Our D&I strategy was launched in October 2020, and we made a number of commitments to increase the diversity of our workforce and the representation of wider society within our content. We are creating a pathway to 50/50 gender split across our workforce, with a 20% target of representation of ethnic minorities.
1
Attracting, developing and retaining young talent from a much broader pool
2
Driving gender and ethnic diversity in our wider leadership
3
Ensuring diversity and inclusivity in our workforce as well as the journalism and content we produce
In the past year, we have partnered with Kickstart – the first media brand to do so – and pledged to create up to 100 paid placements for unemployed young people, launched 45 two-year long apprenticeships and established more than a dozen partnerships with diversity recruitment specialists. We have developed leadership programmes for people from diverse backgrounds and have introduced diversity experts across our brands.
Our Diversity and Inclusion team work to support the business in its aims, reporting to our Diversity Board, which includes representatives from all parts of our business including The Sun, The Times and Sunday Times, and broadcasting brands including talkSPORT, Times Radio, talkRADIO and Virgin Radio.
We support a number of employee-led networks giving a voice to under-represented groups within the organisation. Groups that we support include the Cultural Diversity Network, Parents and Carers, Mental Health networks and LGBTQ+ group News Is Out.