DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION - Audio Network People

BE YOUR ORIGINAL SELF

DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

At Audio Network, we celebrate originality - it's a key part of our business. We truly believe that to create the highest quality experience, for everyone, we need diverse teams, telling diverse stories. We're committed to building these teams and always striving to ensure everyone is empowered to bring their whole, unique selves to work each day. Each Audio Networker is unique but they are all treated the same: with dignity, respect, compassion, and equality.

We are committed to making all employment decisions without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, marital status, or any other legally protected status. If you are contacted for a job opportunity, please advise us of any accommodation needed to ensure you have access to a fair and equitable process.

RECRUITMENT, CULTURE AND

REPRESENTATION

Our Goals

We want to ensure that every team member is aware of their unconcious biases and they have the tools to overcome those when recruiting new employees at Audio Network, appraising current employees and putting people forward for merit increases and promotions. Over time, we want to ensure we reflect the diversity of the cities that we exist inand the audiences who enjoy our music, at every level and function of the organisation.

CULTURE

We want to be clear in who we are – and authentic in what we stand for – to ensure that our values of Passion, Performance, Innovation and Collaboration are embedded into our organisational fabric. That direction and clarity will show us what behaviours need to be reinforced and which ones will not be tolerated. We will ensure that a diverse set of voices are consulted and engaged with when key decisions are made for business.

RECRUITMENT & PROMOTION

We want to ensure we foster a culture of inclusivity and fairness at Audio Network, by actively championing and implementing best practices in recruitment and promotion. We use software tools to ensure neutrality and non-bias language on our job description templates and role advertisements. We’ve adopted blind recruitment as part of our application tracking system (ATS) to foster diversity by anonymising candidate information on CV/Resumes and prioritise skills and qualifications over biases in the hiring process. We have interview questions and scorecard for hiring managers – to ensure a fair and comprehensive assessment of candidate’s qualifications, experiences, and perspectives, aligning with best practices for equitable hiring. We continue to audit our recruitment agencies on our preferred supplier list (PSL) who align with our DE&I statement, to ensure best practice and approach when sourcing candidates and working with clients. Supporting our employees with competency frameworks to show employees where their next move could be and support career planning conversations. We’ve benchmarked roles across each function to support consistency for internal promotions, recruitment, and salary discussions – to support and deliver against ‘balancing the pay scale’

MUSIC MARKETING

Across all our marketing campaigns and artist and composer profiles, we want to make certain that we’re showcasing the diversity of our catalogue and amplifying diverse voices in our roster. We acknowledge that our marketing channels have the ability to reinforce positive messaging and increase awareness of issues that are so crucial to the customers and communities that we represent.

MUSIC TAXONOMY

We want to ensure that the use of wording across our catalogue taxonomy, track descriptions and search terms reflect a respectful, diverse and inclusive approach to music, while allowing customers to still find the music they need.

CATALOGUE STRATEGY

We want to build a catalogue that inspires our customers, artist and composers, team members and partners, with a depth of offering and breadth of talent and embraces the cultural roots of the music we make.

EXTERNAL & SOCIAL COMMS

We want to ensure that the same level of energy and passion that’s inside the Company is reflected in how we talk and engage with our customers, artists and composers, industry peers and the wider community on societal issues that impact us all. Our collective voice should resonate from an authentic place, and in support of movements, not just reactive moments, as we take time to educate ourselves and have real, tangible programmes in place to support our statements. We should lead conversations and action ourselves, as exemplified by our Talking Change series, which sees us provide a platform for suppressed voices, work with under-represented groups and donate and collaborate with other organisations working towards a fairer, more equitable world.

GROW

The mission: to build and support a safe, diverse and inclusive culture by promoting equality and celebrating our differences.

Since its founding in 2016, the GROW team has represented an important link as the voice of our employees around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, actively driving change within the business. As a cross-functional team and steering group, GROW challenges the business where strategic change can add value through a holistic approach. They also prioritise and plan events/initiatives – from drop-in sessions, training and DE&I-specific research, to guest speakers, partner presentations and Lunch and Learns to celebrate events such as Pride, International Women’s Day and Black History Month.

Talking Change

Talking change is a platform for artists and creatives in the music industry to share stories about the challenges and opportunities they've encountered - and to offer background on experiences that have shaped both their careers and society. Through this collaborative content, we hope to spark a wider conversation and debate on diversity and inclusion, which may in turn lead to a greater understanding and contribute to fairer and more equitable industry practices.

Singer-songwriter Zoe Nicole reveals how songwriting helps her to deal with anxiety, and the importance of working with and acknowledging women in music.

Singer-songwriter Greighwolfe explains how outdated categorisation can hold you back, his abiding love for rock, and the importance of being yourself.

Musician Skripture discusses his musical origins, empowerment, the advantage of knowing your own path, confronting stereotypes and his charity work.

Multi-talented artist Titi Lokei talks self-reliance, her desire for increased visibility, flexibility and control for women in music – and never taking no for an answer.