How Speak-Up Platforms Support the Worker Protection Act

Are you ready for the UK’s Worker Protection Act?

In this episode of The Inclusive Growth Show, host Toby Mildon chats with Raj Ramanandi, co-founder of InChorus, about how organisations can prepare for and adapt to the new Worker Protection Act. Raj explains the role of speak-up platforms in enabling anonymous reporting, fostering inclusivity, and proactively addressing workplace challenges.

Key Takeaways:

• Worker Protection Act Readiness: Why only 5% of organisations are prepared—and what to do about it.
• Real-Time Employee Insights: How InChorus bridges the gap between annual surveys and grievance reports.
• Anonymous Reporting Demystified: The myths, benefits, and safeguards of speak-up platforms.
• Cultural Transformation: Using employee feedback to shape inclusive, high-performing workplaces.

Discover how tools like InChorus can transform your organization's approach to inclusivity and compliance.

Guest Highlight:
Raj Ramanandi, co-founder of InChorus, shares actionable insights from their work with leading organizations and their latest innovations in workplace culture analytics.

If you want to build a more inclusive workplace that you can be proud of please visit our website to learn more.

Chapters

• 0:01 Creating a Diverse Workplace With InChorus
• 11:12 UK Worker Protection Act Opportunities
• 16:02 Understanding Inclusive Growth With InChorus

Transcript

Announcer: Welcome to the Inclusive Growth Show with Toby Mildon. Future-proofing your business by creating a diverse workplace.

Toby Mildon: Hey there, thank you ever so much for tuning into this episode of the Inclusive Growth Podcast. I'm Toby Mildon and I'm joined by one of our special guests who's been on the podcast a couple of times now, Raj, who is one of the co-founders of InChorus. And Raj came on a previous episode with his partner in crime, Rosie, but Rosie is on a flight somewhere at the moment, so we're gonna be sitting down with Raj today and we're gonna revisit where InChorus is up to in terms of their product and how they're helping their clients. But the big topic for today is around the introduction of the New Worker Protection Act here in the UK and how software like InChorus is helping companies with this introduction of the new legislation. So Raj, it's lovely to see you again. Thanks for joining me.

Raj Ramanandi: Real pleasure to be back. I've been tuning into the episodes which have gone from strength to strength, so I'm a pleasure to be invited again.

Toby Mildon: So just in case the person listening to us right now hasn't heard one of the previous episodes, could you just give us a reminder about what InChorus is and why you founded the software? 

Raj Ramanandi: Sure. We call ourselves a speak up platform. I think that it's not obvious to everybody what that means. And so just to add its essence, it's a platform that's built around what we felt was a big need within more and more organisations was for anonymous reporting. And it came about from our journey working with large organisations and HRDs seven, eight years now, when it felt like the topic of workplace culture is becoming more and more important to them.

Raj Ramanandi: However, they didn't really have a clear understanding of what their workplace culture was. We felt that there was a bit too much of a gap between the sentiment they were getting from an annual survey, perhaps, and then nothing until you kind of got to a grievance. And we really felt like that was far too big a gap to leave from both perspectives.

Raj Ramanandi: We felt that employees needed outlets to share their lived experience. And we felt that organisations needed to capture some of that feedback and look at the themes and trends that coming through from a behavioral perspective, but also looking at where in their organization and from a protected characteristic perspective, who in their organization is dealing with what. And so yeah, InChorus is a speak up platform centered around anonymous reporting that helps employers and employees.

Toby Mildon: Yeah. And I've had the ability to play around with your software. And I think your software was the sweet spot between doing annual engagement surveys where you get the feedback from employees once a year, and then it might take weeks to analyze that results to having real time data. So being able to understand what issues employees are facing now, but also being able to link that to any characteristics they might have. So being able to understand are people on the receiving end of bad behavior like microaggressions or discrimination because of a particular protected characteristic like gender, ethnicity, disability, and things like that. So it's very useful data.

Raj Ramanandi: Thank you.

