We are delighted to announce that William Fry has been recognised by the Irish Centre for Diversity (ICFD) and awarded its Investors in Diversity Silver accreditation.
The Investors in Diversity award is Ireland's first all-encompassing Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) accreditation mark for businesses. Developed by Irish Centre for Diversity and supported by Ibec and DCU Centre of Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion, it offers a clear and structured framework to transform diversity practices and culture.
William Fry was awarded Investors in Diversity Bronze accreditation in early 2020, demonstrating its commitment to diversity and inclusion through effective D&I policies and communication as well as D&I training for all of our people. Building on that foundation, the Silver award focuses on employees' sense of fairness and belonging to the business and provides an overview of key strengths and areas for development.
Commenting on the award Managing Partner Owen O'Sullivan said, "We're delighted to have received the Investors in Diversity Silver award. We are committed to celebrating diversity and promoting inclusion throughout the firm. This award is a great achievement and a recognition of our efforts to date, but we acknowledge that there is more to be done. We look forward to using the feedback from the award to continue to work towards embedding diversity and inclusion in everything we do."
Caroline Tyler, Founder and Country Director for Irish Centre for Diversity added: "Investors in Diversity Silver accreditation affirms that William Fry is committed to a company culture that is both diverse and inclusive and has also engendered fairness and belonging among colleagues. We are looking forward to working with them on further initiatives as they progress on their journey of continued improvement."
The William Fry commitment to diversity and inclusion focuses on 4 key areas: gender and parents; LGBT+; access to the workplace, particularly for people with a disability and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds; and race, culture and ethnicity.
The firm has established a range of initiatives to celebrate diversity and promote inclusion covering:
- The appointment of D&I partners, who lead the strategy and senior leadership accountability for D&I in the firm;
- Our diversiFry staff support network, led by a committee of D&I champions;
- Our Family and Career Integration Programme;
- FryTY, our TY programme aimed at promoting careers in law to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds;
- Community partnerships with the Irish Youth Foundation and Depaul focusing on access to skills and employability and social inclusion respectively; and
- Support of Access programmes, including the DCU access to the workplace programme whereby we provide work experience for DCU access students.
As part of its feedback following the award, William Fry identified additional training as critical to challenging unconscious biases and creating an even more inclusive workplace. As a result, we are developing a five-part Upstander training programme that aims to equip our people to say something if they see behaviour in the workplace that is not consistent with our values of respect and inclusion.
