Diversity and Equality at Rockborne:

Diversity….it’s such a big topic and feels quite scary to write about, that feeling of saying the right thing, doing the right thing and sometimes even knowing what the right thing is.

I’d love to say that we at Rockborne have it all figured out, we’ve created a detailed Diversity and Inclusion policy that tells us all what we should do and when. But alas, we do not. This isn’t because we don’t care or understand the importance of the topic. Nor that we are a fairly new company and just haven’t had the time but because we are aware that diversity is far more than a policy in the employee handbook, it’s something we need to live and breathe, it needs to the be fabric of us.

It feels like here is where I should insert our 10 point plan for achieving this but as you may have guessed….this does not exist, but we’ve taken a few small steps to set us on the right path:

• A simple and hassle free recruitment process, looking at you as a person
• Zero focus on university, subject or grade;
• An open and transparent offering – bit like Marmite, you’ll either be excited and intrigued or want to run the other way!; and
• A comprehensive training programme that looks to bring the best out of you.

What we do most certainly have is passion, drive and open ears – the best thing we can do right now is listen and appreciate the wonderful breath of backgrounds, experiences and views of those around us and most importantly our graduates who are the future of our company and the industry.

You may notice I used the word ‘appreciate’ and not ‘understand’. I can hand on heart say I’ll never fully understand what it is like to be an ethnic minority, a graduate during the pandemic or a Victoria secrets model….none of these things apply to me. But I want to do everything in my power to appreciate and learn about different backgrounds, cultures, ways of thinking and viewing the world.

From day 1 of joining us, we learn so much from our graduates, from the complexity of Love Island and the variety of orders you can make from Subway to the challenges of being the child of a immigrant family or the first in your family to go to university. The open forum in which we talk about these things makes it easier not be scared and not worry about putting your foot in it and it’s keeping that discussion going that is key to us at Rockborne.

As we continue to grow and learn we will continue to keep diversity at the heart of what we do, our differences and varied experiences bring us strength and it’s the beginning of a very exciting and refreshing journey. We won’t always get it right or be perfect but if we can give our graduates the best platform to start their careers and help inspire younger generations into the world of data then I think we will all feel pretty proud.

Find out more about the Rockborne graduate programme here.