Equality and diversity policy

Introduction

This document sets out our equality and diversity policy. We offer it as a record for ourselves, for comment and criticism by others and in the hope that it may inspire similar initiatives elsewhere.

Having a workforce that is inclusive and diverse is something that is important to us all at Cogapp.

Employing / working with people regardless of age, disability, sex or gender, marital status, race, ethnic origin, colour, nationality, national origin, religion or belief and sexual orientation helps us to thrive and be innovative.

How do we do this?

To foster a diverse and inclusive working environment we:

• Actively seek out and encourage people from groups under-represented in the tech industry with a strong, relevant skill set to apply for roles either as full-time employees or freelancers and recruit on the basis of aptitude and ability.
• When someone self-identifies as under-represented and applies for a job with us we will meet them in person to explore the possibilities and offer them guidance if we can.
• Set up an internal Diversity Working Group made up of a subset of employees. The group gets together regularly to discuss ways we can be more inclusive. Some suggestions already actioned include:
  • Schools outreach programme, including speaking at schools and colleges; attending jobs fairs; arranging studio visits for teachers and students.
  • Working to get underrepresented people into programming.
  • Making sure everyone feels heard and respected including quieter team members by using introvert-friendly brainstorm techniques, such as silent brainstorms.
  • Allowing staff to become mentors for people in under-represented groups externally to encourage them to get into digital and potentially get to a stage where we can hire them.
  • Organising and funding the decorating of our eight-storey building in rainbow colours for Brighton Pride.
• We are a founding member of the cross-agency Diversity Working Group which includes colleagues from the Sussex region and beyond.
• We’re signed up to the Wired Sussex Skills and Talent Manifesto.

Next Steps

Our Diversity Working Group will be the driving force on how we will progress and advance our aims in furthering our inclusivity. They will keep the momentum on our current actions by:

• Ensuring regular meetings are scheduled for the group.
• Create a list of tasks to work through in pivotal, prioritising where necessary.
• Work through the tasks using an OODA loop.
• Observe, orientate, decide and act on ideas repeating the process for each task.
• Investigate ways to gauge the impact that our diversity policies are having on us as a company and how we can grow this in the future.

This policy is fully supported by the senior management of the company and will be reviewed at least annually. Breaches of the policy may be regarded as misconduct and could lead to disciplinary proceedings.

Comments and suggestions

If you have any comments or suggestions please let us know using the form on our contact page. We would love to hear from you.