Equality, Diversity & Communities - What can you do to make a difference?
Kathy Dyball, Head of Marketing, Caterer.com
Diversity, Equality & Inclusion in the workplace: Bring your whole self to work for happiness and success!
Let me be honest; i’m not an expert in Diversity, Equality & Inclusion and my employer isn’t either. But we have committed to achieving equity in our workplace. At Caterer.com (Totaljobs Group) we want people to bring their whole selves to work, for happiness and success. For us, DE&I isn’t a document, or a badge, it’s a culture that needs nurturing continually, and is everyone’s responsibility.
So here, i’m giving a little insight into how we’ve approached DE&I so far.
2020 lessons
Pre 2020, our DE&I strategy was evolving well. We had worked on equitable hiring and management practices and formed employee groups for women and LBTQ+ colleagues.
But in May 2020, the killing of George Floyd of course triggered a sudden sharp focus for us.
It opened eyes, minds and conversations in our business to a lack of equity and kickstarted a dialogue about race and ethnicity. We looked closely at ourselves, our culture and our workforce. We knew we had work to do.
Empowering change
The first step was to educate ourselves and gain a deeper understanding of equity, what it means, how it’s enabled and also prevented. There’s a mass of free information out there, readily available. From the Senior Leadership Team, right across the business, everyone was encouraged to be accountable.
Inside the business, groups and platforms were created for black employees to speak and be heard, for allies to come together in support.
The more we listened the more uncomfortable we became…but the more we listened the more we learned, and the more inspired and committed to action we were. As a business and as people, we needed to look beneath the surface and be honest about the hidden aspects that impact equity, such as unconscious bias, white privilege and micro aggression.
We were lucky enough to partner with some incredible experts in the field, such as Shereen Daniels, MD HR Rewired, who helped us develop. You can watch an honest conversation between our CEO Jon Wilson and Shereen here about the work employers need to do to enable equity.
Day to day action and allyship
Today, we have many new and active DE&I groups in the business, with hundreds of members. They enable safe spaces, champion equity in our workplace and drive the change that’s needed. These include The Anti-Racism Group, The Black Network and a DE&I Management Taskforce, which are part of our ‘All In Network’ that enables all employees to get involved.
The groups meet regularly and are entirely employee led. They’ve delivered fantastic activities on Black History, Breast Cancer, Domestic Violence and Menopause and recently Racial Equality Week (this week!).
To the future, together
We’re clear on what our culture is and what we want it to be, but the work is ongoing. For us, DE&I is a ‘forever objective’. We want all our employees to move with us, but just as in wider society, we know not everyone agrees.
This can be hard to accept, but enabling our colleagues to educate themselves is part of the process. We know that as in all workplaces, those that fit with and add to the culture will be those that stay and thrive within it.
For us, that means an equitable culture in which everyone can bring their whole selves to work, no question.
