Bola Ajani | Talent & Inclusion Manager, Hastings Direct
Bola is a Career, Learning and Development specialist with experience in a range of industries, across both the public and private sector and is currently the Talent & Inclusion Manager at Hastings Direct.
Bola’s work has always been about people and ensuring everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential whether at the start of their career, returning to work after a break or reaching the autumn of their career and ready to do something new.
Naturally curiosity combined with working at Hastings Direct, a company which is underpinned by data has meant a growing interest in people analytics. Bola is currently developing data skills and completing a data analyst apprenticeship
Diversity, Talent and Inclusion work has for years been seen as a ‘nice to have’ but hard data has shown time and time again that peoples experiences of work, feeling engaged, valuing diversity and inclusion make a tangible difference to a company’s performance and ultimately bottom line. As data advances we can identify gaps that help us to drive better informed decisions but also allows us to gain sophisticated detailed insight particularly from voices that have traditionally been silent
However most companies still treat D&I as a bolt on rather than a fundamental driver. Organisations tend to focus on or only invest during specific inclusion weeks. D&I doesn’t sit on the executive agenda or is spoken about once a month when an update is provided but directors are not held accountable, nor their performance judged for diversity and inclusion in their areas. Hence the continued need for more focus on data.
