How we engage employees in inclusion at Correla

What have been the stumbling blocks?

COVID-19 created a lot of new challenges for organisations to adapt to, but our biggest hurdle was launching and embedding an I&D strategy during the pandemic.

COVID-19 accelerated our existing flexible working operation but we were still adapting to the organisation working from home.  This meant we needed to learn how to use our online internal communication platform best to engage our people.

As part of our strategy, we held in-person I&D sessions in an attempt to drive open conversations, but there was low participation to start with. We analysed the reasons behind this and made some key changes. Firstly, we moved to holding these sessions online secondly every online I&D session had to have at least one C-suite member in attendance, and all invites automatically book out time in calendars early so the sessions aren’t missed due to conflicting schedules. We have since seen a dramatic increase in attendance and participation.

Correla’s proudest moment

The proudest moment for me so far has to be winning “Best Employer for Benefits” at the Women in Tech Employer Awards in June 2023.

The award recognises Correla’s commitment to supporting and empowering our female workforce through its comprehensive and progressive employee benefits programs.

‘Benefits’ can be a funny term as these packages should be the norm in today’s world. We want out people to feel supported and empowered which is why we offer these benefits such as flexible work arrangements, professional development opportunities, health and wellness, and family-friendly policies.

Key insights into our strategies

Correla launched its I&D strategy in its first year of operation in 2021. It’s a five-year plan which we have broken down into annual action plans.

To ensure we deliver against our strategy by 2025/2026, we focus on six key strategic priorities to drive and embed I&D across the business. These strategic priorities will keep our focus on how we will deliver the strategy, initiatives and activities to align to the relevant corresponding priority to support the direction of I&D.

The plans each year will see relevant, new supporting initiatives and activities being implemented that will build, further embed I&D and achieve lasting success.

Our first year was all about ‘Setting the Foundations’. The second and third year (where we are now) is about ‘Building the Momentum’. Next year will be our fourth year of the strategy and will focus on ‘Review and Refresh’, followed by our fifth and final year ‘Final Push’.

This approach allows us to take a long-term strategic view and create flexibility within each year’s plan to respond and adapt to internal and external factors.

What we are planning next….

We’ll continue to hold ourselves accountable against our 2025 targets, and next year we will be doing a deep review of the strategy set at the beginning of 2021 to see if it is still relevant, if it is achieving what we set it out initially to do, and if there are any challenges we need to adapt to. At the forefront, though, is to educate and raise awareness of I&D – this will never stop here at Correla!

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