John Harrington has written in PR Week about our findings regarding under-represented groups in the creative industries, that almost 1 in 2 PR creatives feel ‘financially unstable’, which is more than in the early stages of the pandemic. However, many are optimistic for the future, with fewer experiencing job insecurity or mental health problems.

Read in PR Week.

Heloise Wood has written in The Bookseller about our research, coinciding with our 10-year anniversary, revealing the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on people from under-represented groups in publishing.

Read in The Bookseller.

As Plan B comes into action and we move back to working from home, Creative Access revisits a blog from 2020 looking at how to host a remote internship.

The shift towards working from home as a result of lockdown caused organisations to rapidly rethink their ways of working. Whilst this has undoubtedly seen some benefits (like minimising commutes), one of the downsides has been a hugely reduced number of opportunities for new graduates and aspiring creatives. Young people from under-represented communities have been disproportionately affected by recent events and more than ever, organisations need to find ways of engage and providing access to experiences and opportunities.

Managing a remote internship is not only viable, but can be hugely effective. We’ve put together seven best practices for managing a remote internship, supported by The Climate Group who recruited two interns through Creative Access…

1. The recruitment process: Coronavirus has allowed for the rethinking of recruitment processes. The most notable shift in the hiring process is the interview stage, whereby currently all interviews are conducted online through video conferencing software. When it comes to running video interviews, experiment with different platforms. For more tips, check out our top tips for online interviews here.

Here’s what The Climate Group had to say about their recruitment process: “The recruitment process was straightforward. As HR, we issued some guidance on how to conduct interviews remotely (such as use of video calls instead of phone calls). Creative Access were really helpful in sifting the CVs before shortlisting interview candidates. We did have to review the Job Description of the one of the roles to take into consideration the working from home environment and a change in our events calendar.

2. Induction: Onboarding the successful candidate needs to be carefully planned, to ensure the new starter is well inducted with their line manager and team and that they start their internship with high morale and confidence. Here’s how The Climate Group onboarded their interns: “The Hiring Manager introduced (on video) the new interns to the whole organisation via our global staff meeting. As HR, we have arranged face to face inductions with the interns. We have also arranged for the interns a video call with each member of our management team as a way of introduction.”

3. Technology: Ensuring your intern is equipped with the right technology and software tools and that they have an effective space where they can work from at home is fundamental for remote work. They must have a reliable and secure infrastructure and have the relevant tools which allow for effective communication and collaboration with you and other members of your team:

• Your intern will need access to a lap top or a PC and possibly a work phone. You might need to consider other modifications to the workplace such as a connectivity booster if their wi-fi connection is weak.

• File hosting and editing documents collaboratively has been made possible through the use of online services such as Dropbox, Sharepoint and Google Drive.

• Communicating with your intern is easy through various video conferencing software such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet.

• Setting and managing tasks between you and your intern can be facilitated through task boards such as Monday, ClickUp, Trello or Slack.

• In addition to the above, for interns whose responsibilities include utilising creative or industry specific software, whether that is the Abode packages, or Biblio for those working in publishing, ensure your intern has access to those as well.

There are many online options to pick ‘n’ mix from, so experiment with which suits you and your team.

4. Communication, communication, communication! While emails are the primary method of communication between you and your intern, you should incorporate other communication options for simpler, less formal and time-sensitive terms. However in order to use multiple avenues of communication effectively and without doubling up on messages, it is important to establish the ‘rules of engagement’ between you and your intern. For more urgent messages, you may decide to text or WhatsApp, and for daily check-ins you might want to use Microsoft Teams. Whichever way you decide, make sure this is consistent and accessible to the intern.

5. Ensure you establish daily check-ins: Establish frequent check-ins with your intern, ideally on a daily basis. This could take place as a one-on-one call with them, or a joint call with the rest of the team. Whichever way you choose, regular check-ins provide a forum for your intern to ask questions, catch up with the rest of the team, provide support and boost motivation during these unprecedented times. Ensure that interns are a part of events and team meetings as often as possible to ensure they are kept in the loop and have an avenue to participate and share their ideas.

Here’s how The Climate Group have established a routine: “The line managers have several catch ups per week with their interns to support them. Interns also join any relevant team meetings to keep them up to date on what’s going at. We also send frequent check in messages on our Teams platform to say hello and ask if they need any assistance.”

