2019 Annual Report & Newsletter January 2020

AFBE-UK Chair recognised in Queen’s New Year’s Honours list 2020

Tolulope Osobu is a New Product Introduction Engineer at Johnson Matthey, an associate member of the IChemE (AMIChemE) and a member of the Energy Institute. Tolu studied Chemical Engineering (MEng) at the University of Surrey and worked at Pall Corporation prior to working in her current role. Tolu is a board member of AFBE-UK England and serves as Communications and PR Manager. She is also a keen STEM blogger (www.instemblog.com)

We are delighted to announce that our Co-Founder Dr Nike Folayan has been awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for her contribution to Diversity in Engineering.

Nike is an Associate Director at leading Engineering and Consultancy Firm WSP but is more widely known as the co-founder of AFBE-UK (Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers). AFBE-UK was founded by Nike and her brother Dr Ollie Folayan 12 years ago and; through it there has been tremendous growth in the inclusion of BAME people in Engineering. from companies to engineering institutions and schools, to develop and showcase the engineering talent available within the BME community thereby contributing to the wider engineering talent pool.

Nike is not only a brilliant engineer, she is an influential figure and a great role model for the profession, her recent appointment as a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology attests to this. Beyond AFBE-UK, her leadership is demonstrated though several roles, some of which include her position on the advisory board of prestigious institutions such as the Royal Academy of Engineering, Transport for London to name a few. Nike’s knowledge and expertise is also widely recognised and respected in industry, being regularly consulted to speak at seminars and conferences; some of the notable ones include SMART Technology, Digital Railways, diversity and inclusiveness.

Of the recognition Nike stated,

Nike is one of the leading voices and advocates for more representation of BME engineers in industry and works relentlessly through AFBE-UK to support underrepresented individuals. AFBE-UK has now actively supported over 8500 individuals seeking to work in engineering and engineering related subjects whilst also engaging a mix of communities across the UK ranging This is not just a recognition for me but for the entire AFBE-UK network including individuals and organisations that support our initiatives. We hope that companies and organisations will recognise that there is a real opportunity with AFBE-UK to reach out and connect with underrepresented groups to make our industry more inclusive.

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Creating Genuine Diversity and Inclusion By Catherine Boyd-Maunsell, Head of HR – PSE, FCIPD and Nike Folayan, Chair AFBE-UK

There is a skills shortage in engineering, but women make up only 12% of the workforce and BAME engineers are at 8.3%. In December 2017 writing for CIHT’s transportation professional magazine I provided my honest views on diversity, inclusion and quotas. In my view, the key to improving the statistics on the number of underrepresented groups within engineering lies not in setting largely unattainable quotas/targets but in improving current conditions and the sense of belonging of the individuals employed by organisations while being transparent on progression prospects.

It was therefore a pleasant surprise to find out about PSE from an AFBE colleague working there and how inclusive the organisation is. PSE employs a diverse group of highly skilled individuals mostly with doctorate degrees in engineering for the very specialised skills they bring. Certainly, for the industry to move towards a more inclusive work force a mantra which is often emphasized is “recruiting the best people for the job”. Having heard and seen PSE’s transformational approach this can be achieved through a diverse and inclusive workforce without the need to compromise standards. I have found in my work as part of AFBE-UK that setting (often) unresearched diversity quotas leaves the entire organisation feeling under-valued especially where these targets are not backed by any real or relevant actions. For diverse groups in some cases these targets exclude them even further as they may assume others may not necessarily value them for their skills and talents but as a token.

There is a strong business case for diversity and inclusion and it should not be viewed as an extra burden or challenge to tackle by employers. A report from business management consultant McKinsey & Co states ‘companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians’. The measure of inclusion should always include the figures of retention. It is therefore important to monitor the progress of real actions being taken towards more diverse work force and measure/benchmark progress rather than set quotas. We are delighted to welcome PSE as a sponsor of AFBE-UK activities in 2020- Nike Folayan

Article from CIHT Transportation news Nov/Dec 2017

Catherine Boyd-Maunsell of PSE... I work for a global chemical engineering software and services company with 170 employees. We have a significant over-representation of BAME groups and a percentage of women and LBTQ people that I am told is high for an engineering company. Given the current trend in HR to focus on diversity and inclusion, I am often asked how we achieved this. What was the ‘magic’ HR initiative we put in place? Did we use quotas? What ideas do we have that other companies can ‘borrow’ to achieve the same?

The answer is that there isn’t any quick fix or magic formula. I believe there are two important aspects to diversity: really good recruitment practices and a genuinely inclusive culture. I don’t think that most of the companies imposing quotas have really looked carefully enough at getting their company culture right first. This article outlines some of the areas we have focused on.

1. Recruitment should focus on technical skills and not use soft skills as an excuse to reject people The company has over 60 employees with PhDs and many others with first degrees. The recruitment process is set up to find the people with the best technical skills and to really measure people’s technical ability. We interview people from other locations using Skype video calls to improve nonverbal communication, in order to allow people for whom English isn’t their first language to communicate their abilities effectively. It is all too easy for recruiters to discount candidates because ‘they don’t have great communication skills’ or ‘I wouldn’t put them in front of a client’ but you are missing a massive opportunity to improve diversity here. We are also prepared to fly people to London, sometimes long distances, for an interview to give them the best chance of meeting us.

Once candidates have passed an initial screening interview we then make sure we really assess their technical skills based on their knowledge and ability to learn. In the case of engineers, we ask them to present on their technical topic of expertise and set them a test designed to challenge how they would apply this technical knowledge in practice. Software developers have to complete a coding test to demonstrate how they approach coding problems and then complete a live development test with the team to see how they would develop code in a collaborative situation. They also interview with several team members to avoid people just recruiting ‘people like themselves’.

2. Be properly open to other cultures and make allowances for cultural differences – don’t insist that people fit into your ‘recruitment best practice’ box Recruiters need to be aware of cultural differences when interviewing candidates. For example, in India it is not unexpected to have a CV nine pages long with a description of all of your projects and qualities; for some people from Asia it is seen as aggressive if they look you directly in the eye; in many cultures people are uncomfortable answering in the negative in case they appear to be disagreeing. For any CEO considering quotas as a way of improving their diversity, I would first encourage them to spend time with their talent acquisition teams and observe how they are screening candidates. If they have started using technology to auto-screen people, cultural biases can be amplified further.

3. Be prepared to do the legwork We have always been open to hiring people who require visas if we believe they are the best people technically. Despite what any in-house recruiter will tell you, they are reluctant to look at such candidates when screening applications because it is time intensive and costly for them to do this.