UK software and services provider Advanced has been nominated for a 2022 British Diversity Award for Diversity in Tech for its work to recruit talent who are affected by disabilities and chronic illnesses.
The nomination follows strong actions made by the company to diversify its talent pipeline, which involved signing a partnership agreement with Astriid, a UK charity that helps people with long-term health issues and their carers find employment and volunteering opportunities.
The pool of recruits Advanced now has access to through the partnership include those affected by long Covid, among a host of other job candidates with disabilities and long-term conditions that are facing unequal access to employment opportunities.
In England around 15 million people are living with one or more long-term health conditions; with the impact of the Great Resignation, firms competing for talent, and the rising skills shortage across industries, opening up employment opportunities to this untapped talent pool will be essential to the survival of businesses, and for firms to call themselves equal opportunities employers.
Simon Short, Advanced’s Chief Operations Officer said: “Advanced is working with Astriid to fully assess what training or support it can offer in order to help make it a truly inclusive and appropriate environment for disabled and staff with chronic illnesses.
“We strive to continuously improve our approach to Diversity and Inclusion (D&I). This year we published voluntarily our first Diversity Pay Gap report and have just launched our first ESG report.
“Five years ago we reformed our recruitment process to remove unconscious bias from the process, ensuring a no-CV process, which has seen more than 500 entry-level people join our business, be trained and develop their careers.
“Today, 70% of all experienced openings within Advanced are filled through internal mobility – that is those entry-level joiners progressing upwards. We will continue to drive these programmes harder as we grow, making sure we are making a difference in doing our bit to address the digital skills gap.”
The British Diversity Awards celebrates individuals and organisations promoting diversity, equality and inclusion. TV presenter and BBC Director of Creative Diversity June Sarpong will host the 2022 awards in London on Thursday 10 March. To view this year’s full shortlist of nominees by category, click here.
More information about Astriid can be found here.
