Karen Beardsell has 30 years of experience in HR, most recently as Director of HR at Stonewall.  Previously she worked at Contact, a charity for families with disabled children and Diabetes UK.

Since 2018, Karen has been self-employed working with several charities, arts and media organisations and has worked with TCM for 12 months for a variety of public and private sector clients.

Karen is passionate about making it possible for people with poor mental health to continue to contribute in the workplace and was part of the steering group that set up the MIND Wellbeing Index. She has educated herself in many mental health conditions and is confident in facilitating Wellbeing Action Plans that allow people to stay in work or return to work in a supportive manner.

Karen was part of a CIPD policy group on Diversity and Inclusion as part of The Future of Work is Human community.

She has also taken part in a diversity roundtable regarding the recruitment process.

At Stonewall, Karen was able to learn a lot about the experiences of LGBT people in the workplace.  She was also educated in best practice Diversity and Inclusion interventions as part of the Stonewall Equality Index. Karen is confident, through training and experience, speaking about sexual orientation and gender identity but also to having open and compassionate conversations with those who have less knowledge.

During the time Karen was at Stonewall the number of BAME staff increased from 8% to 13% by introducing inclusive recruitment procedures at all levels.

Karen helped to facilitate a Women’s Leadership Programme for the security services while at Stonewall.