Tips, Tools & Guides
Here you will find the latest news updates and information.
Race At Work Charter (Business In The Community)
The Race At Work Charter asks businesses to make a public commitment to improving equality of opportunity in the workplace, with seven calls to action to improve race equality, inclusion and diversity in the workplace. “
The seven key actions have accompanying resources to amplify organisational commitment to improving the quality of opportunity in the workplace.
1. Appoint an Executive Sponsor for race equality.
2. Capture ethnicity data and publicise progress.
3. Commit at board level to zero tolerance of harassment and bullying.
4. Make equity, diversity and inclusion the responsibility of all leaders and managers.
5. Take action that supports Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse employee career progression.
6. Support race inclusion allies in the workplace.
7. Include Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse-led enterprise owners in supply chains.
Guide to DEI in Media (World Federation of Advertisers)
The goal of the WFA Guide to DEI in Media is to help advertisers build media plans that are representative of today’s society, as well as play a role in building a media ecosystem where diverse voices thrive. Just as important as the messages we put out, is where they show up. Advertisers’ media planning & buying choices can play a significant role in supporting diversity and inclusion in the mainstream media landscape. And conversely, they can also have, often unintentionally, a negative impact too.
Delivering scale against wide-ranging, diverse consumer bases is rarely a challenge in itself (thanks to mainstream media) but there are substantial opportunities to build more nuanced relevance and fund a richer media ecosystem. Decisions that advertisers take can heavily impact the platforms, publications or editorial that gets funded (or not), which in turn plays a key role in shaping the overall media landscape. There are clear Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) opportunities for advertisers to consider within their media choices. These include working with minority-owned and operated media vendors, helping to fund narratives and people that are breaking new grounds and empowering community inclusion and diversity, as well as taking steps to prevent the funding of hate speech and misinformation, without blocking positive voices that represent diverse communities.
Download WFA Guide to DEI in Media January 2022
Marketers' Approach to Diversity & Inclusion (World Federation of Advertisers)
The WFA’s ‘A Marketer’s Approach to D&I’ showcases examples of leading D&I work and offers practical advice on how you can channel diversity across your creative and in your company more generally (ensuring you are ‘walking the talk’).
The guide is split into different identities that are under, or often poorly, represented in advertising: race, ability, sexuality, gender identity and age. However the intersectionality among these groups must be considered to truly move the needle.
The guide ultimately recommends 5 key actions around Focus, People, Content, Media & Attitude.
Download the WFA Marketer's Approach to Diversity and Inclusion
Setting up an LGTQ+ Network
Did you know….. 41% of LGBTQ+ staff don’t feel comfortable coming out at work; 43% of gay men experienced homophobia at work; 62% of LGBTQ+ graduates go back into the closet after starting their first job?
This guide from Outvertising sets out to offer advice and best practice in setting up an LGBTQ+ network in your place of work. It draws on the experience of those within the advertising industry who have already done so, outlines the benefits to be had and addresses the most frequently asked questions.
Simply talking about diversity isn’t enough. To be an employer of choice diversity needs to be encouraged and inclusivity actively promoted. Setting up an LGBTQ+ network demonstrates a commitment to a safe, inclusive culture that in turn can deliver benefits to both business and employees.
Some of the benefits of setting up an LGBTQ+ Network:
Provides a safe environment for employees without need to ‘self-censor’
Encourages support network of ’allies’ within the business
Enables employees to be their authentic selves
Establishes LGBTQ+ role models within the agency
Increases productivity and happiness of staff
Download Outvertising LGBTQ networking guide ERGs
Supporting Neurodiversity in the Workplace (BUPA – May 2022)
Helping everyone thrive at work. Did you know that in the UK….. 1 in 10 people in the UK are thought to be dyslexic; more than three in 100 adults have ADHD; at least one in 17 people are thought to be dyspraxic; around 700,000 adults and children are autistic?
To help every employee perform at their best, it’s important to get to know each person and understand how traditional workplaces might affect neurodivergent individuals. In this BUPA guide to supporting neurodiversity in the workplace, they explain what neurodiversity is, the values of neurodiversity and how you can adapt to support everyone at work.
Download BUPA Neurodiversity in the workplace
What Women Want Report 2023 by Work 180
The What Women Want Survey & Report reveals what women and marginalised groups want and need to thrive in the workplace. The report helpfully ranks the top 15 employer offerings as rated by a global audience of women.
