We invite employers who advertise job vacancies on Evenbreak to tell us what diversity and inclusion looks like at their organisation. This week, we want to introduce you to Colt…
About Colt
Colt provide world-class network and voice connectivity to businesses in Europe, Asia and the US. Specialists in the field for over two decades, Colt has been recognised as an innovator and pioneer and are in a strong position to enable customer success.
Learn more about Colt and see their latest job vacancies.
Why is it important for Colt to employ disabled people?
We are committed to providing equal opportunities and building a workforce where anyone can join, develop and progress, regardless of background or circumstances. Ensuring persons with disabilities have equal access is the right thing to do but makes business sense. Not only does this open our company, brand and vacancies to a greater pool of candidates, but recruiting disabled people expands our diversity of thought by building more diverse teams giving rise to better conversations and better ideas.
Have you got any other Inclusive Recruitment Processes?
We have a built-in accessibility tool on our website called Recite Me, to support those that are visually and/or hearing impaired or neurodiverse to be able to research Colt as an employer and learn more about our vacancies. We use inclusive language software, backed up with ongoing training, on all of our job adverts to minimise gender-coded words; all interviews are conducted via video and we offer adjustments throughout the process; we conduct panel interviews for Manager+ vacancies (and for that more junior where possible) to ensure diversity in the assessment process; we run competency-based interviews and we conduct up-to-date inclusive recruitment training for all hiring managers and co-interviewers which includes unconscious bias awareness.
Do you offer flexible working?
Yes, Colt is committed to creating an amazing working environment which includes offering flexible ways of working. Launched in November 2022, Flexible First, has been designed with the help of our colleagues (or ‘Colties’as we call them) through an extensive 6+ month Hybrid Pilot and we’re continuing to explore how our approach will evolve with the ambition of offering even greater flexibility in the future. There are no set minimum days in the office, except where these are linked to local country arrangements / allowances etc and people can work from any Colt country for up to 30 days per calendar year, subject to remote working abroad guidelines.
What else do you offer disabled employees?
One of our five employee networks, developed to create meaningful change, is our DAN network (Disability Accessibility Network). DAN’s aim is to raise awareness of visible and invisible disabilities and health conditions, embrace people’s differences and champion inclusion across Colt. The business consults with the DAN team on key initiatives such as the Flexible First policy already mentioned and changes to our built environment, through our Accessible Spaces Forum, a forum launched to ensure that our Workplace Services and Health & Safety teams have regular opportunity to gain impact with the people who are most impacted. Over the past few months we have been working on devising an Accessibility Roadmap for our business that lays out our commitment to improving accessibility for employees and customers over the next five years.
Have you been recognised for inclusion?
We are Disability Confident Committed and members of the Valuable 500. With our Platinum rating in Ecovadis, we are also in the top 1% of companies for Environment, Social, Governance, of which Inclusion and Diversity is a key component.
In a nutshell, why should a disabled candidate choose to apply to work at Colt?
Inclusion is a big part of who we are as a business at Colt. Our people all complete regular Conscious Inclusion training every year where we don’t just talk about unconscious bias, we explore how to be consciously, and intentionally inclusive.
We run regular campaigns on inclusion which seek to make it real for people at all levels as our philosophy is that everyone is responsible. We regularly measure feelings of inclusion by our people using pulse surveys and action plans on the results.
For disabled candidates specifically, we have a Global Workplace Adjustments Policy that includes manager guidance on how to support those with disabilities and our people managers are committed to supporting team members.
We still have work to do in this space but we are dedicated to improving accessibility across the whole of our business and have a clear plan on how to deliver this.
