Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends HR Managers, DEI Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-HM-083

Before you join: Participants should have working experience of HR processes, people management, employee relations, recruitment, learning, workforce planning or DEI activity.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Diversity, equity and inclusion work often fails when organisations rely on awareness events, broad statements or isolated training without changing the employment systems that shape recruitment, progression, performance, pay, employee voice and daily team behaviour. HR and people managers need to identify where unequal outcomes arise, distinguish lawful positive action from unlawful discrimination, and make decisions using workforce evidence rather than assumptions. They must also handle sensitive concerns credibly while maintaining confidentiality, fairness and accountability.

This five-day course develops the practical skills needed to design, implement and review DEI initiatives within HR and management responsibilities. Participants examine bias in talent processes, inclusive leadership behaviours, psychological safety, reasonable adjustments, employee resource groups, discrimination reporting and DEI measurement. They apply frameworks including ISO 30415 and the Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Benchmarks to assess current practice, set priorities and define governance. The course also addresses the limits of demographic data, intersectional analysis and the importance of local legal advice.

Teaching combines focused briefings, facilitated case analysis, group discussions, policy reviews, simulations of workplace conversations and structured planning. Cases reflect issues found in public bodies, banks, multinational employers, NGOs and large corporate teams, including inequitable promotion patterns, inaccessible hiring processes, exclusionary team norms and employee complaints. Participants leave with a practical DEI action plan, an inclusion diagnostic, a talent-process review checklist and measures for tracking progress over time.

The course is suited to HR practitioners, people managers and DEI leads who already work with employment policies, teams or workforce data and need a disciplined approach to improving fair treatment and inclusion.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess DEI maturity using an evidence-based diagnostic and governance criteria
  • Identify bias and exclusion risks within recruitment, performance and promotion processes
  • Interpret workforce demographic, representation, progression and inclusion data responsibly
  • Design measurable DEI objectives, actions, owners and review arrangements
  • Apply inclusive leadership techniques to meetings, feedback, decision-making and employee voice
  • Respond appropriately to discrimination, harassment and exclusion concerns
  • Evaluate reasonable-adjustment processes and accessibility barriers in employment practices
  • Produce a prioritised DEI action plan with indicators and accountability measures

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence identifying exclusion risks before they become employee relations issues
  • A practical method for challenging biased decisions constructively with senior stakeholders
  • Stronger capability to interpret representation, progression and inclusion data
  • Reusable tools for improving recruitment, performance and promotion processes
  • Clearer language for handling sensitive DEI discussions with fairness and care

For your organisation

  • More consistent treatment across recruitment, development, performance and promotion decisions
  • Earlier identification of discrimination, harassment and accessibility risks
  • Better evidence for prioritising DEI investment and reporting progress to leadership
  • Improved manager capability to create respectful, inclusive team environments
  • Clearer ownership, governance and review of DEI commitments

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish core DEI concepts and assess their organisation’s current maturity.

  • Distinguishing diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and accessibility in workplace decisions
  • Business, legal, ethical and workforce risks linked to exclusion
  • Protected characteristics, intersectionality and power dynamics in employment systems
  • Direct, indirect, structural and interpersonal discrimination compared through cases
  • Psychological safety distinguished from belonging, trust and employee voice
  • DEI maturity assessment using evidence, governance and employee experience indicators

Participants can structure a DEI strategy with clear priorities, ownership and review measures.

  • ISO 30415 principles translated into people-management priorities and accountabilities
  • Materiality assessment identifies workforce issues requiring focused DEI intervention
  • Setting outcome-based DEI objectives rather than activity-based commitments
  • RACI matrices clarify executive, HR, manager and employee responsibilities
  • Employee resource groups positioned within governance, consultation and decision rights
  • Board reporting combines risk indicators, workforce trends and action progress

Participants can use workforce data to identify disparities while respecting privacy and data limitations.

  • Representation, hiring, promotion, turnover and pay metrics defined precisely
  • Workforce data disaggregated by grade, function, location and demographic group
  • Intersectional analysis identifies compounded barriers hidden within aggregate reporting
  • Statistical significance, small numbers and confidentiality constraints interpreted carefully
  • Inclusion survey items measure belonging, voice, fairness and psychological safety
  • Dashboards connect workforce outcomes with actions, owners and review cycles

Participants can identify and reduce bias risks across recruitment and selection stages.

  • Job criteria separated into essential requirements, trainable skills and preferences
  • Inclusive job advertisements avoid gendered, exclusionary and unnecessary language
  • Structured interviews use behaviour-based questions and anchored scoring criteria
  • Blind screening benefits and limitations assessed for specific recruitment contexts
  • Selection panels calibrated through independent scoring and evidence-based challenge
  • Candidate accessibility needs incorporated into recruitment communications and arrangements

Participants can review talent processes for unequal treatment and progression barriers.

  • Performance criteria tested for clarity, consistency and relevance to roles
  • Calibration meetings challenge affinity bias, recency bias and unsupported ratings
  • Promotion decisions documented through transparent criteria and comparative evidence
  • Sponsorship and mentoring programmes distinguished by purpose, access and outcomes
  • Talent reviews examine stretch assignments, visibility and leadership pipeline access
  • Succession plans tested for diverse candidate pools and development pathways

Participants can apply inclusive leadership practices in routine management interactions.