6. Be a source of encouragement and support: We are currently living through a pandemic, and as of the past few weeks, a time of civil unrest, both of which have a significant impact on the wellbeing of interns from underrepresented backgrounds. Living through this while being isolated is very difficult, and support is important now more than ever. Ensure your intern has a place to express themselves when they feel stressed or anxious and make sure you proactively ask for feedback on how they’re doing. If they are struggling, make sure you listen carefully, show empathy and try to make adjustments where possible. 

7. Be social: Reinforcing a sense of belonging is imperative in maintaining confidence and morale. Continuing to interact socially, and not solely for the purposes of work, can allow interns to feel part of the team. One way to do this is to establish time to socialise in the first few minutes of a catch-up call. Ask your intern what they did in the evening after work, or if this is a Monday catch-up, ask them what they did over the weekend.

Alongside this, don’t hesitate to also arrange calls which may exclusively be social. As you would arrange work lunches or drinks in person, try to arrange something similar with your intern and the wider team through a video call if possible. Efforts such as these would be greatly valued by your intern and in turn, they will feel much more comfortable to speak with you openly when it’s time to talk about work.

Challenges are inevitable, but while you’re learning to manage an internship remotely, your interns are also learning to adapt to the changes and demands of a post-Covid world, where remote working and tech savviness will be more normal and required than it was before. The most important thing is to ensure your intern enters into an accessible and welcoming space. With patience and empathy, your intern will undoubtedly thrive and you’ll be sure to reap the rewards too.

Demand for diverse talent to fill vacancies in the creative industries increased by a staggering 331% in August 2021 compared to August 2019 Creative Access have seen as employers seek to use the current vacancies boom to address the sector’s longstanding diversity problem. We have also seen a 185% increase in the number of employers wanting to recruit more people from under-represented communities, showing that employers are seeking to understand how best to create an inclusive workforce and want to increase their confidence in navigating the diversity agenda and terminology and take appropriate action.

Creative Access saw the most significant rise in vacancies in music and the performing and visual arts as theatres, film and TV productions and entertainment venues re-open and need to hire staff post-pandemic.

Our data research has been covered by The Bookseller.

The pandemic has had a disruptive effect on people’s jobs and career prospects. It has forced many people into seeking new opportunities, and has turned home into both a living and a working space for many others.

Whilst there is yet no strong indication of when (or if!) ‘normal office life’ will resume, the positive news is that many organisations are still hiring. This means that new employees are starting new internships and jobs at organisations without ever having physically met any of their colleagues, or without having ever visited their organisation’s office.

As an employer, it is important to think about your remote induction processes before you offer any roles to ensure things run smoothly when your new hire starts. We’ve put together this guide on how to onboard new employees in a fully remote work environment, while ensuring that they are set up for success and feel like part of the team.

Step 1 – Contract and offer paperwork

As soon as your offer has been verbally accepted, aim to send out your offer in writing, ideally with a contract of employment/training agreement. E-signing is a quick and easy way to wrap up documentation, and many of our employer partners use DocuSign.

You will want to ensure you have agreed on a secure way to obtain proof of eligibility to work, payroll information, and tax details, as well as details of any employment references you may need.

Step 2 – Equipment and setup

Make sure your new starter has all the right equipment they need to work remotely. You’ll need to conduct a Work From Home audit covering wi-fi, laptop/PC, footrest, office chair and desk, mobile/phone line, printer (if needed), headphones, mouse and mouse mat, cables, and chargers.

Don’t forget to check with the new starter what their working environment looks like, for example, where will they be working (bedroom, office, living room?) What kind of setup do they have at home? Do they have the appropriate space to set up their workstation and do they need any adjustments to help them work effectively? Any health and safety questions that would ordinarily be carried out if an individual were working onsite should also be asked when they work at home.

Ensure that the new starter has all the necessary information they need to log into the company intranet. Do they have the correct access rights, logins, and passwords? Do they know who to speak to in IT support if they have any problems? The smoother the first day starts the better it is for everyone.

Step 3 – Induction

The key to a successful start rests on the induction; use video conferencing to communicate with the new starter.

