Navigating the Corporate Landscape of Diversity and Mental Health

Join us as we journey into the world of corporate diversity and inclusion with our esteemed guest, Nasir Ahmed; an inspiring leader who engraves his footprint as the current chair of Atos' Adapt Employee Network for Persons with Disabilities. Prepare to be enlightened as Nasir pulls back the curtain on his experiences, providing an insider's perspective on promoting inclusivity and mental health recognition in the workplace. 

Nasir narrative is a testament to real-life progression, as he navigates us through his growth at Atos, from his tenure in the Global Digital Workplace Practice to the Social Value Team. He lays bare the crucial role of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) in maintaining continuity and fostering growth within organizations. Nasir invaluable insights emphasize the significance of maintaining an inclusive environment, ensuring an equal voice for all, and addressing mental health issues among employees, all of which, he argues, are core contributors to business success. So, join us for this eye-opening conversation that promises to change the way you view diversity, inclusivity, and mental health in the workplace.

Chapters

• 0:02 ATOS ADAPT's Impact and Initiatives
• 16:33 Accessibility and Inclusion in Organizations
• 23:14 Maintaining Continuity and Growth in Organizations

Transcript

0:00

AXSCHAT Nazir Ahmed

NEIL: 0:02

Hello and welcome to Axschat. I am actually really proud to welcome Naz Ahmed to Axschat today, multiple reasons why I'm proud to welcome NAS. Firstly, because he's the current Chair of Adapt, which is the ATOS ERG, or employee network for persons with disabilities, their families and allies, which, back in the cretaceous period, I co-founded and so, and I remain a sponsor but also because Naz and I have a history going back including mentoring and being my mentee. So, I'm super proud of Naz. And Naz has done a number of really interesting roles in ATOS. So, Naz, welcome to Axschat. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what you're doing and then we can talk about Adapt as well?

NAZ: 1:01

Sure. Thanks Neil and thanks everyone for having me on here, it's a pleasure to be here. So, in terms of a little bit about me. So, yes, I've been at ATOS about three years now. And as soon as I joined ATOS, I joined like the Adapt network and obviously started the beginning of a great mentoring relationship with yourself, Neil. But, in terms of like the roles I've held, so, firstly, it was within our global digital workplace practice as mainly a product manager, looking after our accessibility as a service offering, as well as developing our employee experience offering, with a focus a little bit more on the employee wellbeing side of things because I've always been you know, really passionate about making people feel included and welcomed within organisations and making them feel supported. So, helped to build that out a little bit. And then for a year, I worked in our social value team in the UK, where I helped develop a number of propositions to do with wellbeing and disability inclusion that we can position as part of our work that we do with our clients, in the public sector. So, things like looking at recruitment partners for example, that recruit people with disabilities into tech, to try and provide more of diverse work force servicing our clients. So, I was doing that for a year and now I am back within the digital workplace practice, as an employee experience consultant and it almost feels like I am kind of tying all of those pieces together now and taking all of my experiences and learnings to our clients to help them deliver an enhanced employee experience through the use of like technologies and a good strategy. So yes, that's a little bit about me.

NEIL: 3:04

Thank you. And I think that for those that are listening to this, from outside of the UK, the social value is a particular framework created by the UK government looking at how, when they procure services and products, there are benefits for society. So, there is a particular construct around this, in a way of measuring this. But broadly speaking, it's around sort of you know, how are you going to use your technology for good. How are you going to use your procurement power for good. What outcomes for society are going to be delivered, if we give, if we the government give you this contract. So, I think it's a really interesting framework. Lots of governments have similar approaches through different lenses. So, I know in the US, you know, there is a requirement to employee veterans and people with disabilities and quotas and so on and likewise, in France and other places. But, in particular, in the UK there was a very specific framework and that's where, just explaining what the social value team is in the UK. Debra, I know you have got a question?

