For the first time, the DIAL Global Summit went in person, after two years of being virtual. The second day of the May event kicked off with a live stream from Royal Mail of Spotlight Talks, featuring sessions with an expert team of speakers.
It kicked off with Mark Hamilton, the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for hate crime, who addressed the physical and virtual audience about tackling hate crime in communities.
Key take aways were around the new initiatives being offered to victims, such as the ability not to have to directly report a crime if they feel unable, with third party groups in the community able to act as advocates. He also stressed that the CPS has gone under specialist training too, enabling them to work more productively alongside victims. He reinforced that victims that come forward will be offered support, they will be taken seriously and their trauma recognised — as well as being offered access points if they want to take cases further.
Read more: Dial Global Summit: Creating a culture of allyship and its power to drive inclusive leadership
Mark poignantly said that “the justice system doesn’t always provide justice”, but well managed it can help provide some value, and empower victims to realise the crime against them was not about them but rather the offender.
He stressed that this applies not just around hate crime but also domestic violence and sexual abuse. The crimes which are personal, he said, are hard to talk about so the more you can walk along side someone and help them the better.
For many people, hate crime is an issue that’s “over there” but it affects everyone. Mark stressed it’s not about limiting your freedom of speech or rights, its about letting everyone in the country go about their lives unmolested. “We all have a right to that. And it’s my duty to help you do that.”
Silke Muenster, the chief diversity officer at Philip Morris International, sat down with Sian Gabbidon to talk about inclusion research she’d been part of in 2021. They addressed the eight key elements of inclusivity — including belonging, fairness, uniqueness, participation, psychological safety and diversity.
The importance of psychological safety (being able to bring tough subjects up without feeling the fear of retribution and allowing people to bring their true selves to work and thrive within teams) was seen as a key factor within PMI after the research showed how much it is valued within teams.
Silke discussed the dilemma of wanting a full picture of inclusivity around PMI, without expecting employees to answer hugely long forms — one concept was simply asking how likely they would be to recommend working for PMI.