Building a more diverse network of talent

The UK’s technology sector is expanding three times faster than the rest of the UK economy yet is still struggling to attract a diverse workforce to fill the abundance of roles being created. According to Diversity in Tech, only 19% of the UK’s technology workforce are women, compared to an average of 49% across all other industries. Furthermore, only 15% are from BAME backgrounds.

As an industry that represents the needs of everyone in the country, the fibre industry has much to gain from ensuring its teams are recruiting people regardless of their gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or disability.

To understand the state of play within the fibre industry, we asked our cohort of contributors to consider the following:

-Do you have diversity goals, if so what are they?

-In what ways does a diverse workforce and leadership team benefit fibre providers specifically?

-As a whole, where is the fibre sector now in terms of its diversity, and where does it need to be?

Stephanie Ashmore, G.Network: We want our workforce to reflect the diversity of the communities that we serve. That means creating employment opportunities that are accessible to all Londoners. That is why we became the only telecoms company to sign up to the 10,000 Black Interns initiative. We have also created a Reskillship programme which trains mid-career joiners to be fully qualified fibre engineers. These initiatives mean we can access and develop an incredibly talented, passionate and diverse workforce.

We know that the fibre sector can struggle to attract female talent. We also know that there is less diversity at senior management layers, so as a sector we need to identify and overcome the barriers that exist at these levels. Through initiatives like our menopause or early pregnancy loss policies, we diversify and sponsor our talent pipelines.

We want to create a working environment in which everyone’s voice is heard. We believe that diverse teams make better decisions and that creates better outcomes for our customers. We aim to publicly celebrate that difference. We had a week-long internal celebration of Neurodiversity in autumn 2021, and continue to publicly tell the stories of neurodiverse G.Networkers wherever we can.

Like everyone in the sector, we have more to do so everyone can be their best and contribute their best.

Ayshea Robertson, Zen: Tech as a whole has not been a sector to traditionally embrace diversity and inclusion (D&I), but I think the fibre industry is leading the way here with a forward-thinking approach and an emphasis on D&I as central to its talent strategy.

Diversity data plays a key role to ensuring the industry is attracting a diverse pool of talent as it enables businesses to build a picture of what the challenges are. Having access to meaningful D&I data that can be analysed means you can focus attention on areas of priority and set some realistic targets.

Increased diversity brings a broader range of skills and experience, and consequently drives innovation and creativity, essential attributes for the fibre industry. In fact, there are many reasons having a focus on D&I will create a competitive edge. Diversity allows different perspectives, and this helps develop more relevant products or solutions for customers. A McKinsey study found that ethnically diverse workforces are more financially successful, and that companies with a better gender balance are more likely to outperform those who do not. Along with all this, companies who proactively embrace D&I, have a greater talent pool to fish from, create a far better employer brand and are able to retain top talent.

Mike Thompson, Trenches Law: We’re in a male-dominated industry and want to challenge the ‘status quo’. Our Managing Director, Sharon McDermott empowers every colleague to succeed.

Our diversity goals are apparent in recruitment – we are a progressive organisation that doesn’t look for the ‘finished article’. It’s about energetic individuals with the right attitudes, who want to learn. Many of our wayleave team – 71% women: 29% men – don’t have a telecoms background but they soon develop into specialists.

When different voices come together, they create innovative results rather than the same old outcome. Having transferrable skills is an advantage – the telecoms sector vastly benefits from communicators, collaborators and problem-solvers. If you can identify how to streamline a process, you’ll be a jewel in the crown for many forward-thinking fibre providers.

There’s still more to be done to tackle the lack of diversity. While it’s getting better in the telecoms industry, change is happening at a slow rate.

We all have a part to play in the future workforce. For example, could job adverts be more inclusive so they attract a wider talent pool? Can businesses provide hybrid working, autonomy and flexibility? Entering our industry shouldn’t be intimidating but inviting to a new generation of connectivity leaders.

Julie Richard, CityFibre: Our overarching goal is to create an inclusive organisation that is representative of the communities we serve. This ambition has three core elements: Increase diversity; embed D&I across company activity; and enhance, promote and celebrate our inclusive culture.

Having diversity at all levels of the business is vital for full fibre providers. Full fibre is for everyone. How can we know we are meeting the needs of all customers if we cannot relate to them? Having employees from a wide range of backgrounds who can share their thoughts, values and experiences allows the industry to take a rounded view. We know fibre is here for the long term, in addition to immediate priorities, having a diverse workforce allows us to create a supportive environment along with opportunities and long-term skills for future generations.

The industry is beginning to understand the importance of diversity, but it needs to embrace the culture and mindset shift to reap the true benefits of different thoughts, ideas and values and allow for innovation. At CityFibre we are actively taking steps both to increase the diversity of our employees and provide an inclusive culture that gives employees a voice. As well as early careers and academies creating opportunities to move into the industry, our policies, processes and ways of working are designed to open doors.

Ruth Kennedy, TalkTalk Wholesale: Here at TalkTalk, we believe fibre is for everyone – everyone. We must understand our customers and partners as much as possible before we can overcome concerns and ensure the entire country can benefit from fibre. 

By fostering a more diverse team, we can better understand those factors, prioritise them and devise innovative ways to support our employees, partners and end-users. When our staff feel valued they also deliver a better service to our customers which is a win for everyone! 

We’re taking a proactive approach to ensure diverse representation at senior levels by signing up to the ‘If Not Now, When? Campaign’, which commits us to taking long-term actions on black inclusion. We’ve introduced masked CVs within our recruitment process to reduce bias, and partnered with Inclusive Companies who specialise in equality, diversity and inclusion, helping us to improve inclusion throughout the operation. 

We’re also encouraging and celebrating diversity through our employee-ran networks such as TalkPride, Wellbeing, and Women in Tech forums, so staff can have open and challenging conversations, where they are free to voice their opinions and explore new initiatives.

Lauren Dutnall, Vorboss: Quotas don’t solve the underlying problem. To see real change, organisations need to do much more than just set goals. Diversity and inclusion also need to be considered holistically, attracting a diverse workforce is completely different to retaining a diverse workforce.

From Vorboss’ inception we’ve known we need a workforce that truly represents the rest of London and society. You can’t really put a number on that.

In 2022 having a diverse workforce and leadership team isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s a business imperative. It enables better decision making, smoother operations and more creative problem-solving. For the fibre industry specifically, this is a huge advantage as the sector is traditionally very white male-dominated, when you look to move past that the talent that’s out there is really game-changing. 

We have a long way to go and the longer it’s left the harder it is to fix. Traditionally telecom companies have done a bad job at prioritising diversity and inclusion. It’s part of our mission at Vorboss to change that. 

Pictured (top left - bottom right) : Ashmore, Robertson, Thompson, Richards, Kennedy, Dutnall