Establish work hours, methods of catch-ups, and meeting platforms. Encourage your staff to take regular breaks and not to exceed contracted hours so that the lines between work and home are not too blurred.

Set out the day’s agenda. What should they expect? When should they take lunch? Is there a regular time for team updates?

Draw up an induction timetable for their first week and, if needed, book time with any or all of the following:

Senior Management Team – To give an overview of the company, its vision, achievements, and goals.

Finance – To check payroll processes, expense claims, and any other financial benefit queries.

IT – To go through data security, permitted software lists, shared passwords, security practices, antivirus and malware updates, where emails and files can be stored.

Step 4 – Introducing the team

Introduce your new colleague to as many people as possible in the first week. Sometimes it’s easier to do this informally or in short one-on-ones. At other times it is very helpful to see everyone together. If you have any videos or photos of the office showing how it would usually be, share those.

Add them to any WhatsApp or Facebook groups that your company may have, to help them feel integrated and invite them to any social get-togethers.

Ensure the line manager is available to make contact on the morning your new person starts and every day for at least the first fortnight.

Step 5 – Explain team duties

Manage expectations by letting your new starter know how work will be assessed and when reviews will take place. How often will you update them with their progress or let them update you? Schedule these times in your diaries. Aim for daily updates, with an overall recap at the end of each week.

Prepare a skills checklist and arrange for any necessary training. Do you have team updates in addition to any other arrangements, and if they are asked to attend, what do they need to prepare for those? How should they deal with any queries they may have? Do you share a task calendar or have a shared project management tool? Do you use instant messaging for urgent queries? Taking the time to go through these things with your new starter will help them to feel more at ease in their first few days.

Step 6 – Communicate and ask for feedback

And finally, make sure you communicate and collaborate regularly. Ask for feedback on how the remote onboarding process is working and if there are any suggestions or recommendations for improvement. Being asked for feedback will not only help the new starter feel valued and believe their opinion counts! It will also help you the next time you onboard a new starter.

It is evident that young people from under-represented communities are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic; more likely to be furloughed, have work canceled or postponed; more likely to be affected by the COVID virus itself, and more likely to be impacted by the longstanding structural inequality within the creative industries. Now more than ever there is a need for diverse voices to be heard and amplified. As a sector that aims to represent society, the creative industries have a responsibility to address this issue.

If you’re serious about becoming a diverse workplace is this explicitly stated in your core values? Diversity is not an add-on, it is at the heart of your brand culture.

Look at your data; can you attract, recruit, develop and retain underrepresented workers? Watch out for micro inequities in existing teams. Are there patterns to who is included and whoʼs being left behind? Where there are weaknesses, figure out why and what you can do to solve this.

Conduct regular anonymous surveys, determine where your short comings are, and respond to feedback. Gaining insight on how to improve your workplace from employees is a crucial step towards diversity.

Discuss the challenges and solutions, hold your company accountable to your targets and ensure momentum is maintained over time.

Be transparent about what change you want to achieve, over what period of time, and how you will be accountable. Book in regular review meetings.

Change your hiring process so you are actively recruiting from under-represented communities. Avoid hiring by word of mouth. Advertise opportunities across a range of platforms to enable a broader range of candidates to find your role and apply.

Review your website, job descriptions, imagery and language used to make sure youʼre as welcoming to all. Mix up who you follow on social media and which places you post to.

Invest in your team; support their retention and progression. Encourage staff forums and offer support structures and opportunities for sponsorship and mentoring. Ensure reasonable adjustments to make sure workers with disabilities, or physical or mental health conditions, aren’t substantially disadvantaged when applying for roles and doing their jobs.

Help people to understand the benefits of a diverse workforce, identify and overcome their unconscious biases and become allies. Become a role model and take personal responsibility for leading change. Invite external speakers and set up industry related networking opportunities to hear new perspectives which challenge your thinking.

Workers from all backgrounds should feel comfortable in their workplace. Recognise and celebrate special days in the calendar to make every team member feel seen and included.

Any organisations wishing to collaborate with Creative Access on delivering the above can contact the team here.

Creative Access has today announced the findings of a survey looking at the impact of COVID19 on talent from under-represented communities in the UK. The survey was conducted to help understand the impact of coronavirus on emerging creatives and what resources we should be providing in order to best support our community.

