In the Spotlight with HPE | Aamani Rehman

[Alex_Podmore]

What makes our team tick?

Our Spotlight series introduces some of our key team members, exploring their roles and delving a little deeper into their passions, shining a light on what makes them tick.

Aamani joined HPE in 2022, having previously worked in diversity and inclusion consultancy. Bringing her skills in to HPE, she now heads up the team as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead for the UKIMEA regions. Aamani is passionate about inclusion and encouraging everyone within the organisation to have a voice, and feel heard.

Experience leads to passion

Having grown up with a mother whose first language was not English, Aamani learnt at a young age about the barriers to inclusion and how small, simple acts can make such a difference. At the age of 8, her teacher asked if she could write her school report in Urdu, for her mother to read, and Aamani can trace back her passion for inclusion to this moment.

Identifying transferable skills

With a degree in marketing and advertising, Aamani found herself helping sales teams modernise and improve. Introducing them to new processes and efficiencies and teaching them new skills felt a lot like inclusion, and this golden thread has run throughout her career so far. Having worked across many industries, Aamani has always been interested in technology, seeing the similarities between her HR specialism and the world of tech. This is what attracted her to the IT industry.

“Inclusion is about making sure everyone feels involved and has the opportunity to participate – technology specifically is all about accessibility, so these two things marry up very well. My heart’s about the impact you can have on people, beyond the tick box.”

With wide ranging experience under her belt, Aamani has spent 18 months working on projects that have had an impact across the workforce. Identifying a real need for diversifying voices and representation led to a campaign to better understand HPE colleagues, in order to realise their viewpoint and then help raise their voices.

“We ran a ‘self ID’ initiative last year to try and gain a deeper insight to our workforce. Once we have an idea of the communities we’re working with, our responses are tailored to those audiences and we’re able to support them in a more effective manner. The initiative was an opportunity for people to share so we could better understand them and work on making sure we are inclusive as an organisation and building that culture.”

Prioritising inclusion

When it comes to achieving a successfully inclusive organisation, Aamani’s priority is ensuring all colleagues are comfortable to be their authentic selves at work, celebrating uniqueness and not feeling fearful or pressured about their speech, actions or choices.

“A healthy organisation looks like someone coming to work and feeling really comfortable as who they are, and being able to come through that door at work and not leave anything of themselves behind. We talk about this ‘authentic self’ all the time, coming to work feeling really confident, not feeling like we can’t talk about certain things. Our differences making us stronger and celebrating them.

There’s a real fear when it comes to inclusion that you might say the wrong thing. People hear the words ‘diversity and inclusion’ and feel it’s about policing language. It’s this fear that is a barrier we need to overcome. We’re always learning, and language is evolving, so we too have to evolve. Once we get rid of that fear, we are able to grow. There’s no destination when it comes to inclusion. You’re always learning.”

People make the organisation

With ongoing transformation throughout HPE, it’s essential to focus on the people that drive the company every day. Aamani has worked to offer the right support, acknowledging that change can be unsettling, and identifying the unique and varied needs of a large workforce.

“The most important thing to remember is that it’s the people that make the organisation. Communicating openly, having support from the right people leaders and team members is what drives the company ethos and keeps that morale. So when we get comments and requests, it’s really important that we’re able to offer the right support. Change is very scary for anybody, and it’s important that we support our people throughout that change.

“It’s about consultation as well and it’s important to put yourself in that person’s position - to have empathy, to think deeply about the impact of what that change would have for every single person in the organisation. Our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) play an essential part in communication and fostering inclusion.”

With four thriving ERGs and a fifth about to launch, HPE provides hubs for people to learn with employee-led initiatives. All groups are made up of members who identify with the group or are allies, and each has a set of objectives focusing on education, empowerment, leading the way and starting important conversations.

The ERGs are:

Women at HPE

Pride at HPE

Race and culture network

Disabilities network

And a new STEM network is coming soon

“I hope as we go into the next year that we can work with each of these ERGs with a more intersectional approach. There’s so many ways they can work together so we don’t silo anybody off. Everyone is involved and we’re taking the journey together.”

Alex Podmore
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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