Neurodiversity is the term that refers to the naturally occurring variation in the way our brains work. It is commonly associated with a series of conditions or differences such as dyslexia, ADHD, dyspraxia, autism and others.
This week, we are providing free access to our full Diversity and Inclusion eLearning courses for businesses to improve their D&I training for all employees during National Inclusion Week 2022, which takes place from 26th September to 2nd October 2022.
In support of the awareness week, led by membership organisation Inclusive Employers, the 15 training courses created for all employees and managers will be available for free for 7 days, and include:
- Promoting Diversity and Inclusion
- Disability Inclusion
- Implementing Reasonable Adjustments
- Introduction to UK Equality Legislation for Managers
The need to educate on diversity is made clear by Google search data which shows online searches for ‘gender pronouns in the workplace’ has risen by 500% over the past three years (April 2020 – April 2022).
There has also been a significant increase in searches for ‘unconscious bias at work’ of 58% during the same period.
‘Bullying, harassment and discrimination at work’ searches grew dramatically by three-fifths (62.5%), ‘disability discrimination at work’ searches increased by half (51.25%), ‘racial discrimination at work’ searches rose by 40.3%, and ‘age discrimination at work’ searches grew by almost a third (30.6%).
Darren Hockley, Managing Director at DeltaNet International, said:
“We must educate employees at all levels to be more aware of unconscious bias to help change viewpoints and build an inclusive culture. Therefore, businesses cannot underestimate the importance of training.
“Training allows organisations to create a compliant culture and educate employees on common issues, from using the correct gender pronouns to treating disabled workers with respect.
“Employee Tribunal Data from WorkNest showed that nearly half of the Employment Tribunal Claims they received during January 2019 and December 2021 included some form of discrimination.
“Disability was the protected characteristic most relied upon by Claimants during this period, and there was a 52% surge in sex-related discrimination claims and a 27% rise in claims related to race between 2021 and 2019.
“Unconscious bias and sexual harassment remain apparent in the workplace, so employees must understand what behaviour is expected of them. Likewise, line managers must learn to manage the situations they may find themselves in dealing with diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace.
“Stamping out discrimination in the workplace is critical for organisations to thrive and enhances their internal creativity and ways of thinking. Research has even shown that diverse businesses are more profitable, but in order to have a happy, diverse workforce, it must be truly inclusive.”
“Our diversity and inclusion online training solutions are up-to-date to be reflective of the current workforce, address issues most commonly seen and take into account the most recent updates to equality legislation.”
DeltaNet International’s courses allow employees and managers to understand the UK equality legislative requirements. This includes gender equality, disability inclusion in the workplace, and addressing sexual harassment.
To access the free courses, sign up here between 26th September and 2nd October 2022, and you will have free access to the platform for seven days.
There are 15 courses in total and each course takes on average 15 minutes to complete.
Around the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, employees will undoubtedly be distracted by looking for the latest bargains offered by retail stores both online and in-store. However, due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic, many employees are most likely to be shopping online. This weekend is also an opportunity for many employees to do their Christmas shopping ahead of time.
Unfortunately, this shopping weekend is a lucrative opportunity for cybercriminals to target shoppers, who may fall into the trap of phishing and social engineering scams. According to Kaspersky, online payment fraud surged by 208% between September and October 2021, with 1,935,905 financial phishing attacks disguised as e-payment systems during October.
With many employees also using company devices for personal use, organisations must remind employees on best practices for staying safe and secure online.
Top tips to advise employees:
1) Remind employees of stringent IT policies
Employees must be reminded to follow stringent IT policies, compliance, and to avoid using company-owned devices for personal purchases. While it can be tempting to keep an eye on bargains whilst working, employees should not be doing this on their work laptops or phones, even during break times.
2) Shop smartly
Tell employees to use only trusted websites to shop and use credit cards for payments over a secure connection – remember to check the website starts with “https://”. Don’t forget to monitor bank accounts for any suspicious activity, so banks can be alerted at once if scammers do manage to infiltrate bank accounts.
3) Be aware of phishing scams
Employees need to watch out for phishing and social engineering scams targeting shoppers with bargain prices – always triple check any URLs before clicking on them by hovering over the link. Support employees with phishing awareness training and check their alertness with our phishing simulation tool to truly understand if employees know how to spot a scam.
4) Remember good password hygiene
When logging into accounts for each online retail store, educate employees to use a solid, unique password for each one. Make sure the password contains a minimum of eight characters, a mix of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and symbols. Good password hygiene will help reduce the likelihood of details being compromised in a data breach.
