Disability, Mental Health and Wellbeing
At Mindtools, we are committed to diversity, equality and inclusion (DE&I). We are focused on creating a balanced team which reflects the customers and communities we work with. We are passionate about equal opportunities and the fair treatment of our global team.
We value difference and diversity and our aim is to provide an inclusive working environment for our current and future people, where difference and individuality is valued, encouraged, recognized and celebrated.
On this page
- Our disability narrative
- Disability reporting
- Our mental health & wellbeing
- Wellbeing reporting
Ensuring we are an inclusive and attractive employer of choice for people with disabilities and long-term health conditions is really important to us, and we aim to provide policies, procedures and ways of working that support this.
The following sections of this report outline what we are currently doing to achieve this aim, and some of the further steps we will continue to make.
Our disability narrative
| Area | What we set out to achieve | Progress made |
Attraction & recruitment | To actively implement ways to attract people with disabilities.To provide an inclusive and welcoming recruitment process which allows individuals to shine. | Clearly displaying the Disability Confident logo reassures candidates we are welcoming of and wish to encourage disabled applicants. Our careers page spells out our commitment to diversity and inclusion. Throughout the recruitment process, opportunities are provided for candidates to identify as disabled, enabling adjustments to be offered at any stage- from application to assessment. We are committed to offering an interview to all disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria of the role. Interviewing managers have completed unconscious bias training to help us secure the best candidates regardless of sex, race or disability. We are investing in a new recruitment system to enable us to track and report on equal opportunity data in a more robust manner. Next steps An ongoing review of our interview processes, including strength-based interviews and different approaches for diverse individuals. Using the Equal Opportunity data to inform future actions. Encouraging recruitment partners in their diversity journey. |
Internal support for colleagues with disabilities | To provide multi-faceted support for colleagues with disabilities. | Regular wellbeing meetings for all colleagues who disclose a disability or medical condition, including those that develop during employment, to ensure they are receiving appropriate support and/or adjustments. Employee Assistance Program and Occupational Health are available to support our colleagues. Flexible working practices allow disabled colleagues to choose how, when and where they work. |
Promoting a disability-friendly culture | To enable all colleagues to bring their true selves to work. | Our internal equality, diversity and inclusion networks encourage an open and accepting culture. Our Neurodiversity Lived Experience Panel ensures our content and learning experiences are as accessible as possible to all team members. Individuality is one of our core Values, and as a company we recognize and celebrate the power of difference and diversity, welcoming people from all backgrounds. We have created interactive online resources championed by senior leadership to promote our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion culture. We ask that all new starters review this as standard. Next steps We will continue to focus on diversity, with speakers and other activities planned to raise awareness and provide information on how to support colleagues. |
Data gathering | To use employee engagement surveys to collect data on levels of employee engagement.To improve our understanding of our diversity demographic to inform our future decisions. | ‘All about me’ page captures personal data on a voluntary basis, including any new, existing or changing disabilities during the course of employment. 68% of team members have completed this page and we are looking to increase this number with the introduction of a new HR system. As of June 2023, 3% of colleagues have shared that they have a disability. We also capture neurodiversity information on a voluntary basis and 65% of colleagues have completed this page with 6% sharing that they are neurodiverse. Released annually, our Employee Engagement Survey is designed to gather data around how our colleagues feel about working at Mindtools. Our 2023 score showed that 66% of our team feel fully engaged, and a positive score of 90% around ED&I. We have initiatives planned to improve on this in the coming years. |
Disability reporting
Data is a key focus for Mindtools, as we know it is only through understanding the makeup of our business that we can identify areas for improvement and celebrate our progress.
Data is currently collected through self-service HR records. Internal communications messages in early 2020 explained why this is so important to the business, and were transparent about what we do with that information. To thank colleagues for sharing this information with us, Mindtools makes a donation to a charity of their choice for every record completed.
We also request that candidates applying for roles complete an Equal Opportunities questionnaire to monitor the diversity of our applicant pool. In both these collection methods, we have asked; ‘Do you consider yourself to have a disability or long-term health condition?’
Whilst we are pleased with the response to date, we recognize we have a way to go to ensure that our data genuinely reflects our people. We continue to strive to more accurately report on the percentage of colleagues sharing a disability.
Our mental health & wellbeing
Mental health affects us all, and providing effective mental health and wellbeing support is a key part of our drive to be an inclusive employer. We are really proud of the steps we have, and continue to, take to support our colleagues. Here are just a few of those steps:
- Time to Change Pledge signed in 2019 to demonstrate our commitment to change the way we think and act about mental health in the workplace.
- We are proud to be runners-up in the 2022 Great British Workplace Wellbeing Awards for best support for remote workers.
- Wellbeing initiatives planned throughout the year, with an array of workshops aligned to national awareness days designed to support mental and physical health, including colleague-led initiatives arranged by our Wellbeing Squad.
- A dedicated Wellbeing online chat channel where colleagues can take time out to relax, focus on their own wellbeing and provide support for colleagues remotely.
- Dedicated and personalized mental health support available through the Employee Assistance Program.
- We are an active participant in the annual Mental Health Awareness campaigns, and in 2022 we ran discussions and collated resources on a different topic connected with the official theme of Loneliness. All resources are now permanently available to all employees to access.
- Participation in the Time to Talk initiative, encourages colleagues to have conversations around their mental health.
- All our Mental Health First Aiders have FAA Level 2 First Aid for Mental Health (RQF) awards.
- We have signed the Wellbeing of Women Menopause Pledge and updated our policy around menopause and work to better support colleagues through menopause.
Transparency breeds trust, and we aim to continue to be open and accepting of everyone’s mental health, so that our colleagues feel able to bring their whole selves to work and celebrate individual differences.
Wellbeing reporting
To help us understand how well we are supporting our colleagues around mental health and wellbeing it’s important we ask the right questions. We have for many years carried out annual Engagement surveys and, following participation in the Mind Wellbeing Index in 2019, we have also introduced a wellbeing specific survey.
These surveys provide data around:
- Our wellbeing initiatives, their participation rates and their successes
- Our culture
- Our information and knowledge sharing regarding wellbeing and mental health.
We will continue this journey into the coming year and aim to increase our wellbeing score year on year through targeted action plans, and an intention to openly publish these results.