Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I) is at the heart of Independent Assessment Services (IAS). So much so, we’ve embedded it within our Foundations – which demonstrate what we stand for, driving our culture and influencing the way we work. Our people are what make IAS and what a diverse lot we are! That’s why we’re committed to fair treatment, recognising, respecting, and valuing differences.
We’re proud to have six networks for colleagues that support our unique and diverse workforce, each one driving an inclusive culture by raising awareness of the issues faced by people with different characteristics and providing a space to network and build connections across the wider Atos. This collaborative community is open to all colleagues and provides great support and learning opportunities via shared content, newsletters, webinars and events.
Diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives are powerful and allow us to have strong connections to one another on a daily basis.
Our networks include:
- The Adapt Network: committed to enabling colleagues with a long-term illness, impairment or disability reach their full potential.
- The Aeon Network: aims to ensure that all colleagues are given the same chance to grow and succeed, regardless of their age.
- The Armed Forces Network: a non-exclusive group which is open to all colleagues who wish to support our armed forces community.
- The Inspire Network: a group of colleagues, of all genders, who are striving to create a gender balanced workforce.
- The Pride Network: aims to bring together and support all lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBTQIA+) colleagues in the workplace.
- The Together Network: ensures that every colleague, regardless of their cultural background or beliefs, can thrive and reach their full potential.
Our commitment to ED&I has been recognised in several high-profile accolades from the Stonewall Gold Award and the Times Top 50 Employer for Women for three consecutive years to gold accreditation for the Armed Forces Covenant and level 3 Disability Confident employer status. We’ve also been named by Business in the Community as a 'Best Employer for Race' and recognised as member of 30% Club committed to gender diversity in senior management.
Andrew Polloway, Head of ED&I for IAS, said: “We want our people to be proud to work for an organisation that is diverse and inclusive, where they can be themselves and feel empowered, without fear of judgement. We strive to make sure that our colleagues have their voice heard and thrive with us every day”.
We’ve achieved a lot so far in ED&I at IAS and we’ve no plans to stop! We’ve listened to our colleagues to identify potential barriers and created a new accessibility guide to address their unique access needs. Our ED&I calendar supports colleagues in respecting and celebrating diverse communities, cultures, and faiths while our new “Lunch & Learn” series recently kicked off with the topic of neurodiversity, an area we’re extremely passionate about. We also have a training programme, updated resources to keep colleagues informed and new communications channels for colleagues to speak openly, freely and have their voice heard.
We have big plans too. Our ED&I strategy outlines how we plan to make sure that all colleagues feel fully supported and managers have the tools to create the right setting for all abilities to flourish.
We’re building our very own ED&I Network specifically for IAS, covering an array of topics that affect our colleagues and encouraging volunteers to co-create driving change across all areas of IAS to make our ED&I vision a reality.
Everyone plays a vital part in making IAS an inclusive place to work. We need to empower, respect and value each other by appreciating what makes us different and unique. Andrew Polloway is determined to help us drive the changes that matter to our people and by celebrating difference and encouraging everyone to be themselves at IAS, we’re well on our way to building an environment where everyone feels like they belong and are equipped to achieve their full potential.