When B&Q published its inclusive language guide for its staff, it was met with a mixed response in the media.
The handbook advises B&Q employees to refrain from using words and phrases that reinforce stereotypes or exclude, patronise or trivialise certain groups of people. This includes phrases such as “blind drunk” and “deaf to our pleas”, which the company says could be considered offensive by those with disabilities.
First introduced in 2023, it caught headlines again last month. While some thought the initiative would foster a more welcoming environment at the DIY retailer, others described it as “nonsensical”. The two differing views highlight how divided opinion on diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) has become.
But, for Vishal Thanki, director of talent and culture at B&Q, inclusion should not be reduced to a binary debate. “We want people from minority groups to come to B&Q without anyone saying something that might make them feel unwelcome or like they don’t belong,” he says. “We’re a business that welcomes everybody.”
The inclusive language guide was designed to help improve people’s cultural intelligence, he adds. The retailer also offers employees resources on race and ethnicity, with guides on religious holidays, including Ramadan, Diwali and Eid; LGBTQ+ staff can access a guide to “coming out at B&Q”; and inclusive leadership training sessions have been running for the past three years.
Thanki says: “If a Muslim person applies for a job at a B&Q outlet, I want that store manager to know a little bit about what Ramadan means, so the candidate can immediately get a sense of belonging and feel really welcome here.”
Going against the anti-DEI grain
B&Q’s push to create a more inclusive workforce comes at a time when many other companies are withdrawing such initiatives amid a wider backlash to DEI. However, Thanki says what others are doing in this space should have no bearing on his company’s internal approach to diversity.
“I don’t look at what’s outside of our control. What other businesses do and how they want to represent themselves doesn’t matter,” he says. If this also allows B&Q to appear to be taking a stronger stance on diversity and inclusion than others, that is a positive, he adds.
Alka Sehgal-Cuthbert, director of the campaign group Don’t Divide Us, has suggested B&Q should focus its efforts on educating staff on DIY and polite customer service, rather than trying to create what she describes as a “utopian workforce”.
But Thanki says the two are not mutually exclusive. “When I think about DEI, it always comes back to serving our customers in the best way possible,” he says. “We want to have a high-performance culture and that requires an inclusive environment where everyone feels empowered and represents their community really well. If you want to represent the communities you serve, you’ve got to think like them.”
Thanki points to his local store in Stanmore, north London, as a great example of this. The area has a large population of people with Asian heritage and he says he loves overhearing Punjabi, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu and Tamil being spoken in the aisles when he frequents the outlet.
When I think about DEI, it always comes back to serving our customers in the best way possible
Thanki explains: “DIY is really hard. Putting a hole in a wall and messing it up is a big deal and trying to explain that to someone in your second, third or fourth language is even harder. So when I think about DEI, it’s about representing our local communities and making it as easy as possible for our customers.”
There is also a more serious side to promoting inclusion. Last year, when Islamophobic and anti-immigrant sentiment provoked riots across the UK, the safety of B&Q’s staff became the priority.
“We’ve got quite a diverse business and I myself was concerned for me and my family when one of those riots was on my doorstep,” says Thanki, who is of Indian heritage himself. “We reassured colleagues we would shut shops immediately if it was unsafe and make sure there was a safe space for them to go.”
Putting a price on customer service
Although pay may seem unrelated to DEI, Thanki considers it part of the broader customer service picture. “If we want our colleagues to be able to serve customers really well and for people to feel welcome, then pay absolutely does come into it,” he explains.
In March, B&Q raised its minimum hourly pay for more than 15,000 employees from £12.21 to £12.71 per hour and £14.05 for those living in London. This pay rise came in spite of the then-impending increase in employer national insurance contributions, which other businesses have used as a reason for freezing employee pay.
Although a third of UK employers say they will be reducing pay rises in response to the tax hikes, Thanki claims the national insurance increase is a cost that has to be “balanced out”.
“It’s just another challenge that comes our way. Whether it’s national insurance contributions or a rise in the cost of timber, we have to mitigate it,” he says. “When our strategy requires us to invest in our employees to help better serve our customers, we know wages are the right place to spend our money.”
However, Thanki does expect something in return for this commitment. “It does mean that our expectation of our colleagues is that they do serve our customers really well,” he adds.
With an inclusive and well-supported workforce, Thanki believes B&Q has all the tools needed to build a culture where people can work to their best ability more often.
When B&Q published its inclusive language guide for its staff, it was met with a mixed response in the media.
The handbook advises B&Q employees to refrain from using words and phrases that reinforce stereotypes or exclude, patronise or trivialise certain groups of people. This includes phrases such as “blind drunk” and “deaf to our pleas”, which the company says could be considered offensive by those with disabilities.
First introduced in 2023, it caught headlines again last month. While some thought the initiative would foster a more welcoming environment at the DIY retailer, others described it as “nonsensical”. The two differing views highlight how divided opinion on diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) has become.
