Co-op is proud to be partnering with BYP as we aim to make some really important changes in our business.
Matt Eyre – Candidate Marketing Manager
I’ve been with Co-op for nearly 10 years now – it’s a unique business that was founded in Rochdale 176 years ago. The idea of the early co-operative movement was to provide its members with access to good quality, affordable products as well as a share of any profits made from selling them. This was at a time when the gap between rich and poor was even wider than it is today.
So Co-op is an organisation that was built on principles of equality and fairness. And those values are still an important part of our culture, and one of the reasons I’m really proud to work here. But over the past 3 years we’ve been asking ourselves some difficult questions – do colleagues from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds really have access to the same level of opportunity as their white counterparts? Do our teams across the UK really reflect the diversity of the communities they serve? And if the answer to either of those questions is ’no’ – are we really living up to the standards of equality and fairness set by our founders?
Since starting this period of reflection we’ve audited many of our people processes and made some positive changes to help drive diversity in our various businesses. But recent events have made it clear to us that change needs to happen more quickly. It’s vital that we take action now, and quickly become an organisation that is actively anti-racist.
On 17 September we published our commitments to racial equality and inclusion. These commitments will make lasting changes that impact our customers, colleagues, members, products and services. You can find out more here.
As part of our commitment to colleagues we’ve pledged to work with partner organisations that will help us to improve the representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic people in our leadership teams. By partnering with Black Young Professionals (BYP) we believe we can introduce more young black leaders to Co-op, and by doing so create a pipeline of talented people who will eventually help us shape the future of Co-op as part of our next generation of senior leaders.
We’ve already started working together in a number of different ways:
- The BYP team are currently sourcing candidates for leadership roles in our retail business, in areas of the UK where we know we need to improve Black representation
- We’re advertising Co-op jobs on the BYP job board so we can attract more black candidates in to our specialist support teams
- BYP are advising members of Rise (our internal network for Black, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues) on the work they’re doing to support black colleagues
BYP is much more than just a channel for us to promote Co-op careers to a Black audience. We fully expect the BYP team to hold us to account as we aim to improve our processes and create a level playing field for our black colleagues and candidates applying for Co-op jobs.
We know we’ve got a long way to go, but our partnership with BYP represents an important step on the journey to creating a more inclusive Co-op.
To learn more about Co-op, please visit their BYP profile here. To join their team and be a part of their progressive and inclusive journey, please visit their careers website here.
