Social inclusion
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Social Inclusion is one of the three key pillars of our Diversity & Inclusion strategy.
We aim to place a strong focus on providing career development opportunities for people regardless of their social, educational and financial backgrounds. We firmly believe that providing opportunities to a more socially diverse range of people will enrich our business.
To help us deliver on this, in 2022 we began a partnership with the Drive Forward Foundation. Drive Forward helps young adults leaving foster or residential care to achieve their full potential with exciting and sustainable employment opportunities.
In 2022 we:
- Held an inspiration session with Drive Forward introducing a group of care-experienced young people to opportunities in the digital sector
- Began the process of one-to-one mentoring with a number of care-experienced people from Drive Forward
- We established a work experience programme and hold regular events to provide candidates from socially diverse backgrounds with inspiration, skills and pathways into employment
- Participated in BIMA Digital Day at a London school, working with students from all backgrounds to educate and inspire them around career opportunities in digital
- Hired our first apprentice, with a commitment to hire another in 2023 to reflect our ambitions around social inclusion
Our work continues, with more events and initiatives planned for 2023.