Sky is home to a wealth of D&I networks, including groups supporting Sky’s LGBT+ community, Women@Sky, BAME employees, disabled colleagues and parents.
The media titan also runs Women in Leadership and Women in Technology and Engineering initiatives, alongside its MAMA Youth Project and Digify, the latter offering training and placements for young people from minority backgrounds.
Nima Baniamer, product owner at Sky Community and co-chair for LGBT+@Sky, tells Retail Week that a large part of the company’s inclusion agenda is “a grassroots movement fostered by colleagues who want to make their workplace a fair, diverse and inclusive environment”.
“We all have a responsibility to treat each other with respect, but that culture can only be created by a business keen to tackle it and face it full front”
Nima Baniamer, Sky
He explains: “We spend more time at work than we do outside it, and to spend that time not feeling like you can be yourself has an extremely detrimental impact on one’s mental and physical health.
“We all have a responsibility to treat each other with respect, but that culture can only be created by a business keen to tackle it and face it full front.”
Sky UK was recognised by Stonewall as one of the top 100 employers in 2019. Baniamer shares the following advice for businesses looking to create an inclusive culture:
- Seek to understand your own ‘pain points’ through people surveys and feedback: “Businesses often focus too much on quotas and box-ticking exercises. You should have conversations with your colleagues, understand their obstacles and barriers, and then build a strategy around that.”
- Ensure employee visions are being activated in all parts of the business – appointing local champions and leads helps to ensure that no employee is left behind.
- Check that HR policies are aligned with industry best practice. There are a variety of organisations such as Stonewall that can help companies with this.
- Encourage colleagues to share their stories and make these visible company-wide. Baniamer explains: “Through sharing individual stories and experiences, you shine a light on the obstacles and struggles minority groups face every day, and it reinforces the importance of inclusion groups.”
Source : Sky UK
