Diversity, inclusion & belonging at Beacon
We know that diverse teams make better decisions, solve problems quicker, and perform better than their less diverse counterparts. So, with our recent Series B fundraise propelling us into a new phase of growth, we want to make sure that the team we’re building and nurturing is inclusive and representative.
Sure, we are ensuring that our team is diverse from the offset. Recruiting is often the first port of call when building out a diverse team. But there are other very important things to get right first.
At Beacon, we’ve started with education. We’re providing accessible resources to help our team understand the perspectives and experiences of others, making sure they’re aware, empathetic and proactively inclusive.
Diversity, inclusion and belonging forum
We want everyone at Beacon to know how to be allies, so we’ve held training sessions to discuss privilege, unconscious bias, taking action and supporting causes that elevate minority communities.
Earlier this year, we created a forum for people passionate about inclusion to create content, review internal processes and advocate for new, creative initiatives.
We started as a small group, and have since grown to include 26 people from across all of Beacon’s teams. Working across four pillars, we’ve delivered monthly content on everything from ‘how to be an effective ally’ to ‘understanding neurodiversity’ and ‘addressing your privilege and bias’ as well as holding celebrations and events that promote diversity across Beacon.
Resources & external partnerships
In July we held a session on LGBTQ+ as part of our Pride celebrations. In August we curated content on neurodiversity and conducted practical training on ways to support neurodivergent team members
For Black History month, we hosted the wonderful Labour MP and public speaker, Ayo Sokale who joined us to speak about black history in the UK, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the UK black experience.
We are also working on collaborations with a number of local schools to provide students with an overview of career paths in technology and startups. In time, we hope to be able to offer some informal work experience as well as things like CV workshops and 1:1 mentoring to young people in our community.
Events & celebrations
Our forum celebrates inclusion by holding monthly charity events, quizzes, competitions and acknowledging important cultural celebrations with the team.
Employer branding & hiring
It’s hugely important to all of us at Beacon that candidates feel empowered to show us their authentic selves. We’ve recently launched a new careers page and have reviewed all the language that we use across our job descriptions, communications and recruitment events so it reflects our core values.
We have invested time in reviewing all of our hiring processes to ensure there are no opportunities for exclusion and have followed that up with training for all of our interviewers including sessions on unconscious bias in hiring.
Belonging & internal processes
If you’ve never felt that belonging is a problem, then you’ve been lucky enough to feel like you always belong. It’s a privilege that not everyone has experienced. We can have a diverse workforce that behaves and speaks inclusively, but unless all our people feel accepted, then we’ve still got work to do.
So, we’ve been working to understand how our colleagues feel and as a first step, we’ve audited all our internal policies and improved them where necessary to help everyone feel that they belong.
What’s next?
There’s a lot going on at Beacon, so we are now looking for a Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Manager to own this all-important part of our culture. It’s a great opportunity to make a difference. If you’re looking to make an impact, meet some great people and drive our strategy as we scale, please get in touch!
