Citi lays on workshops to talk about diversity

Carolanne Minashi, head of diversity at Citi for all regions, said: "For 99 per cent of people in the organisation it's not their job to think about this full-time - but Diversity Week gives them the opportunity to get away from their desks and engage.

"If you are part of the group under discussion, for example if you are disabled, then you can see that Citi cares.

"If you're not part of a group then we want to equip you to think more about diversity."

Mark Willis, of Citi's human resources department, said that a network set up to deal with diversity had made a direct impact on staff.

Mark is co-chair of a committee with IT business office manager Glen Hickman and they are tasked with running the week of events.

He said: "Recently we had an individual whose child had dyslexia and was going to university.

"They had concerns about the issues but in our networks we had others who had gone through similar situations and were able to support them."

The week of speeches included some by international diversity lecturer Jane Elliott, who ran three sessions in a day at the Citi auditorium, discussing her much-acclaimed research separating a class full of blue-eyed and brown eyed-children to demonstrate the experience of being part of a minority.

Carolanne said: "That talk has been the most popular event so far.

"In the morning people were coming, then going back to their team and saying 'you've got to see this', and by the afternoon their whole teams had come along.

"At the third session there were 200 people. The auditorium was at capacity."