5) Use added security barriers such as 2FA & MFA
Where possible, teach employees to use two-factor or multi-factor authentication to log into accounts to prevent others from accessing your accounts. If a password has been compromised or cracked by a cyber-criminal, multi-factor authentication requires the hacker to bypass the one-time password, which is usually a code sent via email or text to your number. This second barrier to entry makes it harder for hackers to get it and make purchases on the account.
6) Don’t fall for gimmicks
Employees must remain cautious of ads and prize contests, (which are rife during this period) looking to pull and sell consumer information to third parties. Remind them to not click on anything they don’t trust and appears too good to be true. If in doubt, always check the URL domain.
7) Finally, don’t forget overall device security
It’s vital to keep security updated on all devices, including laptops, tablets and smartphones. Remind employees to use anti-virus software and backup all files. With IT vulnerabilities constantly appearing, employees must continuously update their devices when prompted or told by IT.
Get in touch today to talk to us about how our collection of Information Security Courses can help prevent your employees from being scammed around the holidays and further strengthen your organisation’s cybersecurity risk.
DeltaNet International, a global eLearning provider of compliance, health and safety and performance training solutions, has today announced the growth of its business through the integration of Cylix Limited, which was recently acquired by parent company Marlowe plc. Following this expansion, DeltaNet International will also be aligned into Marlowe plc’s new WorkNest brand.
Cylix Limited, an eLearning software platform based in Bath, was acquired earlier this year with a total enterprise value of £1m. It provides accredited equality, diversity, wellbeing and health and safety eLearning courses to organisations within the UK.
From today, Cylix customers will have an opportunity to access an expanded library of 200+ compliance, health and safety and performance courses, in addition to fresh content in different formats to help them re-invigorate training, keeping learners engaged. Cylix brings strong expertise working with various sectors, such as education and public sector organisations, including the University of Oxford, University of Edinburgh and LSE.
WorkNest is a collective of employment law, HR and health and safety support services, comprising specialist companies within Marlowe plc. The integration strengthens DeltaNet’s offering, as the leader of Marlowe plc’s eLearning platform, within the WorkNest brand. DeltaNet will continue to retain its autonomous position within this group, and the investment of the collective will further drive the organisation’s growth in specialist eLearning.
Darren Hockley, Managing Director at DeltaNet International, said, “We are very excited to welcome Cylix into the DeltaNet family. Both organisations share a strong commitment to delivering quality eLearning courses and providing first-class customer service. The array of talent and the 150+ years of industry expertise joining the DeltaNet team will enhance our skills to continue furthering our growth and providing courses which matter to our customers.”
Steven Price, Managing Director and Owner at Cylix Limited, commented, “Our customers can continue their exciting journey with us through DeltaNet’s state-of-the-art eLearning Platform, Astute LXP, and a wider collection of courseware, whilst retaining access to our current high-quality content. Since our acquisition by Marlowe earlier this year, it is clear that we share the same vision to strengthen the quality of courses and support to organisations looking for compliance, health and safety, diversity and wellbeing eLearning.”
According to Verizon’s latest report, 36% of breaches involved phishing attacks, an increase of 11% in comparison to the previous year. Due to the pandemic and more employees working remotely, cyberattackers have used this to increase their phishing campaigns to organisations and their employees. All it takes is for one employee to click on a link in a phishing email for them or the organisation to fall victim.
That is why organisations must support their employees with cybersecurity awareness training and helping their employees understand cybersecurity foundations such as how to spot a phishing email. In this blog, we share some top tips on how your employees can spot a phishing email, helping to strengthen your organisation with its cybersecurity strategy.
1 – Check the email address of the sender
If you spot an email and the display name looks familiar or from a brand you trust, it doesn’t mean it is them. Be sure to check the actual email address is from a trusted sender. Phishing scams impersonate a person or a company you trust, e.g., TV licence phishing, Amazon phishing or more recently Covid-related phishing.
Sometimes a phishing email may come from an address such as [email protected] or [email protected] – trusted senders would not send it from a generic email such as Hotmail, Gmail or Yahoo!, instead a verified email would be from their domain name. In the second instance, having a domain name that looks similar, but is slightly misspelt, is another way of fooling you into believing they are a trusted source.
2 – Detect spelling and grammar errors
While this may sound strange, spam emails often have spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. Cyberattackers really aren’t worried if their spelling or grammar is correct.
Read the email thoroughly and be suspicious of any errors. If the email is poorly written, then it’s not from the company they are impersonating. If in doubt, always forward the email to your IT team. But NEVER follow through on the actions requested in the email.
3 – Beware of how the email sender greets you
Is the email greeting impersonal? E.g. Dear reader, Hello Sir/Madam. Or perhaps it fails to recognise your name entirely, e.g., Hi [first name]?
