Unleashing the power of belonging – Spotlight on our employee networks
At dunnhumby, we are committed to creating a culture of belonging for everyone and that means fostering a diverse group of people who are passionate about our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEI&B).
As part of our DEI&B strategy, we empower employees to drive our employee networks and create an inclusive working environment for everyone at dunnhumby. Employee networks play an important role in creating an inclusive workplace. Driven by passion, one of our most celebrated dunnhumby values, our employee networks create a platform for sharing experiences, educating allies, and collaborating with the people team to enact change.
We now have 7 employee networks that collectively form the energetic core of our DEI program as well as 2 other employee groups who focus on social impact and sustainability. Our desire to put people at the centre of the inclusion journey forms the core of our people philosophy. Read on to learn more about our employee networks and what they’ve been up to recently…
dh GEN
dh Gender Equality Network (GEN) is a network dedicated to advancing gender parity to enable all dunnhumbians to fulfil their career potential, with a focus on creating equality for women and non-binary people.
In 2023, dh GEN hosted a flagship event for International Women’s Day that delved into the nuanced topic of equity through a panel discussion featuring both internal and external experts. Highlights included testimonials from participants in our return-to-work program, accounts of navigating menopause with organizational support, and a male colleague’s experience with shared parental leave. Additionally, the event featured the 3rd annual dunnhumby International Women’s Day Awards, which honoured exceptional female employees for their resilience, innovation, and bravery, and also paid tribute to male colleagues who actively support gender equality.
This year, a key initiative has been to position dunnhumby as an incubator for exceptional experiences for women in the tech industry. This effort culminated in our first-ever Women in Tech event. Our pannellists, Ravneet Shah of Allica Bank, Corie Hawkins of Google, and Julie Woods-Moss, dunnhumby’s Board Chair, shared their inspiring career stories and insights on overcoming professional challenges. The event received robust support from our collaborative partners Hackajob, CodeFirstGirls, Women Returners, and Spark UK —dunnhumby charity partner dedicated to enhancing the employability skills of the youth.
dh Family
Our dh Family network is all about balance, enabling our people to be at their best by balancing the interdependent demands of family, work and community. Their work focuses on improvements to family related policies, creating supportive content and raising awareness of other related topics.
The network has been instrumental in consulting on our new policies which recognise the different journeys people go on to grow their family as well as working with the HR teams to improve processes around family leave.
This year dh Family have partnered with the dh Thrive and dh GEN networks to run intersectional events for maternal mental health and men’s health and shared parental leave.
dh Thrive
dh Thrive aims to create an environment that empowers our colleagues and their families to make proactive choices about their health and wellbeing. To achieve this, they have a four-pronged strategy that includes listening, upskilling, educating, and building a culture of openness around mental health.
The network has a full global events and communications calendar focusing on education and awareness as well as running intersectional events such as our World Mental Health Day panel event in collaboration with dh One and dh Proud. The powerful Sharing Stories initiative encourages colleagues to share their mental health journey and its impact has been recognised with three Highly Commended awards at the This Can Happen Awards.
In addition, dh Thrive have supported the People team in upskilling managers and colleagues with a series of bespoke team workshops focusing on real-life scenarios, online learning to support colleagues through sensitive and difficult situations, as well as a refresh of our Mental Health Awareness training module.
dh Proud
dhProud was established to create an inclusive accepting culture within dunnhumby that enables LGBTQ+ colleagues to realise their full potential by living authentically. The network is open to all LGBTQ+ community and allies working across four pillars: Proud to be, Proud to Ally, Proud to Work and Proud to support.
Highlights for dh Proud in 2023 included celebrating "Wear It Purple" day where dunnhumbians from all our global offices showed their solidarity with pride by wearing purple. We also participated in the London Pride March and celebrated key events such as LGBTQ+ history month with virtual activations creating awareness of queer heroes and a panel discussion around representation of LGBTQ+ community in media.
The dh Proud India chapter also launched this year, a vibrant space for our LGBTQ+ colleagues and allies to celebrate their identities and share their stories. Our leadership team showed their solidarity and support creating an ally video and our ally pledge wall in the office was a rainbow of affirmation and allyship.
dh One
dh One is dunnhumby’s multicultural employee network and aims to foster a safe space for creativity and idea exchange, irrespective of race, ethnicity, language, culture, beliefs or religion.
