**UPDATE - DONATIONS CLOSED**

We want to extend a massive THANK YOU to everyone who read our story of improving #inclusion in our #tech workplace and contributed with a donation. We raised a total of £285 online + £70.30 in our diversity jar. All money is going to @Stemettes for International Women's Day 2019 (8th March).

Full disclaimer: JustGiving won't let us withdraw the money immediately, so it will take a few weeks before the money is transferred to Stemettes.

OUR STORY

Over the past year our team has put a lot of thought into how to make our work environment more inclusive. We believe that everyone deserves to be able to come to work without wearing a mask, feeling that they can fully be themselves regardless of their gender, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, or anything else that tends to (unconsciously) bias us. A lot of companies nowadays realise the importance of diversity, but diversity without inclusion falls short: there's no point hiring people if they are going to immediately leave because they feel like they don't belong here.

Above all, we believe that inclusion requires intention: inclusion is about noticing that our language and actions might, inadvertently, make someone feel excluded, and choosing to change them. No one intentionally tries to exclude anyone, but nevertheless our behaviour often has that very effect, and if we start noticing it we can do something to fix it.

It isn't easy to change a culture, but the small steps we took in the last year as a team make a big difference to how we treat our colleagues and make them feel. Here are some examples (you can see more in this recent talk we've given):

- During meetings, we pay attention to people that have been quiet and offer them a chance to voice their opinion. We want to make sure that everyone feels heard.

- We stopped saying "guys" to refer to mixed-gender groups, as we realised that as a woman in a male-dominated industry being referred to as a "guy" can make you feel invisible. We know that many people, including several women, are not bothered by this, but we also know that many of our colleagues are. So we chose to change our language and use words that don't hurt them: folks, everyone, team, or just people's names are all great alternatives.

- Our "team nights out" have turned into "team events" that now include lunches, breakfasts, or daytime activities that everyone can enjoy. Many people have personal situations that make it difficult to enjoy a night out, and we don't want to exclude them - e.g. they might have children, or live further away, or are carers for someone.

- We changed the way we celebrate the completion of a project, which typically consisted of going to the local pub for a few drinks, into a nice team lunch, or whatever activity everyone can enjoy. Not everyone likes drinking - if we want to say "thank you" to a team for their work, let's do something they like.

- We share domestic work that is usually relegated to women, e.g. taking notes in meetings, organising team events, or tidying up our desks.

To help our new habits stick we set up a special "diversity jar" - if anyone felt that they did something to harm inclusion they could choose to put some money into the jar - and we all agreed that the money would be donated to a good cause. Even though it was completely voluntary, we found that putting money into the jar represented a strong personal commitment to the cause of inclusion that helped us boost good habits.

YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE

Over one year we have collected £53.80. Now we want to offer you the opportunity to contribute to the cause. After the 8th March we are going to donate all the money to Stemettes, a social enterprise working across the UK & Ireland and beyond to inspire and support young women into STEM.

We hope you too will choose to do something to create a more inclusive work environment; because we all want to be somewhere we belong.

With Love

NIM Team