Toby Mildon: And I know you've had a busy year. I know that you've taken on lots of new clients. The software is always evolving and developing. And I spotted you in the news recently regarding some work that you did with a law firm. Can you tell us a bit about that? 

Raj Ramanandi: Sure. We often have lots of our clients like to kind of remain under the radar. They're doing great work when they're putting something like InChorus in place. It's because they are doing something to understand their workforce better and try and change their workforce. This example with a law firm was they'd actually PRed the launch. It was a really interesting reaction. We were in the election cycle. So I think we were discussed by Vanessa Phelps on this morning on the same day that Rishi Sunak and Starmer were on the show. And it just became a interesting topic looking at what constitutes bias, what are the benefits and risks, I guess, of introducing anonymous reporting. From our perspective, it was wonderful.

Raj Ramanandi: We were in the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Times. We heard ourselves discussed on Talk Radio and a couple of other TV channels. It was interesting. The whole of that episode culminated in a wonderful piece in the Financial Times that Rosie spoke to Emma Jacobs there, which is a really interesting balanced view on pros and cons of employee listening, if you like. And it really gave us a better opportunity to discuss those risks and how our platform can mitigate some of those whilst also maximizing the benefits you get from listening to your employees better.

Toby Mildon: What are some of the risks or concerns that companies have if they use the speakup platform? 

Raj Ramanandi: I think the kind of the go-to in a lot of organisations' minds when you talk about anonymous reporting is that it means that anybody can say anything about anything that they want, naming names and kind of the original premise for InChorus, it's obviously evolved a bit, but the original premise was how can somebody flag a behavior, not to report a person in 60 seconds without any free form? So you're not dropping names in, you don't have reams of texts that you are folding in. We've designed this in a way where you are using an awful lot of dropdowns, part of the challenge of how you codify 1,001 subjective experiences into the platform. And that's something that we kind of pride ourselves on. So yeah, that the fear that immediately kicked in when you say anonymous reporting is not the reality.

Raj Ramanandi: Interestingly, a lot of the reporting in the press totally didn't get that, you know, went off on rants about these dangers without understanding what the actual product does. So, it was good to kind of have some balance interviews and actually the industry press did a good job of looking at the pros and cons and yeah, I think that that's the main one is like, I think a lot of people are very fearful when you say anonymous reporting and yeah, it's not quite as accurate. It's not quite that.

Toby Mildon: Yeah, it is funny 'cause I do surveys with my clients to capture diversity demographics, but then how included people feel in the organization and it surfaces a lot of new insights that my clients wouldn't have thought about. And then naturally I go on and talk to them and say, actually, wouldn't you like these insights in a kind of ongoing more real time fashion? And that's where I drop your name in by the way. And it's really interesting how I actually come across quite a lot of resistance where clients will say, yeah, but the thing is, if we're gonna open up the floodgates and if we open up the floodgates, surely we're gonna start receiving all of this feedback and we're gonna actually have to do something about it as well, aren't we? And I'm like, yeah, I mean, that's kind of the point of the exercise is that you want this feedback from employees so that you understand what problems are going on and then you can put in the solutions. But I think based on what you're saying that the floodgates don't often just open. It is not like you have this sudden downpour of complaints from employees.

Raj Ramanandi: No, and I don't think they're complaints either. It's kind of flagging behaviors that you've experienced or witnessed. I think, yeah, this idea that the floodgates open is quite far from the truth here. Like, you know, we all work in environments that are incredibly busy. So the idea that the launch of InChorus is suddenly going to be front and center of everyone's mind, and that's where they're gonna be spending all day is far from the truth. It's a journey that companies go on once they put in place something like InChorus or a speakup platform, you know, you are constantly communicating the benefits of sharing your experience, you're communicating where your policies are and what your processes are. It's part of that ongoing journey of culture transformation. And nothing scary as opening the floodgates actually happens.

