To untap brand value, communicating inclusively and accessibly matters

By Suzy Christopher and Anna Parisi, Untapped

Many organisations have a formal EDI (equity, diversity and inclusion) policy in place, which demonstrates a clear intent that you don’t (and won’t) discriminate against people with lived experience of the nine Protected Characteristics named in the 2010 Equality Act.

However, a policy alone won’t add value to your business. Most organisations with only a policy fail in their EDI ambitions. Instead, everyone in your organisation needs to be living and breathing inclusion day in day out, which means communicating using inclusive language and accessible channels, as well as having equitable policies and processes in place.

Who can you turn to when there is nowhere left to go?

By Mark Lunn, founder, Caburn Communications

When I tell friends I’ve been working with a new lender for three years on market entry into the High Cost Short Term Credit market, they pull a face of disgust and say, “eeew, you’re helping a payday lender like Wonga… how do you live with yourself, they charge immoral amounts of interest”.

Five 2021 predictions to ignore (or at least take with a pinch of salt)

By Gareth Streeter, Fourteen Forty

Writers of “2021 predictions” lists have indulged the temptation to be both dramatic and definitive.  And they all follow one clear narrative.  Covid will depart.  It will leave behind it a world that is forever changed.

But does the available evidence bear this out?  Or have some of our would-be futurologists over-egged the pudding? 

Weak Links #10: getting back to business

How should business prepare for 2021?

The vaccine is enabling politicians, business and the public to contemplate a return to normal.  But, as the Chancellor says, “the economic emergency is just beginning”.

So, how can businesses and brands adapt to and benefit from the changes in consumer behaviour? What should they do to prepare their people and their workplaces for the return?  How can we tackle late payments for good?

We hope you enjoy this edition of Weak Links and we wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

The return to the office

By Katie Simpson, managing director, corporate affairs and financial, of global recruitment firm Hanson Search

There has been much discussion about how the business world, will change following Covid. There is a wide consensus that when we return to normal, we, well…won’t. In short, there is now effectively no normal to return to.

Weak Links #9: time to bounce back

How should business rebuild post Cover-19?

The first anniversary of Covid-19 in the UK is drawing close.  Businesses have done what they can to survive and now must plan how to bounce back.  

But how should firms communicate around these challenges?  Is remote working here to stay?  How should responsible firms behave?  

Behaving your way to a more responsible corporate culture

By Sandra Macleod, Group CEO, Echo Research and Britain’s Most Admired Companies

COVID-19 forced itself on an unsuspecting world with tragic consequences.  As global leaders in research on reputation and the drivers of behaviour, we sought to assess the pandemic’s impact on trust and reputation among business leaders and the general public.