15 Jun, 2023
Sadly, one that is often side-swiped by a few simple statements and “gender balance” hiring KPIs is a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) committee.
DEIB works to create awareness and foster a healthy culture. This deserves to be a priority and quite frankly should be a core focus for leaders and organisations members as a whole in today’s age. It should inform people of the necessary approaches to ensure the right foundations are put in place to see all individuals included, feeling psychology safe, supported and treated in an equitable way. As a result, an increasing number of people will flourish and be drawn to the organisation, not just the ones who fit the current culture mould. The benefits of a DEIB focused organisation are vast, people will work more collaboratively, innovation will increase, fostering a sense of belonging that will lower burn out culture, increase performance and produce higher employee retention, which creates unquestionable advantages by producing higher quality outcomes that will increase financial results.
As a founding member of Midnyte City, I can share that we had a heck of a lot to do in the first year of starting the business: from defining our service offering to exploring who our target customers were, hiring a team, creating policies and procedures, developing our website, implementing our working model and the ongoing support required across each of these streams. As it is for many startups, it was an exciting but challenging chapter, trying to make the best decisions whilst also getting off the ground as quickly as possible.
Chapter one saw us create a range of internal committees to tackle our top priorities. DEIB was one of the first committees formed, with a hope it would educate and influence many areas of our business. The common desire was not just to get things done, but to do things right from the get-go - even though this approach would take us more time, it was an investment opportunity we didn’t want to waste being we didn’t have the culture debt that many existing organisations are faced with.
Identifying our company values
DEIB training weaved into our commercial skills program- School @ Midnyte
Human centric recruitment processes and unconscious bias training
Advertising statements that reflect our DIEB commitment, culture and values
Create/ review our policies with appropriate messaging/ language through DEIB lens
Equitable performance expectations/ career pathways – calibre matrix
How we celebrate our people: from induction, promotions, to when people leave
How we maintain an ethical and inclusive culture as we scale
Maintaining ongoing gender diversity within our team
How we support women in the tech community and specifically within Midnyte City
Ethical events and panels we may support or participate in
Ethical community groups/ organisations we may partner with
Committed to the Diversity Charter: https://diversitycharter.org/signatories/
We didn’t approach our initiatives with a tick off the list attitude, our hope was to embrace a culture add approach, learning and considering the different views and experiences of our committee members, then form a shared understanding in how and why we would shape outcomes in a particular way. Before any work was finalised, our DEIB committee would present our updates and progress to the broader business, allowing further views to be considered before implementation.
Like any other organisation, Midnyte City has and will continue to go through a range of different chapters, whereby new priorities arise and changes can have an effect on culture. So there is an ongoing need to iterate and evolve DEIB works to ensure our appropriate processes, structures, training and leadership are in the right place for any given season. Our commitment at Midnyte City is to actively live up to our values, as individuals and a collective crew.
Below is our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Statement, which was collectively produced by our crew. We openly share this in hope to inspire others to consider your personal and collective cultures, along with the importance and value a DEIB approach can contribute to your organisation.
Midnyte City DEIB Statement
Midnyte City is dedicated to the evolution of technology culture. We see a vibrant industry where all voices, regardless of race, gender, social class or sexual orientation, weave together in the common pursuit of better technology.
We move towards that vision with thoughtful and deliberate team additions, client selections and working practices, while remaining open to continual learning, listening and improving. “The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.” Our imperative is to continually inspire raising that standard across the industry.
