White Light: A Proudly Diverse Company

Individuals with different cultures, perspectives and experiences are at the heart of the way White Light works. Throughout the year, we work hard to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people, regardless of their background, and make best use of their talents. Below is a quick overview regarding the commitment we have to ensure we encourage as diverse a workforce as possible.

We know that actively valuing differences will enhance the way we work and recognising that people from different backgrounds and experiences can bring valuable insights to the way we operate; generating new ideas and perspectives as well making us representative of the community and society as a whole. As such, we’ve actually put together a list of commitments which every member of staff embodies on a day-to-day basis. These are:

• We will work to break down barriers, eliminate discrimination and ensure equal opportunities and access for all groups both in employment, and to goods and services.

• We will celebrate difference and value everyone. Each person is an individual with visible and non-visible differences and by respecting this everyone can feel valued for their contributions, which is beneficial not only for the individual but for WL too.

• We will seek to develop a work environment where we treat all employees as individuals, in a fair and in a consistent way, working within the spirit and practice of the Equality Act 2010 by promoting a culture of respect, dignity and actively challenging discrimination, should it ever arise.

• We will continue to support our leaders, managers and employees to demonstrate the principles of diversity and inclusion in their everyday activities, roles and functions.

• We will remove unnecessary barriers for our employees seeking opportunities through training and development, promotion and career planning.

• We will encourage new staff to join us by operating a fair and transparent selection and recruitment process; particularly we will use various mediums to find, engage and employ people with talent and skills who are currently under-represented in our workforce

• As a technical supporter of arts and the creative industries we will seek to join, support and encourage our industry organisations, partners, suppliers and clients to make equality, diversity, and inclusion integral to their ways of working 

• We will ensure the rights and obligations apply equally to all employees, whether part time or full time on a substantive or fixed-term contract, and also to associated persons such as work placements, agency staff, contractors and others employed under a contract of service. All staff have personal responsibility for the application of the full policy. As part of employee induction, staff are expected to read and familiarise the full Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion policy which is part of the employee handbook, ensuring that the policy is properly observed and fully complied with; staff are required to sign the handbook declaration as part of their induction.

WL’s Head of HR Sandra Tyler comments: “We are really proud of our commitment to promoting a fully diverse workforce and make WL as accessible a company as possible. For instance, our apprentices are paid the National Living Wage as opposed to the Apprentice wage, which breaks down certain financial barriers.  We undertake a number of work experience and placements across the year, from local schools, colleges and other organisations, and last year offered 20 of these. We also work closely with Find a Job Centres and advertise or work with various creative sectors and charities that support diversity and inclusion such as the Creative Opportunities Programme (A New Direction), CC Skills, Stage Sight and the Kiln Theatre’s Production Arts Course.

Sandra concludes: “What’s really fantastic about our commitment to encouraging a truly diverse work force is that it is actually yielding results. We now have 27 languages spoken across the company as well as ten different religions/beliefs; with more than one person identifying as ‘Jedi’. We also have a very young workforce, with over 30% being under 30. Ultimately, you can walk through our offices, warehouses and managed venues and see people from all walks of life who make up the eclectic society we now live in; something we’re very proud of”.