Diversity MARKET REPORT
“If our education environments can be encouraged to open all students minds to all careers, employers like us
are simply waiting for keen, energetic and committed people to come along”
Iain Sinnott, Head of Sales, VanillaIP
that time and 95% are still with
us. However, there is a de nite
gender imbalance in technology
jobs at a graduate level. We have
hired an Early Talent Manager,
who will be looking at an earlier
Apprentice age to reach out to
>
done then you won’t just stand
still but go backwards. A diverse
workforce is crucial to future
success.”
Alex Tempest, Managing
Director of BT Wholesale,
believes that workplace diversity
in the channel is good for
business, attracts new talent and
improves team performance.
“But a recent BT Wholesale
survey showed that 20% of
channel businesses don’t have
any women in leadership
positions, and while diversity
is much more than solving the
gender imbalance, it’s a collective
issue that the industry needs to
face.
at’s why we have launched
an ambitious Diversity and
Inclusion Strategy this year
to make BT one of the most
approachable, creative and
forward-thinking companies in
the industry so that we attract
and retain diverse talent.”
Kara Howard - Head
of Commercial Strategy at
TalkTalk Business, says diversity
is extremely important.
“We should treat everyone
as an equal and ensure that
everybody has the same
opportunities and respect as one
another. e more diversity we
bring into the channel, the more
ideas we’ll generate from our
di erent experiences and ways of
looking at things. It’s important
for businesses to attract diverse
talent from an early age and
recruit these younger people if
they truly want to change the
channel.”
What are your company
policies around recruitment to
attract more diverse talent?
Rohita Kopf at Sky, “We are
committed to achieving gender
parity through a number of key
recruitment initiatives. One
of our actions is to ensure our
recruitment practices are fair and
consistent for everyone.
We have levelled the playing
eld by ensuring (when
possible) shortlists for all
roles are 50% male and 50%
female. We now make sure
that all job applications are
gender coded so that the job
description appeals to males and
females. We are also evolving our
own practices by committing
to gender balanced interview
panels, to make sure we have a
fair and balanced approach to
how we recruit new talent.
But it doesn’t stop
there. We have created a
mentor programme for
aspiring Sky Business
leaders, allowing employees
in developing
roles access to mentors across the
business to help them learn new
skills and learn di erent ways of
working to support their growth.
All Sky Business employees get
access to development workshops
to discuss their development
plans and are given guidance
on setting goals and how to
achieve them. We ensure teams
take time out of their busy work
diaries to do this as we have
found it to be very important
and improves motivation.”
BT’s Alex Tempest says their
policies make sure they recruit in
a gender-neutral way.
“We always take a bestpractice
approach to make sure
we’re at the forefront of driving
change. at means advertising
jobs with gender neutral
language and creating diverse
shortlists.
Our HR policies include a
number of exible working
options like homeworking, job
shares and adjusted working
patterns that mean our people
can start late or nish early to
t in with commitments such as
school runs. We do this so we
attract and keep the best people.
And our brilliant maternity
policies saw 89 per cent of our
colleagues return to work last
year, compared to a national
average of 77 per cent.
Our apprenticeship
programme that is open to all
ages provides an alternative
to further study through a
method of blended learning,
ultimately providing apprentices
with a vocational quali cation
and brings a fresh and new
perspective to BT.
Esther Park
says Nimans is
fortunate to have a
diverse and mixed
workforce as part of
a near 400-strong
operation.
“Around 35%
have been here over
10 years and we’ve
also got a constant
ow of new people
too as the company
continues to expand.
ey bring fresh
and di erent ideas.
We always try and
attract the broadest
range of applications
and have developed
strong links with
local schools and
colleges. For many
years we’ve been
running a productive
apprenticeship
programme with
new talent employed
across the business.”
Kara Howard says
that one of their core
values at TalkTalk is
‘We can be ourselves
here’. “We want to
hire people from a
variety of di erent
backgrounds.
Everyone should feel
included and free
to be themselves at
TalkTalk.
As our HQ moved
to its new home in
Salford this year,
we’ve been building
relationships with
local educators, such
as e University
of Manchester and
Salford Business
School. In doing
so, we hope to nd
diverse talent and
inspire young people to consider
telco as a career path. TalkTalk
Business has brought in 50
graduates to ll technology
roles in the last 12 months and
it’s been a great success, about
20% have been promoted in
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