Understanding diversity, equity and Inclusion: the what, why and how
This month at Firesprite, we were delighted to welcome back Voice At The Table who joined us for an Understanding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: The What, Why and How Workshop.
Voice At The Table “help organisations understand how they can improve from wherever they are on their diversity journey and move forward.” In October of 2022, they joined our studio for an incredibly insightful Inclusive Recruitment and Unconscious Bias Training workshop.
The workshop offered an exploration and understanding of common biases in the workplace and their impact. It outlined inclusive recruitment practices and provided examples of successful de-biased recruitment processes.
Firesprite Talent Acquisition Assistant, Claire MacDonald, said, “having Voice At The table join us and provide their training was fantastic - It’s certainly a topic across the board and within recruitment that I’m glad we took some space to dive further into. Inge and Joyce gave us a great insight overall, including case studies from previous companies which were well presented. Breaking down the individual areas of unconscious bias and discussing examples provided some valuable feedback for us in the session - would absolutely recommend!”
Our recruitment and leadership teams found this workshop incredibly valuable for strengthening our studio commitment to DE&I, which is: promoting a visible commitment to a culture of inclusion and mutual respect across Firesprite in order to recruit, retain and develop talent from every walk of life, reflecting the community that we make games for; and our most recent workshop helped us further reinforce this mission statement with an in-depth exploration of DE&I – the what, why and how.
The session covered:
• The current demographics of the UK games industry
• Understanding DE&I terminology
• Recognising privilege and microaggressions
• Exploring and addressing unconscious bias
• The 5 most common workplace biases
• How to be more inclusive
• Benefits of a variety of people and perspectives around the table
After completing the workshop, we were equipped with a deeper understanding of DE&I as a whole. We have a newfound confidence in respectfully starting the right kinds of conversations with our colleagues using neutral non-judgemental questions to deepen our knowledge and objectivity and were given clear insights into how we can continue to effectively make DE&I an integral part of our growth, culture and development - to strengthen our studio and fuel innovation.
We’d like to extend a huge thank you to Voice At The Table for this excellent workshop, and for the informative Q&A section which gave our sprites the opportunity to further discuss and explore topics directly with the workshop leader. The session was packed with useful resources and truly appreciated by our whole team. Voice At The Table armed us with insights and actions which allow us to greater strengthen our commitment to DE&I here at Firesprite.
To learn more about the resources and services Voice At The Table provide, visit their website here.
