Specsavers joins Diversity in Retail

Diversity in Retail (DiR) is devoted to increasing diversity and inclusion across Retail, and we’re proud to now be a part of the community.

It’s known that there is a correlation between robust diversity and inclusion practices and strong performance, and DiR work to facilitate a collective approach to improvement in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (E,D&I) through membership interaction and learning.

Through our membership of DiR, we aim to participate, learn, develop and take part in the leadership programmes and forums they offer so that we can hold the mirror up, and make sure that we are being as inclusive as possible.

John Perkins said: ‘I am delighted to join the Diversity in Retail community. Being a part of the community offers a unique opportunity for Specsavers to gain a broader perspective and enhance our commitment to diversity and inclusion. Throughout our nearly 40-year history, we’ve always valued differences – whether that’s our colleagues or customers, and their individual experiences – and learned from them. Our membership to Diversity in Retail will help us to explore, grow and understand more about how we can ensure our culture embraces the different views and thinking of a diverse workforce; making Specsavers somewhere our people are proud to belong.’

One of our first activities as members of DiR is to support with some research they are undertaking that focuses on mental health. They’re sharing a survey that will examine the relationship between feelings of inclusion and mental health in the workplace which we will be sharing with all of our colleagues.

We’ve also started working closely with DiR on a number of other initiatives:

• Kate Brown, our Group People Director has attended a Chief People Officer network – these run quarterly and will cycle through topics
• Director of Reward, Ian Glendenning is involved in the DiR steering group which meets quarterly to share best practices and hear about progress across the industry
• Our colleague network chairs are attending a conference on the topic in February

We also plan to get involved with more DiR initiatives too, so keep an eye out for more coming soon.