DEBRA: 4:17

Well, first of all thanks for being on here, Naz, I've been watching your career for a long time and you really do have a great background. And your career, sort of gives me hope because I know we talk about the employee experience, we talk about it. We talk about it. We just seem to talk about it but not do anything about it. So, it actually gives me hope to see what you're doing for ATOS. And I know ATOS is trying to be progressive and innovative and inclusive. I personally appreciate that. Not once again, I am not saying they are perfect, I don't think anybody is but I'm really interested in what you're doing and like you said and you're pulling all of the pieces of your history together. And at the time when, you know, we are telling corporations you better include us. You better do this, you better do that, you better, better, better. At the same time, there is such confusion and you know, scares, this is a scary time for a lot of people. You know, how do you make sure you're going to be viable for the future. Just everything during this intensity is so much more difficult. So, one thing, I think are the smart brands and I think brands need to get real smart but the brands that I think are being a little bit more clever, a little bit more smart, are actually giving a crap about their employees and so, I love the work that you are doing and how you understand all the moving parts because, if you want to care about my employee experience, care about me as a person and my, for example, just me, I have diverse backgrounds, diverse lived experiences, as do everybody else. So, I also have been tracking a lot of work, for example, Paul Pulman does, where he's talking about the, you know, just what is happening, the expectations that employees have of the companies that they work for. And the quiet quitting, the conscious quitting, all this different stuff, it feels like your job has become so important now, more important than ever before because of everything that is happening. And so, I was just curious if you were seeing that the same way. I also want to thank you for being the Adapt Group because I really appreciate anybody that's joining those kinds of resource groups because I believe we should come out and be open about our lived experiences. So, I am just very impressed. But I was curious if that angle is coming into the work that you're doing.

NAZ: 7:03

Yes, definitely, when I started becoming interested in this area and I hate to drop the C bomb on this Podcast, but it was during COVID, when working patterns shifted and there was a lot of discontent with the ways things worked and obviously, we had a new generation entering the work force with new needs and expectations and all of those things. And I think that is starting to reflect in some of the challenges that our, you know clients and you know, across industry employers are having. So, people look for ethical employers. People look for employers that you know put things like accessibility first and on the agenda and they want to be looked after by their employer as well. So, I mean all of those challenges and things are rising to the top. But for us, it presents us with loads of opportunities to really make a great impact and make, you know, everyone spends quite a significant proportion of their life at work and for me, it's about making that an enjoyable and purposeful experience for everyone.

ANTONIO: 8:20

So, Naz, can you resume some of the work that ATOS Adapt has been doing?

NAZIR: 8:27

Yes, sure. So, since I joined ATOS Adapt, well, ATOS at the same time, to be honest because as I said, I just jumped in straight away because it seemed like such a welcoming community, everyone is really down to Earth and yes, it was just really sort of supportive. So, in terms of some of the things that we do, includes our sort of Flagship Initiative if you will, of the Adapt round table talks. So, I think one thing for us, as kind of a strategic pillar for us is to educate. So, through the Adapt round table talks, we provide a platform for colleagues to open up about their experiences of physical and mental health conditions. Neurodiverse conditions or, you know, any other sort of disabilities or long-term health conditions. And talk about it freely in an open space in terms of you know, how their condition affects them personally and in their work life. What can colleagues do to you know, enable further inclusion. Just like simple things around like language and things like that as well. So, tips are often shared. People come away, you know, with renewed insight on various different conditions. So that, I think we have been running it for like almost two years now and in total, we have had over 40 presenters. One of them being our very own Neil Milliken, on the call right now. His presentation on ADHD Awareness Month was amazing and really well attended. And we have had, you know, I think over two thousand people in attendance cumulatively. So, it's had a lot of impact and that's also led to you know, people just joining the network. So, the membership of the network has sort of doubled over the last year or so. And yes, every day we get new people reaching out. Just like, you know, what are you guys up to and all of those things. So, that was one of the things. The other thing we do is around, on other strategic pillars around driving change. So, with all of these sort of initiatives and things, there are learnings that come out of it. But we don't want to stop there and say we have learned something. We want to use those learnings and apply it to something that makes a difference within our organisation. So, we undertake regular research on the employee population through things, through an initiative called Our Think Tank. So, last time, we did one around neurodiversity which assessed you know, people's awareness of neurodiversity and for neurodivergent individuals, if they have adequate opportunities and support to succeed within our organisation. And we took, you know, a number of those learnings and applied it to like our processes and learning and development materials that are available to ensure that you know, we stay inclusive and people can reach their full potential at ATOS and that's another thing. And then the final one is around creating you know that supportive environment and over the last year or so, we have created a number of support groups to enable peer support. So, for colleagues who may be looking for information or just someone to talk to about something that they are going through. We have got private spaces set up for that. So, we have got a group for people on the autistic spectrum. We have got people undergoing cancer diagnosis just to name a couple there. But we have got a number of other spaces there as well. So, that's a little flavour of some of the things we do and then alongside that, we have got book clubs, TV clubs and all of those you know nice little things where there are opportunities to get together and talk about different subjects and stuff like that.