Recently dh One have been focused on celebrating and sharing stories of the different cultures represented across dunnhumby. Christarose Maphosa from Tesco and The Gym Kitchen’s founder Segun Akinwoleola joined us for our Travel the World with dhOne: Food event promoting diversity in the commercial retail world and healthy eating habits. The dh One series Let Me Take You to My Roots offers a virtual journey across continents and cultures, showcasing unique cultural aspects and stories from our colleagues.
For Black History Month, dh One celebrated the exceptional achievements of black women. The theme, Saluting our Sisters, highlighted the crucial role that black women have played in shaping history, inspiring change, and building communities. We also participated in the #MyNameIs campaign encouraging colleagues to add the phonetic pronunciation of their name to their email signature.
In recognition of its efforts, the dh One network was spotlighted by Race Equality Matters during Race Equality Week, an event aimed at addressing workplace race inequality and emphasising the need for majority involvement in organisational change.
dh Enabled
Our newest employee-led network, dh Enabled, launched this year and has been created to support colleagues with disabilities or those who care for people with disabilities. The network aims to help tackle the stigma of disability in the workplace and ensure that dunnhumby is a safe, welcoming and accessible space for all.
We marked the dh Enabled launch with a kick-off event which consisted of an open panel discussion about individuals’ experiences of working or looking after those with a disability. In addition, the group sponsored a series of webinars, run by NeuroGifted, on neurodiversity in the workplace.
dh Unity
Unity means to be joined as a whole; this North America-based network reflects, combines, and celebrates all our different network groups, with a vision of cultivating an open and embracing culture. The network raises awareness about varying topics, educational campaigns and are a beacon of support for those in our North America region.
This year, dh Unity marked a special “Wellness Week”, dedicated to promoting mental and physical health in our workplace, which included lean-in sessions, guided meditation, and desk yoga.
As part of the advocacy and allyship objectives a Women in Leadership and Allyship Panel session featured five leaders from dunnhumby who addressed key questions about effective allyship for women.
As a cross-network group dh Unity focus on intersectional activities working with other DEI groups across our business. Their popular Lean In sessions address sensitive topics affecting people locally and globally and create a safe space for people to share their views and understand different perspectives.
As part of our two ESG employee networks, our colleagues work together to make an impact within their communities.
Helping Hands
Helping Hands is our employee network and charity committee committed to supporting causes that are important to our colleagues, working with the local community, and providing opportunities for development outside of their normal roles. Every year, the committee nominates and votes on a UK Charity of the Year and have raised over £23,000 for the Charlie Waller Trust already this year. In addition to fundraising, dunnhumby offers two volunteering days to each employee every year. Our colleagues are encouraged to use at least one of these days to volunteer with colleagues for giving back to the community.
Other fundraising activities across the business include a Bingo night, Tennis tournament, participation in both CWT’s 45km Walk for Wellbeing and Bath Half Marathon. Many employees have used their volunteering days to help out local charities, including Solidarity Sports and Hammersmith Community Gardens.
The India chapter of Helping Hands also has a two-pronged approach to supporting NGOs: monetary donations and volunteering efforts by employees. This year, they executed a highly successful Plantation Drive in Gurgaon where 40 volunteers led by the India Social Team planted 750 trees, one for each dunnhumbian.
dh Earth
dh Earth is a dedicated group of dunnhumby change-makers committed to combatting the urgent environmental challenges. The mission is to drive awareness, action, and innovation to ensure a healthier planet for current and future generation. The employee network collaborates with internal networks and external partners to maximise the impact.
This year our India office took a significant stride towards sustainability with the launch of dh Earth India. Under the resonant theme, "What I Stand On, Is What I Stand For," the launch event set the tone for our collective commitment to a greener future. The highlight of the day was the inauguration by Sandie Stanley, Chief Data Scientist and Executive Sponsor of dh Earth, where she shared her motivation for embracing this role and emphasized how dunnhumby continually assesses high carbon footprint areas to make impactful changes.