If a trusted source is emailing you, e.g. your bank, they will address you personally. Don’t fall for the trick, mark the email as spam and delete the email. Even better, forward it to your IT team, so they can warn everyone in your organisation of phishing scams targeting your organisation.
4 – Do not share personal information
Are you asked for personal information such as your bank details or security details? Remember, genuine companies such as your bank will NEVER ask you to confirm that over email. They already know that information. Don’t share anything.
5 – Do not click on suspicious links or attachments
Cyberattackers love luring in their victims through links, for example, “validate your email address or account”. Always hover over a link to check the linking URL, if it looks suspicious or doesn’t link to what the rest of the email says – don’t click on it! The same goes for attachments, if you’re not expecting an email with an attachment and if the email is out of context – then don’t open it!
Phishing emails are there to incite curiosity or panic to get hold of a vulnerable employee who will open your organisation to the cyberattacker. It’s important to continuously remind and educate staff throughout the year with phishing training and other cybersecurity awareness training to ensure everyone stays alert on what to look out for, so they don’t get caught.
Organisations can use a phishing simulator tool to increase the security awareness of their employees. By regularly testing employees, organisations can ensure they remain alert, asking themselves if an email is legitimate or spam. Using this technique also helps L&D and security teams understand who in the organisation might need some extra training or support.
In July 2020, an undercover report found workers in Leicester making clothes for online fashion retailer Boohoo being paid as little as £3.50 an hour. Later in December 2020, the Guardian published another article alleging that Boohoo was selling clothes made in a factory in Pakistan where workers were earning as little as 29 pence an hour.
Figures from last year reveal that almost 30 modern slavery victims were found every day in the UK last year. Latest estimates from the International Labour Organization also show that modern slavery and forced labour affects almost 25 million people worldwide.
With the increase in public awareness, there is growing pressure on UK-based retailers from investors to comply with modern slavery laws. Remaining diligent about ethical supply chain practices will set retailers in good stead, both ethically and legislatively speaking.
Performing due diligence is also best practice when it comes to protecting your brand and meeting customer requirements – after all, being linked to human trafficking and labour exploitation is extremely damaging to the credibility of any retailer, and rightfully so.
So how can retail businesses ensure ethical supply chain practices? Here are five Modern Slavery controls all retailers ought to practice.
Make a commitment
All large companies with an annual turnover of £36m or more are required to publish annual statements on what they are doing to tackle forced labour in their operations and supply chains under the 2015 Modern Slavery Act. However, it’s still important for smaller retailers to make a strong commitment against modern slavery.
Assigning board level responsibility for these best practice policies and laying out what the company wants to achieve in preventing modern slavery will help retailers take meaningful action.
Establish good recruitment practices
Experience shows that the recruitment stage is often where workers are most at risk from modern slavery exploitation, especially where third party labour recruiters are involved, and even more so where workers are migrant. Therefore, retailers must pay particular attention to the recruitment process.
Ensure you establish due diligence checks when appointing labour providers and develop a written policy stating that the cost of recruitment is a business cost, not to be passed onto workers.
Good record-keeping and monitoring
Ensure you establish checks of workers’ home addresses and check occupancy figures here (those held in modern slavery are often housed in overcrowded, cramped conditions). Migrant workers should have access to their passports and companies should check bank accounts to identify wages aren’t being collected by one account.
Team leaders/supervisors should be comfortable monitoring, recording, and reporting any concerning signs in the physical wellbeing of employees, e.g., bad hygiene, extreme fatigue, or malnourishment. They should feel comfortable approaching workers informally to discuss any issues.
Assess where your greatest risks are (then act to tackle them)
Draw up an initial high-level assessment of your supply chain, including direct and indirect suppliers, labour providers and contractors to identify low, medium and high-risk suppliers (consider, for example, using self-assessment questionnaires to gather information from potential suppliers).
Based on your available resources, take immediate steps to reduce the risk of any high-risk suppliers, e.g., by requiring them to establish grievance or whistleblowing procedures. Ensure you develop channels for gathering and managing any future risk information.
Train staff
Most employees are not even aware that modern slavery is an issue – that’s why training must start by raising awareness on the subject and presenting facts/figures on the severity of modern slavery in the UK and around the globe.
As well as training managers/supervisors on particular red flags to look out for in employees and how to raise and report these issues, employees across the board will benefit from awareness training which provides the tools and knowledge they need to identify and report concerns about modern slavery.
How can we help?
Increasing the levels of transparency and awareness are paramount when it comes to complying with modern slavery laws. Retail businesses can use awareness training to empower employees to spot the red flags of modern slavery and educate them about its prevalence and the areas it’s more likely to take place.
Find out how DeltaNet International can help with our range of Modern Slavery eLearning courses.
