What’s happening at the CBI?

The CBI needs to win back the trust of our members, the business community and the country. You’ll have seen some of the decisive action we’ve taken in the news. But it’s a small fraction of the work that’s going on behind the scenes, as we work up to our EGM and beyond. 

We’ll share an update each week to show how progress continues. 

Key takeaways

• On people and culture, we’re working hard to restore the trust of staff, members and stakeholders in our commitment to building a safe and inclusive culture. 
• On purpose, we’re listening to members to re-define our purpose, focused on what they see as our core strengths and the value we provide.
• And that’s all underpinned by work on our finance and operations, to ensure we continue to be a viable operation to support our members.

Get the detail

We’re working hard to restore the trust of staff, members and stakeholders in our commitment to building a safe and inclusive culture. 

Hopefully you will have seen that we’ve made two key appointments in Rain Newton-Smith’s first two weeks in post as Director General: 

• Principia Advisory have been appointed as external, independent experts to support a root and branch review of our culture over the immediate term – and as long-term advisors to keep us to that commitment.
• We’ve also appointed Elizabeth Wallace as our Interim Chief People Officer to oversee the implementation of all 34 of the recommendations put forward by Fox Williams. She sits on the CBI’s Executive Committee and reports directly to the Board on matters of workplace conduct and culture, ensuring that culture and employee experience remains a constant strategic priority.   

Both appointments are significant in ensuring we can effectively rebuild trust and show our commitment to building a safe and inclusive culture ahead of our EGM on 6 June. But the work won’t end there, and they are just two elements of a long-run programme of change within the CBI that involves all our staff. 

Our people and culture project is creating the necessary opportunities and safe spaces for everyone to provide their thoughts on how we deliver the process of cultural renewal within the CBI. 

• Principia’s work includes a staff wide survey, a series of focus-group deep listening sessions, 1:1 discussions, and a dedicated, confidential email inbox.  
• We’ve put in place a permanent, independent and confidential whistleblowing channel outside the CBI. 
• We’re working with representatives of the internal Staff Forum and Networks and additional volunteers across the organisation to ensure we’re gathering ongoing feedback. 
• We’re also reviewing all aspects of our training offer, as well as looking at how we support wider discussions on culture through awareness-raising events.  

Our governance structure is also being overhauled to ensure greater accountability. Our recruitment processes are being reviewed. And we’re also working to establish an Expert Advisory Panel on culture and ethics, which will act as an external sounding board providing feedback and findings as our work continues. 

We’re listening to members to re-define our purpose, focused on what they see as our core strengths and the value we provide 

Winning back trust is an important first step for us to be able to get back to what we do best. Because our members are telling us we still have a job to do in being the collective voice that speaks for all business across sectors, regions and nations. And they still see the need for our in-depth policy and economic expertise to provide the evidence that means their voice is heard. 

Hundreds of members have fed into our member survey and on listening calls we’ve held across our regions and nations. And our account managers are leading hundreds more one-to-one calls with businesses of all shapes and sizes.

These member views are feeding into Project Purpose, led by staff that care deeply about how and what the CBI can deliver for members, stakeholders and their colleagues. And as we shape our renewed purpose, priorities and offering, we’re testing those ideas with members too. 

All this work will form a central part of our planned Prospectus that we’ll send out to all members to consider ahead of their vote at our EGM. 

These projects are underpinned by ongoing work on our finance and operations, to ensure we continue to be a viable operation to support our members.

Further details on this will be included in the Prospectus too.