?

This award is perfect timing, because we’re planning to launch our new website and video next month. We’ve been busy working with translators and ensuring our site is easy to navigate on mobile devices. We spent most of last Tuesday (19^th May) doing a video shoot. The award will really help us promote what we do and add to our credibility, as we go on to develop more apps and reach more children.

What does Diversity & Inclusion mean to the Special iApps team?

For us the word inclusion is particularly important. We believe that, where appropriate, children with disabilities should have the opportunity to be included in mainstream schools, so they can grow up alongside other children of their age. In terms of Diversity in the workplace, it is important for us that when children with disabilities grow up, they have the skills to get into work. Learning using our apps now can improve their opportunities later in life.

Where does this rank within your Diversity & Inclusion achievements?

Very high. To be recognised in this country as having resources that contribute to diversity & inclusion is very important to us. We’ve previously been runners up in two international awards, but to actually win the Excellence in Diversity Award is a real honour.

What were you thoughts on the awards?

We did enjoy it, and we thought the team organising it did a wonderful job. Our award was so unexpected, and I hadn’t prepared an acceptance speech, so I forgot to thank the organisers and sponsors.

We were extremely thrilled and extremely humbled to have been firstly nominated and then to have won the category, especially considering the calibre and profile of the competition! The other charities nominated are really excellent organisations who really value their people and their clients. So we were very proud to be amongst the best in the sector.

Where are you going to go from here with your work?

We are an ambitious charity that hopes to make a meaningful difference to many more very disadvantaged people’s lives in the future. This all needs funding to achieve and we hope our unique model, of using highly motivated, well trained and well managed ex-clients as our main frontline paid staff can make a seismic difference to both our clients we strive to serve; but to the wider sector who will also start to see the unique benefit in terms of reach and credibility they bring to engaging successfully with those most disengaged within our society. We want more and more ex clients of charities to actually find paid work within the sector. We feel this generates a huge win-win solution for those often most disadvantaged become genuinely world class at this very specific skill – that of genuinely and meaningfully helping those most disempowered to turn their lives around.

What does Diversity & Inclusion mean to St Giles Trust?

Everything – it’s the cornerstone of all that we believe in. We believe that everyone has the potential to change. That the very best caseworkers, doing the hardest and most complex of work, with the most challenging clients very often may have been there themselves and uniquely know what that client is and will be facing. But through that shared life experience be able to actually help someone up and out and back into mainstream society where they can become positive contributors.

We also feel strongly that everyone, regardless of their background and past, should be able to have equal access to our services. We work with some of the most hard to reach, vulnerable people in society, most of which have let down or turned away from other services. We pride ourselves on giving this group of people a chance.

Where does this rank within your Diversity & Inclusion achievements?

This is like reaching the summit of Everest!

What were yours and your colleague’s thoughts on the awards?

We have a very vibrant group of people working and volunteering here at St Giles Trust. There was a great deal of noise and excitement – for some it was lovely external verification of what we believe in being recognised that was so powerful. But interesting to many others it was already known to them in themselves that we are a wonderfully diverse organisation – and this then no surprise, but still a great thrill, that we might be selected against such a fabulously talented field. I love quotes and I saw this one recently and it made me think this is what life is all about

“A winner is somebody who has given their best effort, who has tried the hardest they possibly can, who has utilized every ounce of energy and strength within them to accomplish something. It doesn’t mean that they accomplished it or failed, it means that they’ve given it their best. That’s a winner.” ― Walter Payton