Everyone has the right to be safe and respected at work. But this does not always happen. Following the release of our story-based harassment course, VinciWorks has released a new diversity course, Diversity and Inclusion at Work: MyStory. This training sheds light on stories of discrimination all too frequently experienced by people in the workplace.
MyStory raises awareness of the prevalence and impact of discrimination. It is designed to bring to life the real impact of equality and diversity through storytelling. The user is presented with a series of short, hard-hitting personal accounts of diversity-related discrimination at work.
Course outcomes
- Understand what constitutes diversity discrimination.
- Develop an emotional, empathetic connection to the stories in the course.
- Help users understand the culture of their workplace when it comes to diversity and equality.
- Learn hard-hitting facts and statistics about diversity.
Main course features
The course features four main sections: Experience, Explore, Share, and Laws and policies. These four sections were designed to raise awareness and make the course a personal experience for the user. Further, users can easily switch between the sections and complete the course at their own pace.
Experience
In Experience, the user is presented with a series of short, sharp and hard hitting personal accounts of diversity-related discrimination at work. While these are fictional accounts, they are drawn from the very real, all too common workplace experiences that at least half of all employees will go through in their working lives. After each story, users are asked one simple question about the subject, such as what percentage of UK companies have a policy that openly welcomes transgender job applicants. This anchors the stories to their real-world context. The stories are all narrated by professional voice actors, giving a powerful impact to the story.
Explore
Here, users can scroll through and explore the resources, articles and videos relating to a range of diversity issues such as gender inequality, racial discrimination and sexual discrimination. It’s crucial for people who are undertaking diversity training to be conscious of the real world context of discrimination and the effect that it can have on individuals. By bringing some of this tailored, curated content directly to the user, it helps them feel part of the tide of global change.
Share
In Share, users are offered the opportunity to anonymously and securely share their personal story, and, separately, can agree for what they share to be used in future versions of the course. VinciWorks first introduced this feature to our award-shortlisted course, Harassment and Bullying at Work: MyStory. The idea of allowing users to share their own stories was inspired by the #MeToo movement, which encouraged people around the world to take the brave step to openly and publicly share their personal experience. We wanted to give users the opportunity to share, but without the added complexity and pressure of having to do so publicly, which not everyone can or wants to do. By offering the option to have their experiences included (anonymously) in future versions of the course, users feel their contribution can help others in the future.
The “seek help” function
We have included a Seek Help tab at the bottom of every menu. This tab is always available no matter where someone is in the course.
The tab can have the following functions:
- Links to various local organisations and helplines which can assist someone who has experienced any of the issues covered in the course, from getting advice about being discriminated against at work to reporting a crime
- Can be customised to include a direct link to your company’s harassment and discrimination reporting system
- For businesses who don’t have their own reporting systems in place, VinciWorks provides an OmniTrack diversity and harassment reporting register to help you track and deal with complaints
Laws and Policies – compliance with the UK Equality Act 2010
Diversity and Inclusion at Work: MyStory also includes a section covering the aspects of the UK Equality Act 2010 relating to diversity and inclusion at work.
The sections covers:
- Protected characteristics
- Discrimination
- Hate crimes
- Internal policies