Raj Ramanandi: And I guess this idea that the floodgates open and suddenly you have to do all this work is also, I guess part of it, the benefit of working in this way is, you know, you are already doing that work, but you're doing that work when something bad happens. And what we're trying to do is don't do the work then do the work before it's much nicer for you and for everyone involved. If you are taking small initiative preventative steps based on insights and clues. You know, we often say InChorus is more like a smoke alarm, so you're kind of dealing with issues before it becomes bigger rather than just running around, putting out fires afterwards. It's just, I guess it depends where you wanna do the work.

Toby Mildon: Yeah, I love that analogy. And why do you think that speakup platforms like InChorus are particularly valuable to organisations right now? 

Raj Ramanandi: A few reasons, and I think something that we've been saying for years, but it's just only becoming more and more amplified is the need to listen to your workforce and for your workforce to feel listened to is more important than ever. I think that the idea that culture just happens is also kind of missing the point. I think you'd be quite intentional about your culture, not in the sense that you create certain values and then expect that, that to become your culture, I think you need to work at it. And there's a big gap between what leaders and the rest of the workforce feel, the reality of the culture is. And if you don't have the mechanisms in place to understand what your culture is, to understand the impact of the initiatives, to understand the impact of whatever it is going on in your organization, you know, whether it's a merger or an acquisition or whether it's some redundancies or whether it's a stock price climbing incredibly high, these all have implications and you can't second guess what your culture is unless you're asking people.

Raj Ramanandi: And I think that the approach has gone from guesswork and hiding from the reality to one of understanding what's going on and responding to it in cycles. You know, it's not, we're not asking people to have knee-jerk reactions to everything they hear. What we're suggesting is what we're encouraging is to look at themes and trends over time, and once something is a theme or a trend, you can consider how you respond to it. And sometimes just acknowledging that you've heard them is enough. It's not always the case that you're rolling out a new training initiative every week.

Toby Mildon: I mentioned at the top of the show the introduction of the New Worker Protection Act here in the UK. What are some of the reactions that you are seeing from clients that you work with or companies that you're talking to at the moment? 

Raj Ramanandi: Yeah, so that came into force three weeks ago now. We've seen a lot of activity, particularly in some sectors more than others. We have seen organisations, refreshing policies, putting in place anti-harassment policies and using this as an opportunity to kind of reset how they look at work stream, if you like. We've seen data coming through that only 5% of organisations are prepared for it. So there's an awful lot of organisations out there that are either in the midst of doing that work or haven't even got to it yet. So I think there's a lot more to come from organisations in terms of preparing and understanding what the act is asking of them. I think coming back to that point I raised earlier, it's a real, it's legislation that ought to be beneficial, but if you are able to start taking more of a preventative approach, it means that you are dealing with fewer bad incidents.

Raj Ramanandi: They're always going to happen but fewer of them. We see that across the board with our clients over that have been working with us for any period of time. We're also seeing this I guess a slightly more thought out approach to this work. Interestingly, a lot of this work is being done from HR teams and it's probably worked that a lot of your audience, your ED&I lead has been talking about thinking about for years, but this legislation that's really working in your favor. And I think it's a big opportunity for ED&I to work with their HR colleagues to get through some of the things that they've been thinking about in terms of protected characteristics and prevention. So yeah, it's an interesting time. We've seen some activity, there's going to be an awful lot more and yeah, we really think it's a good opportunity for workplace cultures, for workers, and ED&I teams.

Toby Mildon: Yeah, I like how you're saying it's a good opportunity for ED&I professionals or HR people who've been thinking about this for a long time. I think that the introduction of the new act is only gonna help cement what companies should be doing and they and should have been doing for a very long time. And what do you think are some of the other opportunities that the New Worker Protection Act is going to offer businesses? 