NEIL: 12:34

And I think that you know, you are doing a great job there but it's part of a community and so we need to shelf out of the community. But, Adapt has had some great employee leaders over the years, starting with Sarah Brooks and then James Easter and Stuart Patrick taking on the mantle and each time, each generation of leaders through the network has driven significant and systemic changes within our organisation. It started in the UK and Ireland, but it's becoming more and more global. And I think we need to give a shout out to those, you know, in the network now who contributed to the fact that it's a network that is recognised for its work. So, you have been nominated for multiple awards and we are bragging now but Adapt has been nominated for Employee Disaability Network of the year in the European Awards, Diversity Awards. I think this is super. I can't claim any of the credit. It's all yours and Samir here and Jay's and all of the wider team including Kat, and I am going to name drop and forget some and I'll be chastised later, no doubt. But I think it's that collective effort and I think the other guiding principle of the network was that it wasn't an HR initiative. So, it's been, always been employee led. It's always been the voice of employees in the network and allowing employees to be those leaders and we have always had executive sponsors that have been there to listen and support. And so, we also need to give kudos to those, over the years that have supported from the Executive. So, people like Jane Buggy, people like Nicky Kelly and people like Rusho Guiano and I am going to forget more people and I'm going to be in deep, deep trouble. We have got Rick Robos, currently. So, these are an amazing down of people and oh my goodness I almost forgot Trudy, because Trudy is absolutely walking the talk. So, maybe you will get to meet Trudy Fountain James later because she has got an entire story. Plus, on top of that, our CEOs have always engaged with Adapt. And I think that this has been a really important thing. So, it's great that you're doing all of this work. I'm not taking the credit for it at all. But I'm very proud of what you're doing and I think it's a credit to the organisation that they have given employees the latitude to do it. So, Debra I know you had a question. I did want to sort of heap some praise and thank the other people that I didn't invite on but I got so excited when I saw Naz' news and said, you got to come on now and do an Axschat. So, I want to make sure that they are recognised.

DEBRA: 15:45

And I am sure that that's Nazir might want to himself. So, I will ask you a question that allows you do that Nazir. Because you all bring up a good point when you're talking about the employee resource groups because we talked again once about the employee experience, what you do for a living, Nazir. Well, a big company, I don't well, let me just rephrase that, any company I work for, I would like that company this care about me in some ways. And I would like to hope that they care about me, right. So, one way a company can tell me that it cares about me is by having groups like Adapt with the ESG because that's something that is important to me as an individual. It impacts my life. But at the same time, Nazir, and Neil just mentioned a whole bunch of other people because the reality is, it can't be done along. You cannot do this, just if you have the grass roots want from the employees. It must be coming also from the leaders and it must filter all the way through the entire organisation. Which is why I do appreciate ATOS trying. Once again, I'm not saying anyone is perfect because we don't know what that means in society. But it just seems to me Nazir, that you brought up the big C word, COVID everything changed after COVID. And I am glad, some things needed to change. But, the mental health issues as people, employees, as we talk about employees, are facing right now, we have never seen anything like it. The suicide rates. Just looking at my beautiful country, it's stunning what is happening. Our suicide rates are out of control. And it's all ages. It's really pretty terrifying. So, I just want you to talk a little bit, of you don't mind from the frame, Nazir, about why ATOS even cares about doing this. I think that we've already been talking about it but why does your work matter beyond, I mean we are talking about some of the reasons we love getting awards, we love being recognised, but the work you're doing is actually critical in ways that sometimes I think is really hard to define and just because I think is so important and I believe, that what is happening right now and what employees are experiencing and decisions employees are making, whether or not we work for companies or not, is very, very, very important to the future and so, I was just curious of once again, Neil talked all these different people probably left out some amazing people that helped because there are so many. But why do we do this now, Nazir? Why do we care? Why does ATOS care at all. Why should the other employers care about these topics?

NAZIR: 18:33

I think yes, that's a really good question and I think that from my perspective in terms of why ATOS cares, you know, we have only gotten this far because of, you know, all of the people that came before us and you know, brought up these kinds of opportunities for us. And one of those people is you know, namely, Neil on the call today who founded this network and firmly put accessibility and disability inclusion and things like that on the agenda. But also, the other reason why in general, like ATOS cares and other employers should care, is because we are a large organisation. We are made up of people from all kinds of different backgrounds, different, people who come with different abilities and obviously, with that, you need things in place to make people feel included to be able to reach their potential and yes, that's just like the human side of it, it's like the decent thing to do but the business side of it, obviously with all of those different perspective and experiences. If you allow everyone to have an equal voice to input, you obviously will innovate more. You'll be able to cater to your customers more as well. So, there is that business side to it. Because I think I was reading something around maybe it was from Harvard business review, it was around some research that was carried out, around diverse organisations being a massive percentage points more profitable than those that are not. I can't remember the exact figures. But it was a big increase. And so, and that's, you know, if there is any like, if there is not a reason why you can't think about the human side of it, there is definitely the business benefits. But I think, at ATOS, we care about both.

