The Inclusion of the Year Award
Inclusive employers create an environment where anyone can thrive. They tap into the widest pools of talent, and shortlist people from a variety of backgrounds, to ensure diversity and capability that builds resilience.
Inclusion and belonging brings out the best in people, who stay longer and provide consistency for clients. Inclusion drives both employee and customer engagement, improves productivity, enables more profitable growth, and builds long-term value.
The Inclusion Award celebrates organisations and individuals that have demonstrated exceptional commitment to inclusivity, driving the right initiatives, defining the most meaningful metrics and proving the commercial case for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
Judges will look for exemplary internal and external campaigns, recruitment practices, onboarding and inclusion strategies that have led to higher levels of retention and progression. Judges will also look for evidence of how this is aligned with commercial objectives, and how it has improved performance and customer engagement.
SCORING
In this category judges will compare the extent to which each candidate has demonstrated excellence in the following areas:
Employee & Customer Engagement 30%
- Explain how you have embedded a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion in your organisation from recruitment and onboarding to development and career progression.
- Provide case study examples and top line data to demonstrate how your DE&I policies or initiatives have enabled you to attract or retain customers and employees over the last 18 months.
- What is your company doing to promote DE&I in your industry or through your supply chain?
Leadership & Innovation 25%
- Show us how the management structure and leadership philosophy of your company has driven DE&I and how this has enabled improvement in employee engagement, retention and progression over the last year.
- Demonstrate evidence of how innovative your DE&I policies or initiatives are, or how you have applied innovation to improve employee productivity, performance, retention and progression over the last 18 months.
Financial Performance & Growth 25%
- How do you benchmark against your peers in terms of sales, profitability or market share?
- Explain your key growth metrics, including financial targets, KPIs, timescales and overall ambitions plus examples of how DE&I policies or initiatives have helped to improve or achieve them.
- How has your company performed against your growth plan? Show examples and/or case studies of any DE&I initiative that has supported, or will drive further, commercial success.
Purpose Beyond Profit 20%
- How does your guiding mission, values or purpose align with your growth objectives?
- What is your company doing to improve environmental, social or governance impact and how are these initiatives aligned with your DE&I approach?
- How has your approach to diversity, equity and inclusion supported success?