Raj Ramanandi: I think this opportunity, as I say, to reset and kind of to take stock and really think about this as a genuine work stream, and I think that that is an opportunity. It might sound like extra work, but actually I genuinely believe that in the medium to long term, it will have two benefits. One is less work and secondly, better culture. So that is a massive opportunity when you look at the steps that the EHRC are recommending organisations take to better comply with this new legislation. It's quite common sense, and it's just giving HR teams a reason to take the time and space to put measures in place that are methodical, that are based on data, assessing the data and critically listening to what their staff have to say. I see these all as positives when you're looking at ensuring that staff have outlets to speak up when you're looking at policies that are clear and people know where they are when you are looking at the data to see what your training needs are, when you are making sure that your staff are protected from third party harassment.

Raj Ramanandi: And when you are working towards, and what we're seeing from the more progressive organisations, it's almost thinking about harassment like a funnel where you have clues coming from your surveys, maybe your focus groups, maybe your speakup platform, your grievance reporting, like all of these dots are connected. It's an opportunity to a proper monitoring and evaluation framework that yes, it prevents harassment, but you're preventing harassment by improving your culture and understanding your culture better. So for me it screams of opportunity. I'm sure that a lot of HR and ED&I professionals out there are, won't fully agree with me yet, but I think in the medium to long term, it's definitely a positive step and we're really pleased that it's come into place. We're really proud to have been trumpeting this work for years. So, yeah, no, it's a really big opportunity and a real positive for kind of UK PLC and the third sector where we have lots of clients and obviously government itself.

Toby Mildon: So I asked you and Rosie this question the last time you came on the podcast, and I'm just wondering if your thinking has evolved since then, but what does inclusive growth mean for you? 

Raj Ramanandi: For me, and it's interesting, I'd love to listen back to what I said previously, but for me, when I look at that, it strikes at the core of what InChorus is about. It's, if I look at inclusion, it's about creating better culture. And if I think of growth, for me, my mind goes to kind of performance and tangible business results. And if you bring those together, it's like, better culture means greater performance and better growth. So it kind of strikes at the core of what InChorus is about. And so, yeah, it's a strap line that means an awful lot to us.

Toby Mildon: So if the person listening to us right now wants to learn more about InChorus they might be thinking that a speakup platform could be a good solution to any work that they're doing around the Worker Protection Act right now, or they're really thinking about how they monitor the culture of their organization, what should they do? 

Raj Ramanandi: So we've recently revamped our website, so there's lots of information about our kind of core products and services and the benefits and also specific pages about the Worker Protection Act, which you can find at InChorus.org. We've also created some great content around the Worker Protection Act. So perhaps we can share it with you as well, Toby. There's a PDF that looks at the kind of people break it down in a bunch of different ways, but six, seven or eight steps to make sure that you're thinking about the Worker Protection Act in the right way. That's definitely something that would be valuable resource for those that haven't got yet. So that 95% that haven't yet put something in place and yeah, we've worked with some fantastic partners that help organisations do the bits of the work that we don't provide. And so, yeah, big nod to you Mildon as well that provides some of the kind of critical training that is part and parcel of complying. So yeah, we can all be found out at InChorus.org. You can get in touch with us directly from the website and we also share off lots of good information on our LinkedIn page. Again, you'll find that by just searching for InChorus on LinkedIn.

Toby Mildon: Brilliant. Well, Raj, thanks so much for joining me again today. It's been lovely to catch up with you. It's really exciting to see how the software is evolving and also how this is a, it's great timing. It's a great solution that can help with companies that are trying to get their head around the Worker Protection Act. So thanks for joining me.

Raj Ramanandi: Pleasure, Toby, really good to be here.

Toby Mildon: And thank you for tuning into this episode of the Inclusive Growth Podcast with Raj and myself. Hopefully you've taken away some interesting thoughts in terms of how a speakup platform like InChorus can help you get your hands on real time data, in terms of how your employees, what they're experiencing right now, and how that's shaping your culture and how a speakup platform could help you prepare for responding to the new Worker Protection Acts coming into effect. So thanks ever so much for tuning in, and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode, which will be coming up very soon. Until then, take care. Bye-Bye.

Announcer: Thank you for listening to The Inclusive Growth Show. For further information and resources from Toby and his team, head on over to our website at Mildon.co.uk.