What does good ED&I really look like? A judge's perspective
What does good ED&I really look like? A judge's perspective
Nominations for this year's North East Contact Centre Awards open on 1 June. Ahead of that, judge David Wilkinson shares what genuinely inclusive organisations look like from the inside and what the strongest submissions always get right.
Nearly 25 years in customer service and financial services teaches you a lot. Navigating that career with a physical disability that has evolved over time teaches you something different entirely. It teaches you the gap between policy and lived experience, and how wide that gap can still be, even in organisations that genuinely mean well.
I've watched approaches to ED&I change significantly over that time. The Equality Act 2010 was a real step forward. But legislation doesn't automatically translate into culture, and too many disabled professionals still find themselves in workplaces that are cautious rather than confident, compliant on paper, but not truly inclusive in practice.
That gap has real business consequences, and it's one reason ED&I features so prominently in the North East Contact Centre Awards. Almost a quarter of working-age adults live with a disability or long-term health condition. The employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people remains persistent. That's a substantial talent pool that too many organisations are, often unintentionally, failing to unlock.
What I look for as a judge
When I'm assessing a submission, I'm looking well beyond values statements and headline metrics. The organisations that stand out aren't necessarily the ones with the most polished ED&I programmes; they're the ones where inclusion is clearly embedded in how the business actually operates.
Reasonable adjustments are fundamental, and I look carefully at how organisations approach them. But strong ED&I leadership goes further than compliance. I want to see evidence of external partnerships with disability and inclusion organisations, genuine contribution to wider conversations on equity and access, and critically, whether ED&I is driven from the top as a strategic priority rather than managed quietly in the background.
Employee resource groups are a good indicator here. Are ERGs (employee-led groups that bring together colleagues with shared experiences or characteristics) being used as a real platform to surface lived experience and generate insight? And are they visibly supported, with that insight feeding into actual decision-making? There's a meaningful difference between an ERG that exists and one that has influence.
Culture is the thing that can't be faked
Processes matter, but the strongest submissions I've seen all have something in common: you can feel the culture behind them.
A genuinely inclusive organisation is one where conversations about disability are normal. Not managed behind closed doors, not handled carefully on a case-by-case basis, but openly discussed by leaders, by peers, by teams. Reasonable adjustments can't happen without conversation, but the more important question is whether disabled colleagues feel safe and trusted enough to start those conversations, and whether leaders feel confident enough to initiate them.
That kind of environment doesn't happen by accident. It's intentional. And it's that culture, honest, respectful, genuinely curious, that allows organisations to attract, unlock and retain disabled talent over the long term.
What the best submissions get right
After judging a number of award cycles, the pattern is consistent. The strongest entries are clear not just on what they've done, but why it matters to the business. They bring policy to life through real examples of impact. And they don't shy away from acknowledging where things haven't gone perfectly.
That last point matters more than people realise. Meaningful inclusion requires honesty, and conversations about disability won't always be comfortable. But it's precisely by leaning into those moments, asking difficult questions, listening openly, and being willing to learn that organisations move beyond compliance and towards something more lasting. Progress rarely comes from getting everything right the first time. It comes from building an environment where learning and improvement are not just accepted, but expected.
If your organisation is considering a nomination this year, particularly in categories where ED&I plays a central role, ask yourself honestly: can you point to the culture, not just the policy? That's where the best submissions begin.