  • Inclusive leadership behaviours: curiosity, fairness, voice, accountability and humility
  • Meeting design distributes airtime, decision influence and access to information
  • Feedback conversations separate observable behaviour from assumptions about intent
  • Microaggressions addressed using impact statements, questions and clear boundaries
  • Psychological safety strengthened through leader fallibility, invitation and response
  • Work allocation reviewed for visibility, development opportunity and administrative burden

Participants can improve accessibility and manage reasonable-adjustment processes fairly.

  • Social and medical models of disability compared for employment decisions
  • Reasonable-adjustment requests handled through confidential, individualised assessment
  • Accessible recruitment materials, meetings and learning formats checked systematically
  • Barrier analysis examines physical, digital, procedural and attitudinal obstacles
  • Adjustment passports support continuity through manager, role and location changes
  • Neurodiversity inclusion considered without stereotyping individual needs or capability

Participants can support fair responses to harassment, discrimination and exclusion concerns.

  • Bullying, harassment, victimisation and discrimination distinguished through workplace examples
  • Reporting routes assessed for accessibility, confidentiality, trust and retaliation risk
  • Trauma-informed listening uses choice, clarity, empathy and appropriate boundaries
  • Informal resolution and formal investigation selected according to case circumstances
  • Case documentation separates facts, allegations, evidence, findings and recommendations
  • Post-case learning identifies policy, management and culture improvements

Participants can communicate DEI priorities credibly and respond to resistance constructively.

  • Stakeholder mapping identifies influence, concerns, support and communication needs
  • Evidence-led messaging connects fairness, risk, performance and employee experience
  • Common resistance patterns addressed through questions, facts and respectful challenge
  • Positive action distinguished from quotas, preferential treatment and unlawful discrimination
  • Manager briefings convert DEI commitments into observable local responsibilities
  • Communication plans specify audience, message, channel, timing and feedback routes

Participants can produce a prioritised DEI action plan with measures and review points.

  • Root-cause analysis links unequal outcomes to policies, behaviours and systems
  • Priority matrices weigh impact, feasibility, risk, urgency and resource requirements
  • Action plans define outcomes, milestones, owners, dependencies and success measures
  • Leading indicators track implementation quality before workforce outcomes change
  • Quarterly review cycles test progress, barriers, unintended effects and corrective action
  • Personal application plans identify first actions, sponsors and workplace evidence

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. DEI maturity assessment template
  2. Workforce equity metrics dashboard
  3. Inclusive recruitment review checklist
  4. Inclusive leadership behaviour model
  5. Reasonable-adjustment process checklist
  6. Prioritised DEI action plan

Who should attend

  • HR Managers — responsible for fair employment policies and people-process outcomes
  • DEI Managers — building structured initiatives, governance and measurement arrangements
  • HR Business Partners — advising leaders on inclusion risks and workforce decisions
  • People Managers — shaping team culture, feedback, allocation and employee voice
  • Talent Acquisition Leaders — reducing barriers and bias in attraction and selection
  • Learning and Development Managers — embedding inclusive behaviours in management development

Skills and tools covered

DEI strategy designInclusive leadershipWorkforce data analysisBias risk assessmentEmployee relations handlingEquity action planning

Tools and standards

ISO 30415:2021 Human resource management — Diversity and inclusion, Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Benchmarks, RACI matrix

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish concepts, legal-risk boundaries and practical frameworks. Participants analyse workplace cases, review sample HR processes, interpret workforce evidence and discuss decisions in facilitated groups. Simulations focus on inclusive meetings, feedback conversations, challenge and complaint responses. Trainers use examples from public services, financial institutions, NGOs and multinational employers while adapting discussion to local employment contexts. Each participant develops an application plan linked to a current workplace priority.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have working experience of HR processes, people management, employee relations, recruitment, learning, workforce planning or DEI activity. They should be familiar with their organisation’s basic employment policies and able to discuss workplace cases professionally. Prior experience of diversity data analysis is useful but not required. The course does not require legal qualifications, statistical expertise, responsibility for DEI strategy or previous formal DEI training. Participants should bring awareness of one people process or inclusion issue they wish to improve.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need practical familiarity with HR, management or people processes. No legal qualification, specialist data-analysis background or prior DEI certification is required.

Participants should bring awareness of a people process, workforce issue or DEI priority they want to improve. They do not need to bring confidential employee records or identifiable workforce data.

The course is designed for HR managers, HR business partners, DEI professionals, talent leaders and line managers with people responsibilities. It is particularly useful for those responsible for policies, workforce decisions or team culture.

Unconscious bias training focuses mainly on individual judgement and awareness. This course addresses bias alongside systems, workforce data, governance, inclusive leadership, accessibility and measurable action planning.

Participants leave with tools to assess a current HR process, identify priority gaps and define improvement actions. The action plan can be used with HR colleagues, managers and senior sponsors after the course.

The course runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing approximately 32.5 contact hours across five days. Time is divided between instructor input, case work, group discussion, simulations, process review and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

Related courses in HR Management