The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) has launched the Culture+ self help tool for engineering startups
Culture+ is an online interactive platform specifically designed for small and medium-sized engineering businesses. The resource will help growing companies to embed equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) into their workplace to help attract and retain talent and support long-term business success.
For small engineering businesses, the process of recruiting and retaining employees with the right capabilities and skills can seem difficult and time consuming, particularly when every minute and every penny counts. Culture+ responds to this context and seeks to ensure that the principles of EDI are not overlooked or deprioritised. Evidence shows that effective EDI practices can be directly linked to commercial success, supporting effective talent sourcing, employee wellbeing and retention as well as greater problem-solving capacity within teams, and more inclusive outputs.
Culture+ was born out of Academy research carried out in 2019 that identified several barriers to the implementation of inclusive hiring policies in engineering startups and scaleups. These barriers included a lack of understanding of the commercial value of EDI, how to implement it, and lack of time or staff to dedicate towards it. There were no existing EDI resources tailored to the needs of startup leaders and employees to help overcome these barriers.
Culture+ provides access to practical tools, resources and expert advice to help engineering startups and scaleups embed EDI best practice and monitor their progress while ensuring accountability.
Dr Hayaatun Sillem, CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering, concludes by saying: “The Academy is committed to supporting engineering organisations in fostering the inclusive cultures that evidence shows can enable business success.”
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