We’ve always been committed to fostering a diverse workforce and inclusive culture here at Bipsync – a big part of that is a commitment to continuous evaluation and improvement. That’s why, earlier this year, Bipsync UK partnered up with Chwarae Teg, a charity building “a fairer Wales where women achieve and prosper”, to further evaluate our internal policies with the aim of promoting gender equality.
We’re pleased to announce that Bipsync has received the Leading Level certificate in Equality and Diversity, the highest achievement possible in the Chwarae Teg programme.
Specifically, this meant working closely with the Chwarae Teg team as part of their AN2 scheme. We set out to identify and evaluate areas of further improvement to our internal processes and diversity policies, particularly focused on fair access to development, workforce inclusion and recruitment opportunities.
The aim of the programme for us, was to improve and expand the position of women in our workforce both now and in the future, and ensure we foster fair flexible working policies for everyone – both during, and after, the Coronavirus pandemic.
We went through a series of best-practice performance and development workshops and received support on Equality and Diversity strategies which has resulted in a number of enhancements to our people policies, including:
- Regular team training to raise awareness of diversity programs and promote fair behaviors
- Enhanced family-friendly policies with additional communication processes for anyone on parental leave, e.g. more keep in touch days, distribution of promotion opportunities
- Established new policies for fair pay, well-being and work/life balance for everyone, and ensure managers are able to fully enable them – including topics such as mental and physical health, genuine flexibility in working hours and unlimited annual leave.
- Revamped our recruitment policy including a re-evaluation of job specifications e.g. adding positive action clauses to our recruitment policy and omitting gender bias in our job adverts.
- Enhanced performance and development policies and tools, including the addition of line manager expectations, mentor responsibilities, and adding learning and development policies and tools that offer training and internal mentorship to everyone in the business.
The programme certainly helped us identify the key areas of our policies and processes we could expand upon and improve, and gave great insight into what other progressive companies are doing. We value equality as a key component of our business, and believe a more diverse workforce is a crucial part of our open, inclusive culture. We’re excited to continue this momentum to enable us to continue to attract a diverse group of candidates to our career openings.
We’re delighted to have been awarded a Leading Level certificate, the highest achievement possible. But there’s always more to do – women and BAME groups continue to be underrepresented at every level across our industry and here at Bipsync we’re committed to be a part of changing that, ensuring the system is fair – now, and in the future.
You can see more on our work with Chwarae Teg in this case study, and learn more about the charity’s projects here.
