We want to better reflect the communities where we live and work and open up opportunities for people from minoritised backgrounds to work with and for us. This is central to our core aim of creating a culture that is as inclusive, diverse and as welcoming as possible.
We have a diversity, equity and inclusion plan in place, powered by a DEI group made up of team members with a passion for making progress in this area. Central to that plan has been putting in place really progressive policies in areas like parental leave and caring responsibilities, supporting our team to shine and make progress with us, whatever their background or circumstances.
We have worked with our recruitment partner to prioritise seeking candidates from minoritised backgrounds and making the application process as inclusive as possible, including offering interviews to anyone from an underrepresented or minoritised background who meets the criteria for a role. We create job descriptions that actively encourage more diverse recruits to apply by removing assumptions and barriers such as the requirement for formal qualifications.
In partnership with the Taylor Bennett Foundation, we run a summer intern scheme for people from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background who have ambitions to build a career in communications.
All of our staff are given regular training on diversity, equity and inclusion and we actively encourage our team to volunteer or support community organisations based in the area around our offices in east London.
We run an annual culture and wellbeing survey to understand individual experiences of work and life at Forster including information on the background and circumstances of our team, to inform how we can develop and improve our working culture. You can read the findings from this year’s survey in our impact report.
We’ve got a long way to go, so we are constantly looking for other ways to support our ambition to be as inclusive, supportive and welcoming as possible as a place to work.