Overcoming Unconscious Bias in the Workplace

an Equality in STEM event supporting The Master Cutler’s Challenge 2023

Date Wednesday 6 September 2023

Timings

8.45am Arrival, tea, coffee, networking

9.15am Unconscious Bias Workshop –Introduction & Guiding Principles

9.20am Learn about bias types

9.35am Bias concepts – Intersectionality and microaggressions

9.45am Facilitated groups explore:

• Bias in company cultures

• Bias for senior leaders

• Bias in hiring

• Bias in reviews and promotions

10.35am Review strategies to fight bias

10.45am Commit to One Action

11.00am Finish

Venue Cutlers’ Hall, Sheffield City Centre

7-15 Church St, Sheffield S1 1HG

Price £30 per person + VAT

Who should attend: Anyone working in Science, Engineering, Technology and Construction.

To book, scan here or visit https://equalityinstem.org.uk/ events/overcoming-unconsciousbias-in-the-workplace equalityinstem.org.uk

Equality in STEM is a brand of CQ Strategic Marketing Ltd run in collaboration with Spotlight Studios Ltd.

For this month’s spotlight on a South Yorkshire business, we caught up with the team behind Brightbox – a Barnsley-based company that design community-led ‘makerspaces’ where people can come together, learn, meet role models and access inspirational resources.

What inspired you to start Brightbox, and what are the main values that drive your organisation? After being encouraged by a maths teacher to pursue engineering, I worked hard to get into an engineering uni. Once there, I found the education I got in rural America didn’t match up to my peers who had private tutors and attended schools in more affluent communities. That first year was brutal. Then once I started working in the industry, there were no new ideas and certainly very few people who looked or sounded like me. I even had one boss who referred to me as secretary as the only woman on the team! No person should enter adulthood ‘behind’ because of the community they grew up in. Innovation itself needs to be inclusive in order to create inclusive design, making the world better for everyone.

Valuing lived experience, honouring the creativity that everyone brings to the table, having integrity and always being a learner are the driving forces behind our work.

Imagine a world where social impact and being a good human is measured and held in the same regard we fold finances and cashflows.

Can you describe the different programs and services that you offer, and how they help support people in the community?

Of course. We have 3 core activities: Girls with Drills pop-up makerspaces, employability training for young people and Borrow It. Girls with Drills teaches and encourages girls, women and gender expansive people to use power tools. Whether it be for personal projects, building confidence or exploring a career in the trades, we think everyone should have a go and create a safe and welcoming environment for people to try out power tools. Our employability training has been shaped out of the pandemic where the youth we were working with struggled to find work placements with the world going online. They told us they wanted agency to make decisions for their communities, a better understanding of what jobs are out there for them and some good experiences to add to their CVs. Students can spend 1-18 months with us learning how to use the various tools in our makerspaces, practicing communicating via email and Teams and collaborating across our team and partners to understand the importance of communication and cocreation.

Borrow It is exactly what is says on the tin. Anyone can sign up for a membership and borrow air mattresses, gardening tools, sewing machines and so on to do those projects around the house or try out a new hobby before committing. It saves storage space in homes, money in the bank and junk from the landfill.

Can you share any success stories of young people who have benefited from your programs and services, and how they have been able to use what they’ve learned to achieve their goals?

One young person joined our allotment-based youth group during lockdown. He was what would be classed as a ‘NEET’ having had poor guidance at college and quite disillusioned with his academic experiences. He was also on Universal Credit and quite low in terms of his hope for future prospects.

Our weekly work days at the allotment and one-to-one walks made a huge difference to this young person’s selfconfidence and positive outlook.

We worked with this group of young people giving them complete autonomy to decide what skills they wanted to learn and build on and what projects interested them. As a result, we provided a range of training and activities from CV-building, photography, onsite pizza oven, kitchen build projects and interviewing skills. This young person got the chance to work as our site manager at the allotment. His zest for life seemed renewed and he got involved in various other projects, even winning an award from the Prince’s Trust Charity for one of the projects he was involved in.

How can individuals and organisations support your work and help make a positive impact on the lives of young people in the community?

Sign up for our mailing list is the easiest way to get involved! Becoming a member of Borrow It even if you don’t need the tools, supports our work in community. start at £3/month one cup of the means, about corporate and sponsorship Find out more org.uk