My labour is not free!

“We’re ‘inspirational’ until it’s time to pay.”

-         Jennifer Opal, DevOps Engineer with Hellosign at Dropbox, Neurodiversity & Inclusion Advocate, Multi-Award Winning Blogger & Speaker

** Photo of Jennifer Opal **

I was inspired to write this article because of a LinkedIn post recently shared by Jennifer Opal (a trusted member of my LinkedIn network - see Jennifer's post at https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6844246141316427776/?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A6844246141316427776%29).

For just over a year, I have had the immense privilege of running The Austen Bronte Consultancy.

Through the consultancy, my team and I aim to achieve one goal – improve leadership by leveraging the impact of diversity, inclusion, belonging and equity across the business world. The business has grown exponentially over the last 12 months and we have had the pleasure of working with some exceptional clients including Levi Strauss & Co, Macquarie Bank, Hiscox, Covington and Burling, Booking.com, REPL Worldwide and Harbottle & Lewis.

Our clients have benefitted from the wide range of services that we offer including public speaking, C-suite/board advisory, organisational training and development and providing governance advice. They recognise the value of the expertise that I bring as an award-winning Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusive (DEI) Leader & Facilitator with a strong track record of over 20 years' experience in the field.

Every client we have worked with has happily referred us onto others, rated our services highly and valued our personal and authentic approach. All our clients have welcomed the experience that I bring to the table from my careers as a corporate lawyer,  C-suite healthcare executive, commercial leader and BBC commentator.

Bringing my whole self to the table is another feature that our clients appreciate. I don’t hide the fact that I am a mother and that I am extremely proud of my 18-year-old son Max Abimbola (a 1st year computer science student at Newcastle University and future software engineer). My son and I work together producing our popular podcast series, The Power of Privilege and Allyship, now in its 3rd season.

SO FAR, SO GOOD. BUT WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

Unfortunately, for certain types of work (namely public speaking, whether as a key note speaker or panellist), there is an expectation from some organisations of free labour.

The assumption is that those involved in DEI work (either on a full time or part time basis) should be prepared to share their personal stories, painful lived experiences and expertise for free.

Speaker requests come into my Personal Assistant thick and fast as we approach UK Black History Month in October and Women’s History Month in March.

And whilst some clients have set aside ample budget and are transparent about this from the outset, many have no budget at all, instead offering ‘exposure’ in return for our speaker services.

WHY IS THIS WRONG - AND WHY IS THIS NOT ALLYSHIP?

This practice by some organisations represents performative allyship at best and exploitative behaviour at worst.

When an organisation assigns little or no budget to DEI work (often haggling and offering less compensation than is reasonable), this sends a clear signal to both employees and to DEI consultants that the organisation does not genuinely care about DEI.

You always get what you pay for and my experience has been that too many organisations underestimate the amount of work and effort that goes into delivering a successful and sustainable DEI strategy, an inspirational speech or providing engaging contributions to a discussion panel.

The expectation of free labour also erodes the value of time, knowledge and expertise that we bring to the table as DEI consultants.

And, as award-winning entrepreneur, Tru Powell, recently mentioned on Twitter (see https://twitter.com/Tru_Powell/status/1437835598463647746), speaking about our lived experiences is incredibly painful and difficult.

We should be compensated for our efforts.

It is, frankly, unethical and insulting to seek to celebrate inspirational speakers on the one hand but not quite enough to value and pay for their time.

And not paying us to speak contributes further to issues of social and financial inequality, the very thing that organisations claim they want to combat.

**Picture of Tru Powell**

PRO BONO WORK

Most DEI consultants already donate a substantial amount of their time and expertise for free.

In my case:

• all my speaking in state schools (with inspirational talks delivered to over 2,000 school children annually through my partnership with educational charity, Speakers for Schools)
• the administration & funding of The Akindolie Medical Scholarship
• the production and publication of The Power of Privilege and Allyship podcast series
• the provision of mentoring and other support;

is all pro bono.

OUR ASK AS DEI CONSULTANTS

Our ask of organisations is 3-fold (and this was eloquently put by Jennifer Opal in her recent post):

1. Set aside a reasonable budget for DEI work

2. Avoid performative allyship & please leave tokenism at the door

3. Do better!

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

• The Austen Bronte Consultancy - https://funkeabimbola.com/austen-bronte-consultancy
• The Power of Privilege and Allyship Podcast - https://funkeabimbola.com/austen-bronte-consultancy
• The Akindolie Medical Scholarship - https://funkeabimbola.com/medical-scholarship
• Speakers for Schools - https://www.speakersforschools.org/