GDEIB
5 Mar 2026
Global Diversity Equity & Inclusion Benchmarks have prepared this case study on their work with RUI
OVERVIEW OF THE REAL WORLD USERS
Apeksha Naik and Odis Palmer are the UK railway industry Inclusion and Belonging Leads, and they also co-chair the forum called Rail Unites for Inclusion. They work with numerous organizations in the UK rail industry, which is currently undergoing deprivatisation and transitioning back into the public domain. They are also co-convening owners of an industry Inclusion, Belonging, Wellbeing Community of Practice.
THE OPPORTUNITY/CHALLENGE
Within this capacity, a main challenge has been to understand the level of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) maturity across all of the disparate organizations in the rail industry. There was no unified, consistent way of measuring and categorizing DEI across the UK rail sector because train companies, which were under private ownership groups, kept their data private due to commercially sensitive relationships with the government and the public. The industry sought a definitive answer on what constituted best practice, which required a consistent measure, a universal language, and a unified approach to measuring and responding to measures across the country's various organizations.
THE SOLUTIONS
Becoming GDEIB Certified Practitioners and deploying GDEIB Digital
Apeksha and Odis decided that the Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Benchmarks (GDEIB) approach — given its comprehensive nature and evidence-driven approach — was the perfect fit to address the challenge.
They became official GDEIB Certified Practitioners to gain mastery, validity, and a deeper understanding of the Benchmarks process through formal training. Learning more about the "whys" and "hows" of GDEIB assessment and strategic application strengthened their confidence in using the Benchmarks for strategy and measurement. Certification has also allowed for global networking and good practices sharing with practitioners in other sectors and locations around the world.
Then they adopted the GDEIB Digital platform, and contributed towards developing the Pulse edition offered in plain language for staff. Today, they are using the Lite version for leaders as well as the Standard version for subject matter experts. This digital approach has helped pull in perception data from a vast number of railway workers, despite resource challenges, and has provided a standardized, consistent way to measure and compare maturity.
THE IMPACT
GDEIB Certification and GDEIB Digital have provided a consistent measure and, as importantly, a shared vocabulary for communicating about inclusion across the UK rail industry, which had been fragmented for 40 years due to privatization.
GDEIB Certification has helped advance their work by offering:
Validity and Credibility: Official certification gave Apeksha and Odis the credentials that demonstrated their “inside out” understanding of the GDEIB tool, method and strategies. This was crucial for convincing numerous disparate organizations to adopt a unified approach that led to more effective strategies and a faster shift to a more unified, inclusive workplace.
Facilitated Insights about Proven Good Practices Worldwide: The program allowed them to work with peers globally to look at complex real-world case studies and consider how to adapt and use similar good practices within their work, inspiring new, innovative solutions and strategies.
GDEIB Digital has also brought more value to the sector through:
Scalable Stakeholder Data: For train operating companies that lack dedicated DEI leads, GDEIB Digital is providing sufficient intelligence to generate actionable reports and insights that has led to more effective strategies — without the extra headcount.
Nuanced Quantitative Insights to Guide Rich Qualitative Inputs with More Precision: The reports and their intersectional analysis (e.g., by length of service) have revealed valuable “hidden” perceptions, such as new starters being highly positive in one cohort of Senior Leaders of a Train Operator. These insights have helped uncover important considerations that have further enabled them to focus their efforts in targeted feedback sessions with stakeholders, identify critical potential development areas, and promote industry-wide programs. For example, a powerful “perception and knowledge” gap analysis revealed misalignment between stated commitments and workforce experience, giving leadership an evidence-based roadmap for prioritized action.
Together, these new GDEIB offerings — Certification and Digital — have helped create a powerful shared vocabulary to unite disparate constituents. By using the Benchmarks approach, the different stakeholders across the country are now able to have common understandings and discussions about Inclusion and Belonging topics, in such a way that helps make efforts quicker to implement and more likely to stick.
Their experience with the GDIEB, GDEIB Certification and GDEIB Digital has been so positive that they have recommended to the UK rail industry chief executives and the Department of Transport that previous, inconsistent diversity and inclusion accreditation requirements be removed as being mandatory and instead replaced with the Benchmarks as they head towards Great British Railways.
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BOILERPLATE ABOUT
GDEIB / CO-AUTHORS
GDEIB CP / INSTITUTE FOR DEVELOPING ACROSS DIFFERENCES
GDEIB DIGITAL / CULTURAL INFUSION (ATLAS)