The Annual ATU/CIPD North West Conference took place on Thursday, 28 April, in the Aurivo Lecture Theatre, Sligo College, after a two year Covid break.
The three main speakers were Tom Reilly, ED&I Manager, Sligo College, ATU, Ailbhe Symth Ailbhe Smyth, Campaign, Advocacy and Strategy Consultant and John Horan, former President of GAA.
Breda McTaggart, Head of School, Sligo College, welcomed the guests. Mary Connaughton, Director of CIPD Ireland, addressed the guests, stressing the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion in the times that we now live in. Mary suggested that achieving ‘a sense of belonging’ for all our employees is probably a more useful mindset for us when considering this aspect of working life.
Tom Reilly shared how ATU Sligo (formerly IT Sligo) achieved Athena Swan status and the practices that have been adopted to support EDI.
He said:
“We have come a long way and have a long way to go and will continue to monitor the data concerning equality, diversity and inclusion and take the necessary actions indicated by the data.
Ailbhe Smyth, a high-level campaigner and former academic with long-standing strategic, political and organisational experience which sits on the board of Age Action, spoke about the importance of the intergenerational workplace.
According to OECD (2020), 45% of the workforce will be over 50 in 2050. She drew our attention to Norway, leading the way in maximising the potential of an older workforce and asked us to consider the value of reverse mentoring in all our organisations, among other actions.
John Horan spoke about leading change during times of transformation at the GAA and embracing equality, inclusion and diversity as a central part of that change.
John’s aim throughout his tenure was to make the GAA an organisation ‘where we all belong’, and his key message is that successful change requires a culture change and to change culture requires committed leadership.