Everyone’s accountable: DEI at DICE in 2022

At DICE, we’re committed to creating a more diverse, equitable and inclusive platform, workplace and industry, which is why we have a dedicated group of employees in place to help keep us on track. 

In the last year, our DEI team has grown from a single person to a team of three, who have spearheaded our annual Diversity, Equity and Inclusion survey (which received an 86% participation rate); developed our Global Belonging Programme to foster unity at DICE; and found meaningful ways to make sure all of our people feel heard and connected, including a global listening tour that gathered firsthand takes from each territory. 

It isn’t just our DEI team that are committed to these principles, they are woven through each of our departments, in their objectives and key results, and team decisions. So, to end the year, we’ve invited a few voices from different departments to reflect on the amazing work they’ve done to enshrine our values across the business.

At the start of the year we shared how we were hiring better, by including fair and inclusive practices into our recruitment process. While this is one important stage of the employee lifecycle, we’re also equally committed to the growth and development of our people. 

We hired a dedicated learning and development team who have launched a globally inclusive learning strategy, helping our international teams to upskill as our business scales. And we’ve made sure our commitments to better diversity, equity and inclusion are at the heart of this work.

For our people managers, we’ve kicked off our first leadership development initiative: Leading at DICE. The programme brings together leaders from all DICE teams and locations to learn more about our values-led approach to leadership. For these workshops, we’ve created psychologically safe learning environments, where people feel comfortable talking openly about their perspectives and experiences. This was achieved in three ways: clear expectation and ground rules setting at the programme’s outset; an introductory call before the in-person workshops to help the group bond; and the use of an off-site venue where participants could learn interruption-free. 

The programme has been intentionally designed to connect with different learning styles, and includes visual materials, storytelling and live coaching, as well as interactive group exercises, discussions, individual reflection and action planning. All materials and facilitator notes have been reviewed to ensure the language used is inclusive, with participant feedback also being reviewed and factored in after each cohort. The feedback we’ve received has been 10/10, and this is just the start of our plans for inclusive leadership development at DICE. 

This approach to learning also goes beyond our leaders. For all our DICE teams, we’ve launched the Strength Deployment Inventory colours: a strength-based framework for helping people understand each other better and work more inclusively across different values, strengths and styles. Over 200 people at DICE now know their colours, and are using this language to communicate and collaborate with impact.

Alice Burks, Head of Learning and Development 

The DICE Legal team is committed to improving the diversity of the legal profession.  Entry points to the legal profession are incredibly competitive, therefore opening up another route for candidates from minority backgrounds is one small way that our Legal team can improve overall access.  

Summer vacation schemes are an established way for law students and graduates to get their first experience of working in law, but traditional vacation schemes are often oversubscribed and very competitive. Black law graduates, specifically, are underrepresented in them, as are Black lawyers in the rest of the profession. DICE’s Black Vac Scheme aims to improve access to a legal career for Black law graduates, and also provides a different perspective on the profession when compared with a vacation scheme in private practice.

To establish the scheme, we worked in partnership with Black-owned recruitment agency The Stephen James Partnership, who work to improve access to careers in law for Black, ethnic minority and underprivileged communities. Two successful candidates spent two paid weeks working alongside the DICE Legal team this summer. The candidates have continued their legal careers: one going on to work for Jamie Oliver and the other in a tech recruitment company. The Legal team is looking forward to running a similar scheme next summer. 

Jack Whibick, General Counsel

At the start of the year, we introduced a new brand identity for DICE. As always, our work was fully fan-centric, but it was important for us to consider more than one generic type of ‘fan’. Keeping representation front and centre ensured that our new voice and tone guidelines were rigorously tested, helping us to craft communications – from mailers and pushes to campaigns and web copy – that used inclusive language. These communications reflected the diversity of the fans we aim to serve and highlighted underrepresented communities. Our photography library also grew bigger and broader as part of the rebrand, with a focus on fan communities such as Everyday People and St Vitus in New York, Sónar Festival in Barcelona, Bone Soda in London, and LA CREOLE in Paris.

A newly minted brand story has helped us put diversity, equity and inclusion at the heart of our brand thinking. We’ve created an educational DEI Guidebook for staff, and kickstarted a series of employee profiles from across the business to spotlight the variety of tales our people have to tell. 

We’re also proud of the stories we shared from our network, such as Safe Only, the security firm helping make doors safer for fans of every gender; and Seattle’s queer mecca, Kremwerk. There’s always more work to do, and we’re still laser-focused on using our platform to inspire action, discussion and belonging. 

Patrick Duffy, Executive Creative Director

The Communications team proactively champions DEI activity through every facet of our approach to communicating across the business. This includes ensuring that terminology is inclusive, live activity and calls are accessible, and by promoting different voices from across our global organisation. 

All Hands calls are a great example of this, with the format being adapted to create a regular dedicated space for our people to come and celebrate their successes and achievements, and to talk about our DEI commitments and work. 

We also include PechaKucha in All Hands: a fun format that gives the presenter 20 slides and around six minutes (20 seconds per slide) to tell their story. We’re intentional about the people we hear from, carefully selecting those with a range of backgrounds, experiences, hobbies and roles to ensure we’re continually learning about each other’s stories, communities and uniquenesses. 

This sharing of perspectives is a great way to show up for better diversity, equity and inclusion at DICE, helping us to build more psychologically safe relationships and teams, and to connect with one another. 

Dev Mistry, Internal Comms Manager

The steps we’ve taken so far have bettered our business, and strengthened our resolve to create a more equitable, accessible and enjoyable live events space for fans. We’re always exploring new ways to do this and will continue to share those insights with you next year.