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The HR Suite founder and author of a new children’s book Caroline McEnery (right) with Mikayla O’Sullivan and Emma Fenix at Enable Ireland. Pic: Pauline Dennigan
THE HR Suite has launched a new book to promote diversity and inclusivity in order to mark its 10th anniversary in business.
The workbook, entitled ‘Celebrating You’, will be available to download for free and it is hoped it will be used to motivate discussions around diversity and inclusivity – both at home and at work.
The HR Suite is based in Kerry and Dublin and offers tailored human resources and business solutions to clients across the country. It has 15 full-time staff members, including a team of consultants.
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The book is aimed at teachers, parents and guardians who can read it as a storybook to children to spark conversations around various topics. It is also hoped that other companies will use it as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes.
‘Celebrating You’ was the brainchild of The HR Suite founder Caroline McEnery. She says: “When our 10th anniversary was coming up, I wanted do something different that would give something back to the community in a positive way. We have received so much support over the ten years since we were in business that I wanted to show how grateful we were by doing some good for society.
“We tried to identify ways to celebrate our 10th birthday with something that would help from both a social perspective but also respond to what our clients are saying they need impactful help with. As equality and diversity in the workplace has never been a more important topic to embrace as employers, managers and team members, we decided to work on this initiative.”
While the book is free, the HR Suite would encourage those who download it to donate to Enable Ireland, which works to enable and empower children and adults with disabilities to achieve independence, choice and inclusion.
Sean Scally, Enable Ireland Fundraising Manager, says: “We are delighted to be the beneficiaries of this project by The HR Suite. Diversity is an important topic for children and adults using our services and this book is a unique opportunity to explore diversity and difference with children.”
Caroline McEnery adds: “We believe that CSR goes beyond compliance; that it is a voluntary concept, led by a business, to positively impact society. This interactive workbook for children can stimulate and work in conjunction with companies’ CSR movements. It could be rolled out to all employees – not just those who are parents but coaches, uncles, aunts etc.”
Each page has a short story and illustrations which deal with various topics – from the variety of family makeups and coping with grief to being excluded or being different.
“All of the issues are ones we have encountered during our work. We hope that this book will help parents, guardians and teachers to approach these issues as if we start bringing home these messages to young people at an early age then it becomes a normal part of life. The topic will become a social norm to deal with challenges that occur in life’s journey,” says Caroline.