The top 5 for the UK were:
1. Paid leave entitlements
2. Career development opportunities
3. Women in leadership positions
4. An inclusive culture
5. Flexible and remote working options
The report goes on to deep-dive into 5 key themes:
1. Equal access to career development opportunities
2. Genuine flexible working policies
3. Parental leave policies that support gender equity
4. Increased empathy and mental well-being
5. Transparency and proof of progress
Download WORK180 What Women Want report 2023
An Interviewer Guide Discussing Flexible Working With Candidates by Work 180
Flexible working is in-demand from candidates, on offer from competing employers, and an inevitable topic in today’s interview process. It’s therefore important that hiring managers are confident facilitating positive conversations around this policy. In a Work 180 survey, 72% of respondents said that flexible working practices were more important than a top-of-market salary.
Flexible working is flexible, and this lack of standardisation can make it a difficult topic for hiring managers to tackle if unprepared in an interview. Such confusion can cause both a poor candidate experience and unhappy hires. But, get it right, and flexible working discussions can help create an inclusive hiring process that attracts and retains a truly diverse workforce — and this guide is here to help.
The guide focuses on answering the following questions:
What is flexible working?
What are candidates looking for?
What does your company currently offer?
What can candidates find at other companies?
How to address the gaps in your offering?
Download Guide for Hiring Manager Discussing Flexible Working
Role Models in Consumer Goods & Grocery
Role modelling has been identified as one of the most successful tools for promoting D&I in the workplace. With this in mind in 2020, the IGD & The MBS Group identified 70+ role models from the consumer goods and grocery sector, with the view to demonstrate the breadth and depth of inspiring talent in the sector. These role models were nominated and selected because of their inspiring leadership, their wider contribution to the sector or society, their success as a mentor or sponsor of D&I issues and their track record of supporting and publicly committing to D&I initiatives.
Leaders are asked questions such as:
What are the main benefits of having a diverse and inclusive workforce?
What are the challenges in preventing further progress around D&I?
Have you noticed different ownership structures influence the business’s thinking around inclusivity?
How important were role models in your development and journey?
When it comes to diversity and inclusion, is the UK different to other markets that you’ve led in?
What are you doing to encourage a more diverse workforce?
Do you think in any way you were disadvantaged being a woman?
Download Role models in consumer goods and grocery
IGD Reverse Mentoring
The IGD aim to create a more inclusive food and consumer goods industry by supporting companies to drive positive cultural change. Through this IGD reverse mentoring programme, they aim to create a safe and collaborative space for leaders to hear the lived-in experiences of those from under-represented groups. This will help build knowledge and understanding of what great inclusion
Benefits of reverse mentoring:
Create the opportunity for the mentee to hear diverse perspectives, to generate better awareness and understanding of inclusion and to ultimately inspire action within their own organisations.
Create the opportunity for under-represented groups to share their views on inclusion and build a senior network.
Connect people across different companies and help build cross industry networks.
How does it work?
Mentoring partnerships are made up of two individuals from different, non-competing companies across the food and consumer goods industry.
Reverse mentoring partnerships comprise:
A mentee – a senior person who can impact the business culture (typically Director, General Manager, Head of level). Someone looking to broaden their understanding of inclusion and who wants to be part of leading change in our industry.
A reverse mentor from an under-represented background who would benefit from the opportunity to grow an external network and support a mentee to broaden their knowledge and understanding of inclusion. Someone who wants to be part of leading change in our industry.
What is the time commitment?
Participants will need to commit 5 hours over a 3–4-month period, as follows:
Virtual welcome event (1 hour)
Mentoring sessions (3 hours)
Drop-in sessions (optional)
Virtual wrap up event (1 hour)
When do you have intakes?
Intake 1: 27 March - 26 June, survey deadline 28 February 2024
Intake 2: 8 May - 31 July, survey deadline 3 July 2024
Intake 3: 9 October - 9 January, survey deadline 25 September 2024
Next steps
Working in an HR or I&D team and think your company would like to take part in this programme? Apply here: https://www.igd.com/social-impact/people/inclusion-and-diversity/reverse-mentoring-programme
Download IGD Reverse Mentoring Guide 2023
Gender Bias Decoder
Did you know 1 in 4 job ads has an overall male bias in the language and terminology used? Research has shown that women are put off applying for jobs that contain male-coded language, whereas female-coded language doesn’t put men off. The top 5 most frequently used male-biased terms are ‘individual’, ‘challenging’, ‘independent’, ‘analyse’ and ‘confident’, compared to the top female-biased terms of ‘understanding’, ‘committed’, ‘trust’, ‘dependent’ and ‘child’.*
To achieve greater workplace equality, we have to focus on addressing male bias. The Totaljobs Gender Bias Decoder reveals hidden gender-specific words and offers alternatives to make your text less biased. Research shows that many words are associated with masculine or feminine stereotypes, such as aggression or compassion. These words can unconsciously influence the jobs people apply for. Use the Gender Bias Decoder to check if you’re using gender-biased terms and to see suggested alternatives.