Education and Business the Driving Forces behind Equity in the WorkplaceRecruiting and retaining talented staff is one of the biggest challenges facing businesses at the moment. Our survey data shows that this challenge is a more pressing concern than energy prices, taxes, or red tape. Filling skills gaps will require collaboration between business and education to ensure that everyone, regardless of their background, is equipped with the skills they need to thrive in the workplace.IS STRIVING FOR EQUITY IN THE WORKPLACE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF EMPLOYERS AND OUR BUSINESS COMMUNITY?There is much discussion and debate on how businesses can do more to implement and embed workable equity, diversity, and inclusion measures to ensure that employees are treated fairly at work. Such measures are important for both fair progression and wider business growth; research by McKinsey found a clear correlation between companies’ gender and ethnic diversity and profitability, concluding that diversity is a source of competitive advantage and a key enabler of growth [1] . But the appetite for diverse talent can be most effectively achieved through the power of education.Attracting diverse talent is an important topic across the education and business communities. Diverse talent refers to employees or employee pools coming from different (or underrepresented) social or cultural backgrounds.SO, HOW CAN EDUCATION AND BUSINESS COMMUNITIES WORK TOGETHER TO ACHIEVE A DIVERSE WORKPLACE THAT IS SKILLED AT THE APPROPRIATE LEVEL?The following are some key measures that employers can embed into their working environment to retain diverse talent:1 Empowering employees. This is a very good measure to motivate all employees that they are part of an organisation’s wider decision-making process.2 Lifelong Education and Training Schemes for all employees to sustain a workforce with broad perspectives3 Effective and inclusive recruitment policies to attract diverse talent from the on-set4 Underpinning decisions with employee satisfaction dataHowever, recruiting and retaining talented staff is one of the biggest challenges facing businesses at the moment. Our survey data shows that this challenge is a more pressing concern than energy prices, taxes, or red tape. Filling skills gaps will require collaboration between business and education to ensure that everyone, regardless of their background, is equipped with the skills they need to thrive in the workplace.Education plays a critical role in equipping students with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in the workplace. The education sector has the power to create the critical building blocks of students’ character, behaviours, and confidence. Education can instil skills like critical thinking, empathy, and an ability to make evidence-based decisions, all of which are essential skills for the modern workplace.These employability skills are a key determinant of success in the workplace, but as the education system has become increasingly geared towards meeting accountability measures which prioritise exam results, is there a risk that these skills will fall by the wayside? And what does this mean for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are less likely to have access to the kinds of extracurricular activities outside of school which help to develop these skills?As well as developing employability skills through the K12 education system, ongoing learning and development are crucial in helping people to adapt to a rapidly changing and diverse modern workplace. Skills-based learning programmes, courses, and qualifications can equip employees with the skills and knowledge they’ll need to build an inclusive, diverse culture in the workplace.There is also evidence that embedding inclusion into education delivery itself helps to equip students with the skills they need to thrive in a diverse workplace. According to the American Council on Education, “… diversity in their student bodies, faculties,...