NEIL: 20:41

Thank you. So, I mean, yes we do. And, absolutely it's a strategic thing and when we talk about it in businessy terms, we talk about these kind of things contributing to our employee value proposition. What is the worth? Why would you come to work for us? Well, it's engagement in activities like these. It's the fact that you do have a voice and that voice is actually recognised and can contribute and can make a difference. And I think that you know that the fact that our network is led by young people and chaired by young people and they are driving change in the organisation and there is definitely an element of reverse mentoring here because I learn from you, you know, as well. And, I know that our Exec do too, because we take them on the journey that that really helps change the organisational culture and I can say that I've been in the organisation, 13 plus years now, which is an awful long time and the culture has changed. It's became a lot more open and people are a lot more willing to talk about how they feel, how that impacts their effectiveness at work and what they need in order to be feeling part of something and engaged and empowered to be their best self at work. And I think not only is that recognised as an employee value proposition but it's also part of now we recognise that we can deliver our learnings to our partners and our customers and so on. And with partners as well. And then I think Debra has a question and Antonio has got a question as well?

DEBRA: 22:37

And to be honest you already answered my question and it's about legacy too. It's about, you had mentioned the people that supported you. But also, some of those people left, former CEOs that supported you. And one thing I have seen before and I don't know if you all would know this, is once you teach those people that at one place and they leave, they take those good learnings with them. So, the legacy that ATOS is creating is so powerful. Take it to the next group. I remember one of the CEOs that left, I don't remember the name, they went and started doing the same thing. So, that's what is beautiful. But over to you, Antonio?

ANTONIO: 23:15

We have been talking that on legacy, but I think an important aspect that we need to talk about is about continuity and I know organisations hire people every day, junior, senior. So, how can we make, so how do you need to do to make sure that when we on board new executives and new more younger people to the organisation, we keep growing and we don't somehow lose some of our wins. Because sometimes it can happen that you know that an executive that was sponsoring us leaves and goes to other part of the organisation and you get somebody completely new that arrive to the organisation and he's just here for five days, for example. So, how can we make this continuity going and in order to succeed?

NEIL: 24:14

That's one for you, Naz. So, how can ERGs contribute to that, I think?

NAZ: 24:20

Okay sure. Yes, I think from my perspective, it's comes down to culture and you know, if, and I think ERGs play a big role in kind in setting that and embodying those behaviours daily. So, having a strong culture that kind of has really strong core values at the centre of it and people undertaking activities to maintain it, that should make it quite, well, obviously, it is challenging with like changes in leadership and things like that, for the culture to change. But I think if the culture is strong enough, anyone new should be able to come in and sort of soak all of that up and embody it themselves. So, I think a large part of it is, you know highlighting some of these successes, showing why it's, you know, a good thing and that should generally sort of convince people that actually this is a great thing for us to kind of focus on and continue doing. Neil, I don't know if you had anything to add to that or Debra?

NEIL: 25:33

Yes, I think the fact that you're the third chair of the network, actually says a lot, you know. It's a bit like you know, we talk about the successful transfer of power in democracies that maintains you know, the democratic culture in the country. Well, I think the changing of the guard in employee networks but the continuous, the continuity of that network is really important for demonstrating that it's something that is valued and goes beyond a single person because, sometimes you do get these, you know standout individuals that do amazing things through the force of their own personality. But this demonstrates it's the collective. It's the power of the network that is really important. And you know, we do also need to thank the amazing OG of network ology Kate Nash. Because you know, Purple Space has played in role in helping us with those strategies and continuing to grow that network and strengthen it and build that network resilience as well as personal resilience within the network. So, kudos to Kate because she knows how to run a network and bring people together. So, Naz thank you for coming on at short notice so that we can brag yay, at ATOS Adapt. Go hope we win. Not usually quite this partisan on Axschat. But thank you also to Amazon for sponsoring us and keeping us on Air and MyClearText for helping keep us captioned and accessible.