New Year Resolution: Interview with Enterprise's Ashley Hever
by Ashley Hever, Talent Acquisition Director
What have been your main achievement in 2019 in terms of D&I strategy, diverse recruitment or LGBT+ network activities?
It’s hard to pin-point one main achievement, we are proud of all that we have achieved in 2019. We were ranked in the top 15 for the Social Mobility Employer Index for the third consecutive year. We have been named a Times Top 50 Employer for Women for a record fourteenth year. Over 500 of our employees attended over 30 different Pride events across the UK. We have also grown our own internal LGBT+ network Enterpride and are pleased to have welcomed members from our homeworking teams.
What have you planned for this year?
We have some exciting things planned for 2020, including participating in National Student Pride, increasing our attendance at national PRIDE events.
We will continue to expand the responsibilities and roles for our internal LGBT+ network, Enterpride, and we will see more collaborative events with other diversity networks across the business to focus on intersectionality.
We are also very excited to launch the 3rd edition of our award-winning diversity scorecard which was created to improve recruiting equality, identify more diverse suppliers and to give our directors better clarity on company expectations for diversity and inclusion.
What is your advice to an organisation wanting to start their journey towards LGBT+ Inclusion?
This needs to be a business-driven strategy, it can’t be solely HR led. You need to have buy in from the top of the business; if your senior leadership is on board then it makes the journey a lot smoother. It’s important to find advocates and role models across the business that are happy to share their experiences and stories.
What’s one thing you’ve learnt from last year that will help you on your D&I journey this year?
Never underestimate your employees, they will come up with the best ideas! Last year Enterpride collaborated on an event with Thrive, our disability network, and the event was one of the most impactful we held. This year we are going to collaborate a lot more with our internal networks and have more intersectional events.
How have your goals changed from this time last year?
No, we continue to have Inclusion and Diversity high up on our business agenda. We have a built on last year’s strategy and we are really excited about what we are going to achieve!
What was your proudest moment of 2019?
As Chair of Enterpride and Talent Acquisition Director for UK & Ireland there is nothing I like more than seeing colleagues, who have been involved in the Enterpride network, getting promoted and succeeding in their careers. I was also extremely proud that we had over 500 employees take part in Pride events across the UK this year!
What do you anticipate to be your biggest challenge this year?
What happens with the economy this year will be a big challenge for the business, hitting our goals will be a challenge, but a good challenge. We will continue to engage the business and to ensure D&I is top of the agenda.
What events are you most excited for this year?
We get excited for all events we are involved in, there are too many to mention here, but we ensure that we are well represented across all strands of diversity.
What is one thing you would like your organisation to do this year to improve LGBT+ inclusion?
One of our strategies this year is to build better and more impactful partnerships with university LGBT+ societies across the UK.
What are your top tips for an LGBT+ network wanting to grow this year?
Ask your employees what they think will help grow the network. Remember that everyone in the business needs to be involved, include straight allies and your internal LGBT+ community. Share stories, experiences and event involvement – encourage people to get involved and make a difference.