The survey, of more than 250 individuals was conducted during May 2020. The results clearly show the profound impact of COVID19 on underrepresented communities in the creative industries.

Josie Dobrin, Chief Executive and co-founder of Creative Access said:

“We are deeply troubled by our survey findings which show how our community has been disproportionately impacted by recent events; more likely to be furloughed, have work cancelled or postponed; more likely to be affected by the COVID virus itself and more likely to be impacted by the longstanding structural inequality within the creative industries.”

The survey, conducted during May 2020, of more than 250 individuals clearly showed the profound impact of COVID19 on underrepresented communities. Key findings include:

The findings have been released as a report, entitled “On the Verge; The impact of coronavirus on underrepresented communities within the creative industries”.

The full report can be accessed here.

We caught up with Mareyah Bhatti, our intern with Forum for the Future, who talked to us all about her food blog Carbon Foodprints and how sustainable cooking has been keeping her sane during lockdown.

Graduating with a Geography degree means I have a well-established passion for the environment, and it’s something I wanted to integrate into my everyday life. My love of cooking and being creative was something I aimed to combine with my knowledge of all things sustainable. So, I created my food blog, Carbon Foodprints. Alongside setting this up, I applied for an assistant role at Forum for the Future through Creative Access. They’re a charity who aim to tackle global challenges such as sourcing sustainable protein. As a Geographer, I really admired their focus on everyday issues and I’ve been able to feed these ideas into my blog.

Forum for the Future’s values include being adaptable, and I think that that’s something that resonates with the current situation. We have been pushed to rethink many aspects of our lives: how we work, how we exercise and even how we eat. Even more importantly, we’ve had to re-imagine how we relax and de-stress. Working from home has its ups and downs and finding a way to disconnect from the outside world is essential to our well-being. I’ve found cooking to be a great outlet to do just that.

Buyer stockpiling has reshaped our grocery habits, and the availability of certain items has sometimes meant that deciding what to cook may be a struggle for some. It’s important to view the current climate with a positive attitude though, and in this case re-imagining the dishes I prepare has motivated me to be flexible and even more creative – and that’s not such a bad thing. We still have the freedom to make whatever we like whether it ends up being tasty or not (no-one has to know…)

Being the founder of the cooking blog, Carbon Foodprints, has meant that I’ve also had to adapt to the recent shopping trends. Recipes I’ve posted during lockdown come with tips to help us all navigate this situation – this includes cooking meals with more dry cupboard ingredients, but also considering how to substitute elements of a meal and still end up with something pretty decent. After all, what’s the point of food if you don’t enjoy it? All this is done with a consideration of the environment in mind, as changing our kitchen habits to be kinder to the planet isn’t as hard as you might be thinking. As you may have guessed from the name of my blog, I cook with a focus on being sustainable and reducing our carbon footprint. This involves being reactive to our surroundings, whether this means only using produce in season or adapting recipes to what we’re able to find in our local supermarket.

My cooking is inspired by my south Asian heritage as I grew up surrounded by traditional dishes using recipes that have been passed down the generations. This includes everything from pakoras to a classic chickpea curry with roti. Each recipe is given a ‘carbon foodprint’ score so you can assess the impact of what you’re choosing to eat and compare which ingredients are better for the environment. Most of my recipes can be changed to be veggie or meaty, and as a result are highly adaptive to suit your needs. This is extremely helpful at the moment if you’re struggling to find all the ingredients you want.

Substituting ingredients isn’t as scary as it sounds, and here a few examples I’ve found to work really well:

• Couscous is a great alternative to rice and roti and can be used as a side dish to the curry dishes I’ve shared
• Plant based mince is high in protein and as easy to cook as beef or lamb, and it has a much lower carbon footprint
• Adding blended cashews to curries adds a depth to the flavour usually given by cream, it’s also a good source of healthy fats

I hope these tips have been helpful, and have shown how relaxing being creative with cooking can be. More ideas can be found on my website and Instagram page, ranging from further tips on how to successfully substitute ingredients to how to grow your own fruit and veg at home. Just a few simple changes can mean your meals are environmentally friendly and just as delicious. Please get in touch by messaging my Instagram page if you have any questions or meal requests!