In July 2020 we united for inclusion, we pledged to listen and learn and to improve both our corporate and individual behaviours. National Inclusion Week is focusing on this unity and the progress employers have made.
Working together is core to Venn Group’s identity and following our D&I training programme delivered to every employee, we have committed to and united behind three core values to be accountable to and integrate into our day-to-day actions. These values are:
Do not accept exclusionary behaviour because “it’s the way it’s always been”
Create an environment where all can share in an open way
Be open to challenge – being more comfortable having uncomfortable conversations
These values were collectively decided by our management team guided by our D&I partner Avenir, and all employees are united in their implementation.
When we set about creating our D&I strategy for 2021, we wanted all of our employees to feel confident speaking on topics such as race, sexuality, disability etc and to be empowered to act as diversity and inclusion champions who role model everything the company stands for.
All members of the management team including the board completed a two-month Inclusive Leadership training course delivered by our D&I partners, Avenir. This course focused on topics such as equality vs equity, merit, privilege and bias and how our managers can add value in the D&I space to their teams.
Every other employee received training on Inclusive Teams, which focused on creating an educational environment where everyone feels confident and comfortable enough to “call in or call out” discriminatory behaviour/comments.
To ensure full transparency across the company our DEI Associate, Ken Kittoe, then brought together all employees to discuss their learning, the impact the training had on them and our three chosen values.
We are excited about the progress we have made and know our continuous learning in D&I will be critical to the success of our business and in turn our employees.