Why Intersectionality Should Be on Every Manchester Employer’s Agenda

Diversity and inclusion are firmly on the agenda for many organisations across Greater Manchester. But one concept that still needs clearer understanding — particularly within SMEs — is intersectionality.

For business leaders, this isn’t about academic theory. It’s about performance, retention and building organisations that reflect and serve the region we operate in.

What Do We Mean by Intersectionality?

Intersectionality describes how different aspects of a person’s identity combine to shape their lived experience — particularly their experience of bias, opportunity and access.

An employee isn’t just disabled, or just Black, or just working class. They may hold several identities at once, and those intersections shape how they experience the workplace.

For example, a disabled employee may face physical accessibility barriers. A Black employee may encounter racial bias. A Black disabled employee may face a compounded and distinct set of challenges.

The key point for employers is simple: people cannot separate their identities when they come to work. Inclusion efforts that address characteristics in isolation risk missing how experiences overlap.

Why It Matters for Greater Manchester Businesses

Most people in our region work for small and medium-sized employers. That gives SMEs enormous influence over workplace culture and economic mobility across Greater Manchester.

When intersectionality is overlooked, the impact can be subtle but significant:

• Employees may feel pressure to hide aspects of themselves.
• Psychological safety decreases.
• Contribution and innovation are reduced.
• Retention becomes harder.

Many individuals engage in “masking” or “code-switching” — adjusting their behaviour, language or personality to fit perceived workplace norms. While this may not be visible to managers, it creates cognitive and emotional strain.

Inclusive cultures, on the other hand, allow people to contribute fully. Research consistently shows that diverse and inclusive teams are more innovative, better at problem-solving and more resilient — qualities that matter in a competitive regional economy.

Avoiding the Silo Trap

A common challenge in organisations is addressing diversity in silos.

One initiative may focus on gender representation, while disability is overlooked. Pride events may be celebrated without considering accessibility. Anti-racism commitments may sit alongside limited socioeconomic mobility.

Intersectionality encourages employers to ask more integrated questions:

• Are our initiatives accessible to everyone?
• Are we considering both visible and invisible characteristics?
• Are we unintentionally prioritising one area of diversity over another?

For Manchester’s professional networks and membership organisations, this also applies to events, panels and leadership visibility.

Rethinking Recruitment

Recruitment is one of the clearest areas where intersectionality shows up.

The phrase “culture fit” remains common — but often reflects similarity bias, where we favour people who feel familiar. That can limit diversity of thought and experience.

Instead, employers might consider:

• Recruiting for “culture add” rather than culture fit.
• Reviewing whether all application requirements are genuinely necessary.
• Offering alternatives to traditional written applications.
• Advertising roles beyond mainstream job boards to reach broader communities.

Many SMEs have the flexibility to innovate in recruitment without the bureaucracy faced by larger organisations. Small changes can significantly widen talent pools.

Leadership Accountability Is Key

Successful EDI efforts share one consistent feature: visible leadership accountability.

Where inclusion is treated as a side initiative or delegated solely to HR, progress tends to stall. Where founders, directors and senior leaders take ownership — embedding inclusion into strategy and performance expectations — impact is far greater.

This includes:

• Linking EDI to business objectives.
• Modelling inclusive behaviour at senior level.
• Holding managers accountable for team culture.
• Allocating time and resource appropriately.

In growing businesses, embedding inclusion early prevents more complex cultural challenges later.

Moving Beyond Compliance

While the Equality Act provides an essential legal framework, intersectionality reminds us that diversity goes beyond protected characteristics.

Accent, class background, regional identity, neurodiversity and invisible disabilities all shape how individuals experience work — even where they fall outside formal legal categories.

For Greater Manchester’s business community, the opportunity is to move from compliance to culture.

By designing inclusive recruitment processes, embedding psychological safety and ensuring leadership accountability, employers can create workplaces where people contribute fully — and where businesses perform better as a result.

In a competitive market, that is not just good ethics. It is good business.