At We are Futures we care deeply about creating a fair and inclusive environment for everyone. We recognise that Fairness, Diversity, and Inclusion (FD&I) are vital to our success and we are committed to championing this.

In November last year we held a FD&I month. During this time, we hosted unconscious bias training to get people talking and learning about how to remove the damage of subconscious prejudices. We also invited one of our clients to share the work they are doing in this area, and will continue to work with our clients to review both existing and future projects, ensuring that FD&I is applied across all our work. We will continue to offer quarterly training sessions to keep fairness in the conversation.

Following this FD&I month, we are driving real and tangible changes, ensuring that all we do – recruiting, operating, and communicating – is done with fairness in mind.

Regarding our recruiting process for entry-level candidates, we have amended the criteria to focus particularly on creative, ambitious, and supportive values, rather than previous experience, as we know more disadvantaged candidates may not previously have had the opportunity for work experience. Future entry-level hires from under-represented communities will be enrolled on the Creative Access Development programme. This provides workshops and networking opportunities to share experiences of how others from under-represented communities in the creative industry have progressed, with tips and development pointers. Similarly, we worked with Sky to improve the diversity of their graduate recruitment, and were delighted to see that they are now recognised as an ‘Inclusive Top 50 Employer’ and a ‘Times Top 50 Employer for Women’.

Although we must also consider existing skillset for more senior positions, the criteria for all positions will increase its focus on passion and potential.

We recognise that everyone works differently, with different needs and personality types. Line managers have completed training to understand how to work with a diverse group of people, and teams are encouraged to pay extra attention to adapting ways of working. We also encourage our people to share their pronouns in their email signatures, helping to avoid instances where people feel they have been mislabelled. Similarly, we promote the ability of people to share their name pronunciations if they feel their name is frequently mispronounced.

We understand that there is always more that we can do, and will continue to drive change throughout 2021 and beyond.