Together celebrates National Inclusion Week.
As part of Together’s commitment to creating an inclusive environment, we celebrated National Inclusion Week this week.
Founded by Inclusive Employers, National Inclusion Week (NIW) is a week dedicated to celebrating inclusion and taking action to create inclusive workplaces. Together’s Group Chief Compliance Officer and Chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee, Sarah Nield shared her insight on how Together has encompassed this year’s theme of Take Action Make Impact and what inclusion means as part of our culture.
Why is inclusion so important to Together?
“Inclusion week is a very important week at Together. Inclusion is an integral part of our Play your Part beliefs – being accountable, respect for people and doing the right thing.
“We’re committed to building a community within the company where every colleague can be the best version of themselves and feel valued for the contribution they make and Inclusion Week is a big part of that.
“We already have a number of colleague-led Togetherness groups which have been formed to represent gender, age, disability, LGBTQ+, ethnic diversity, parents and carers, aspiring professionals, and mental health.
“We’re also proud to have joined the Business Disability Forum, to be Age Accredited by 55 Redefined, and to be a signatory to the Women in Finance and Race at Work Charters.”
Tell us a bit about what events Together has put on to support inclusion week?
“For this year’s Inclusion Week, we’ve hosted a number of events such as a Dementia Friends session & lunch. This aimed to give colleagues a general understanding of dementia, how it can affect individuals and how to provide support to people living with dementia.
“We also hosted an Introduction to Inclusion and an Inclusion Tools workshop, aimed at better equipping colleagues with the best language and tools to make Together an inclusive and collaborative place to work.
“A keynote session was our panel event, where we welcomed a range of external and internal people to discuss the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion to them and their individual DEI journeys.”
What are Together’s targets to help make the company a diverse and inclusive place to work?
“We have a range of targets covering the key DEI strands we have identified; gender, ethnicity, age and disability.
“These include having 50% of senior management roles being filled by women by 2026, 20% of leadership positions being filled by colleagues from underrepresented ethnic groups by 2025 and having 20% of colleagues being in the over 50 age bracket by 2026.
“In 2022 we received our Investors in People silver accreditation – 18 months ahead of our goal and our ambition doesn’t stop there; we’re aiming for gold by 2026.”
What plans do Together have to meet those targets?
“Our Executives have agreed, with the support of the DEI Committee, a comprehensive action plan for the forthcoming year.
“This focusses on education and awareness, recruitment processes and policies and practices. The plan was developed alongside our DEI strand leads and focus on the actions we believe will make the biggest difference to current and future colleagues and will help us move towards our targets.”
What plans are there to continue to make Together an inclusive place to work in the future?
“We’re launching ‘We are all similar, we are all different’ education workshops and a language guide for all colleagues in the next month.
“Our Executives have all committed to a DEI objective for the next performance year and we’re encouraging all colleagues to set their own as well.
“We continue to support the Togetherness groups and to encourage others to become allies and learn more.”