During these uncertain times, many of us are now having to work from home, and as such the thought of missing out on work and training can be quite unnerving.

It was originally planned that the free-of-charge Unconscious Bias Mitigation and Fairer Recruitment Training Sessions, as part of the Inclusive Engineering Programme at Scottish Engineering, would be delivered across the country in the form of four face-to-face sessions at different locations across Scotland, and two online webinars.

Due to current circumstances, these sessions will now be moved to an online platform, and will take place in the form of 3 cohorts of 2 webinars. While many of us are self-isolating, we can still utilize our time to work on our professional skill sets and development, and still contribute to the bigger picture of creating a more diverse and equal engineering sector in Scotland.

Below are some details as advertised before, with the new amendments. We welcome those from engineering SME companies to take part and participate in these online sessions.

To create diverse and inclusive workplaces, we have a responsibility to challenge our own unconscious bias on a regular basis, in order to grow in a progressive manner. The business case for diversity is clear – in a study conducted by McKinsey & Co, it was seen that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 15 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians.

As part of the Inclusive Engineering Programme, funded by the Workplace Equality Fund, Scottish Engineering and EQUATE Scotland are partnering to offer Free of Charge training sessions for engineering SME employers on equality, inclusion and fairer recruitment practices. These will be delivered by EQUATE Scotland, the national expert on Women in STEM, and will include unconscious bias training, equality and diversity training for managers, using inclusive language and embedding culture change.

These sessions will now be delivered online.

Spaces for each cohort are limited and are allocated on a ‘first come first serve’ basis, and as such we encourage those who are interested to apply soon. For those who already applied for the locational sessions or the webinars, your space will be reserved for the respective cohort date, and we will be in touch soon to confirm this.

The dates for the webinar sessions are:

Cohort 1:
Webinar 1 – Wednesday 22nd April, 2pm – 3.30pm (this will replace Renfrew)
Webinar 2 – Wednesday 29th April, 2pm – 3.30pm (this will replace Aberdeen)

Cohort 2: (Almost Full)
Webinar 1 – Thursday 30th April, 2pm – 3.30pm
Webinar 2 – Thursday 14th May, 2pm – 3.30pm

Cohort 3:
Webinar 1 – Wednesday 27th May, 2pm – 3.30pm (this will replace South Queensferry)
Webinar 2: Wednesday 10th June, 2pm – 3.30pm (this will replace Dundee, and date moved back)

The webinars will be using Webex – links will be forwarded to participants prior to the online session.
Both online sessions in each cohort will cover a different aspect of the training, and as such we encourage participants to sign up to both online sessions within the cohort being applied for. These will be live sessions to allow for interaction with the trainers, Q&As etc

To participate in this programme, or for more information, please contact Naziyah Mahmood (Equalities Officer, Scottish Engineering) on NaziyahMahmood@scottishengineering.org.uk

We look forward to hearing from you, and to seeing a fairer and more inclusive engineering sector in Scotland!