16 Oct 2020 - We are more than just social media flag bearers for scheduled themed days and months. We live and breathe our values every single day.
September was Pride month in Malta, an event we as GiG in the past have placed ourselves front and centre. Pride has always presented us at GiG with a platform for us to showcase to the world how fundamental diversity and inclusivity are to our identity. Maybe it’s crossed your mind that we had forgotten. Well, we haven’t, it’s always something we have and will continue to fully support, but things are a little different this year not least with social distancing responsibilities. Now that we are into Pink October and black history month, it’s important we look into how the conversation is evolving.
2020 has not been all coronavirus and travel restrictions, the introspection needed to analyse these past months runs far deeper, as news channels run rampant with images of global black lives matter demonstrations and racial injustices. We, as a society, have been faced with uncomfortable questions that belay even more uncomfortable truths. How far have we truly come in addressing unequal treatment of individuals, as you’d be forgiven in thinking we’ve made giant strides backwards? Remember, we are talking about human beings marginalised or oppressed based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, race or colour, on culture or identity. What do we need to do to address the imbalance as there can be no argument it demands attention?
Let’s get this out there straight away. GiG inherently opposes any behaviour that is inconsistent with attitudes and behaviours that are anything but embracing of inclusion and accepting of others. Full stop.
Now, maybe we can take things further than we’ve been before. Taking nothing away from the impact that an event can have at raising awareness and initiating change but maybe, by solely focusing on a designated subject, at a designated time, are we somewhat missing the point? Consider that if you will. When we talk about each variant of inequality we can and should talk about them all. We should honestly address our attitudes towards diversity and inclusion at all times. It should never be off of the table. This is not to suggest in any way that we don’t talk about each issue on its own merit, but rather acts as an acknowledgment of the equal importance they each carry. It is important we place equal bearing on them all, as we risk our views and opinions being much the same as how the moon is viewed from earth, all one sided.
Put simply, there is a constant need for introversion and self evaluation with our behaviour, with a responsibility to educate ourselves.
Consider this: There has, and never will be, a single human being ever born, who’s instinct is to discriminate and marginalise others based on their gender, sexual orientation, race, culture or religion. All of this behaviour was learned, and can therefore be unlearned.
We can contribute to this education as individuals and as a company, but we need to ensure it is ingrained in everything we do. By focusing on it all of the time, as opposed to waiting for a scheduled date in the calendar to discuss it, we also avoid the risk of our efforts being scrutinised as a gauche and rather contrite marketing and PR exercise. A frightfully tacky and disingenuous pitfall if ever there was one. Let’s avoid that, let’s live these values before we turn it into an advertising campaign.
We can encapsulate this as a need for us to continue to be genuine, honest and consistent.
As a founding member of the all-in diversity project, this commitment has been a feature at GiG for many years, but how are we doing? Let’s make a start on the honesty part! There is a significant amount of good that we do but there is still significant room for improvement too.
All of our policies are equality aligned. Unlike most companies, our policies are based on company culture more than being compliant with local laws. This is because we want all our people to have the same rights and opportunities. We are of course still compliant with the laws where our offices are located, we’ve just decided to make sure that we’re not giving out just the basic allowances — as always, we have gone above and beyond. Take our paternity leave as an example, with six weeks available to fathers only otherwise entitled to one day in Malta.
On other subjects that we can evaluate with data, what can we learn and how do we shape up to our peers? Our male to female ratio you ask, let’s hold our hands up, there is significant room for improvement here. Unfortunately the technology industry, especially in the parts of the world we have historically operated and recruited is a male dominated one. We’re currently operating at a 67.87% male to 32.13% Female split. However this in our industry is still one of the best ratios, but we will continue to hire the best people for the job — as we will not positively discriminate either.
We have made efforts to address this imbalance, with our own female leaders showcasing pathways into the industry, educating and encouraging others to join communities and pursue a career in the spaces we occupy.
Historically, according to feedback from a survey with all-in diversity a little while back, we’ve been rated very highly (8 out of 10) for processes already in place which protect colleagues from any kind of discrimination. Policies such bullying and harassment, leave for adopting parents, whistle-blowing policy, grievance procedure to name a few. We’ve received 8 out of 10 for implementing a system that allowed colleagues to give feedback honestly and anonymously, which made colleagues feel really ‘safe’ and able to be ‘really honest’ when giving feedback. This system was put in place to do exactly that — and is of course GDPR and data protection compliant. We were rated 10 out of 10 for the number of initiatives already in place that we’re using to promote diversity across all colleagues. Some examples of this include our job advertisements, recruitment and talent searching, and candidate selection — which all use diverse websites, recruitment fairs, explicitly request applications from diverse candidates and have transparent and consistent criteria to evaluate candidates.
Our performance reviews and leaving process also detail clear and consistent criteria, with the equality in pay review added in previous years.
When it comes to diversification with nationalities too, we’re on the right track, with around 40 flags currently represented. We’ve extended to parts of the globe a considerable distance from our office locations and are amongst the most diverse for similar sized companies in our industry.
All this of course extends beyond our walls and plays a fundamental role in our commercial decisions too. It is our responsibility to select partnerships with organisations that also share this commitment to inclusivity. We are not just a commodity listed on Scandinavian stock markets. We are, for all intents and purposes, akin to a living and breathing organism, with wildly differing backgrounds, outlook and personalities united under a common banner and objective. We are our products, we make them, we chose who to do business with and we set our goals and objectives. We are the sum of our parts.
Therefore, in summary, we are all accountable for our decisions and actions. We must all take responsibility in confronting prejudice, wherever and whenever it occurs. We must ensure GiG strives to improve education with all aspects of equality. We’re emerging from a transitional time as a company, but you can expect efforts to be significantly increased with our CSR initiatives over the coming months and years, in meaningfulness and impact.
Let’s ensure we all continue to make strides to improve inclusivity and diversity across all elements of our lives. Let’s ensure together, it’s always a focus of ours and let’s speak up about it. We will continue to commit to supporting movements like Pride, just as we do with all other inclusive initiatives, but all year round — not just for that day or month.
Variety is after all, the spice of life, and the one that gives it all it’s flavour!
