• Our apprentice programme currently has over 40 participants and this is a key focus into 2020 and beyond, ensuring that all colleagues have an opportunity to gain formal qualifications whilst working with us. • Our 'Future Leaders' programme is in development and will launch in 2020, providing our top talent an opportunity to participate in a structured programme which will equip them with the skills to be our future leaders, in addition to gaining a formal qualification. • Our colleague induction programme has welcomed more than 100 new starters into our business, and we are embarking on a programme to continuously improve our onboarding experience. • Our commitment to creating a learning culture saw us organise a month of 'sharing is caring' sessions where managers volunteered to create and facilitate four modules covering the key topics of: Managing remote workers; How we learn and develop our teams; Creating and delivering impactful presentations, and; How to use the tools we have at our disposal as managers. These were attended by over 100 managers from across the business and we will look to replicate this in 2020. Workforce Engagement The Board recognises the importance of our people, and each of the Directors is firmly committed to developing and retaining the talent within the business, and encouraging new talent to join. The Board has had a sharp focus on people and culture during the year, with the Chief Operating Officer, who is responsible for global HR, regularly joining Board meetings to provide the Board with key information regarding employee recruitment and retention, updates on the integration of staff who joined through acquisitions, the recruitment of new employees, the development of existing employees and to discuss succession planning for the senior management team. In addition, during the year, a HR Dashboard showing key people statistics, including the number of open positions and average time to offer, numbers of new starters, leavers, average churn, length of tenure and gender breakdown, has been included as a standard reference paper in every Board pack. Members of the senior management team attend the annual Board strategy day, regularly present at Board meetings and attend Board dinners to enable the Non-Executive Directors to get to know the senior management team. The Board also believes it is important to visit the different locations within the business, and during this year the annual strategy session was hosted in our Bath office – during this time the Board hosted a lunch with a number of senior managers. Later in the year the Board travelled to the New York office to meet with our colleagues there. As part of that visit they met senior editorial staff and hosted an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) session with employees.
Employment data across the group
2019
Split of female:male employees as at 30 September 2019
39.1% : 60.9% (of 1,037 employees)
Split of female:male Directors of the Company as at 30 September 2019
2:4
Split of female:male members of the Executive Committee as at 30 September 2019
3:6
Disclosure re. ethnic diversity
Not mandated
Earnings meet at least legal minimum or minimum set by industry.
Yes. We are also a living wage employer in the UK.
Cases of reported and proven discrimination or harassment
None
Consultation and communication procedures in place for all areas of the business
Yes
Code of conduct circulated to all existing and new employees
Yes
Employment of young people under the age of 15
None
43 / Future plc
The Chairman attended the company conference in the UK, with Hugo Drayton, the Senior Independent Director, who also visited the office in Australia to spend time with the management team there. All Board members have participated in some interviews of key senior management hires during the year. Diversity At Future we are passionate about equality and diversity throughout our organisation. We pride ourselves on treating people with dignity and respect, and having a transparent and inclusive culture which enables everyone, regardless of their background, race, ethnicity, or gender, to thrive. We are working to explore the creation of under-represented talent pools across the business through apprenticeship schemes and internships. Future operates a zero tolerance policy with regard to any form of harassment or discriminatory behaviour at any level within the organisation, as well as a zero tolerance policy of retaliation against any employee that raises any concern to their managers or via any of the other channels open to employees for reporting harassment or discriminatory behaviour. We have a whistleblowing process in place to ensure that any issues can be raised confidentially. Our manager development programme includes equipping our leaders with the necessary skills to ensure that every person is managed fairly and consistently across the business. As reported externally in Future’s Gender Pay Gap Report (for the snap-shot period ending 5 April 2019) we continue to ensure we have the best possible person for the job and are in the unusual position of having two of the most senior positions of Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer held by women. As a result of strategic acquisitions during the year we have seen our headcount increase considerably and this has negatively impacted our gender pay ratios, with only 31% of acquired colleagues being female. We remain firmly committed to ensuring that men and women are paid equally for fulfilling equivalent roles across the business and we have implemented a number of initiatives to ensure this is the case. These include the appointment of a dedicated Diversity Manager to enhance our recruitment, promotion and succession planning processes, and the introduction of a mid-year salary review process, giving the business the framework to review and tackle any discrepancy in salary accordingly. Future’s business is underpinned by six core values, the first of which is that ‘we are part of the audience and their community’. At Future we recognise that our audiences are highly engaged, passionate and tribal. We strive to ensure that our workforce reflects their diversity, in order to maximise engagement whilst also being reverent to the privilege it is to be part of these communities. We have recently added a Diversity and Inclusion focused workstream within each of our Employee Community Committees, with the aim being to champion diversity and inclusion across the business while representing the views and needs of all of our employees. We are also rolling out Diversity and Inclusion training. In the US we have signed the Ascent promise which is a commitment to creating an inclusive and equitable workplace, including sharing best practice. Our anti-harassment training programme was rolled out in the US during the year with all staff completing the training. Policy on disability The Group aims to ensure that when considering recruitment, training, career development, promotion or any other aspect of employment, no employee or job applicant is discriminated against, either directly or indirectly, on the grounds of disability. If an employee became disabled while in employment and as a result was unable to perform their duties, we would make every effort to offer suitable alternative employment and assistance with retraining.