Diversity and Inclusion
MBN Solutions are wholly committed to ensuring that we provide as diverse and inclusive a pool of talent as possible to any opportunity that we work upon.
Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of what we do. It’s no secret that more diverse people and thinking at every level of a business bring greater success and agility.
That said, diversity and inclusion isn’t just a tick box for us. In 2021 and beyond it should be standard that people feel safe, welcome and supported at work and that means being able to bring their whole selves - regardless of culture, sexual orientation, gender or socioeconomic position.
We know that the industry has a diversity problem, which is why we’re driving to remove conscious and subconscious barriers to entry in all of the sectors we represent.
Best Fit, Not First Fit
The “Best Fit, Not First Fit” philosophy is at the heart of MBN and has been for more than a decade. We don’t want to flood our clients with ill fitting talent or our talent with ill fitting jobs.
We spend our days building teams, immersed in culture, so we know how important it is to find the best fit for a role, a company, and a team.
We take our time but we get it right, all of the time.
Diversity and inclusion is a keystone in this. We make sure we have deep and diverse talent pools to draw from at a moment’s notice, while also playing the long game and building the pathways that allow fresh blood to flow into the data and technology industries.
The impact of this is greater diversity in the industries we work in (better for everyone) and it makes sure you get someone unique, not more of the same.
This is true for our candidates, too. We’ll take the time to get to know you, what you want to achieve, and find a business that’s a great fit for you and accepting of who you are.
Our Commitment to You
At MBN, we take commitments seriously.
That’s why we established Talent4.0 and the MBN Academy. They’re our way of making sure we help the data and technology industries diversify, by fostering new, diverse, talent and making technology and data more accessible, to more people.
For the businesses that work with us, that means creative, original thinking and a diverse and interesting talent pool. We aren’t champions of more of the same, we’re champions of the power of difference.
Through Talent4.0 and MBN Academy, we can show you that diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our talent sourcing, community building and business operations.
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Talent4.0
The next evolution of talent is diverse, interesting and will drive your business to new heights.
Talent4.0 promotes diversity and inclusion within the data and technology industries by helping create businesses where barriers for promotion and success aren’t dependent on gender, sexuality, ethnicity, neurodiversity or socio-economic and cultural background.
Talent4.0 is a connector, brand amplifier, supporter and champion of new and existing diversity initiatives in the Scottish tech industry.
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Read moreSponsorship and participation in Scottish Women in Technology forum. We are always pleased to champion the work of Scottish Women in Technology – as many of our colleagues and friends are part of this group. We acknowledge the amazing contribution that so many brilliant women make to the Scottish Technology scene.
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Read moreAll profits from our highly successful “ScotChain” event were donated to a Social Enterprise called CodeFirst: Girls which is working to increase female participation in Coding related employment. We acknowledge that more can always be done to promote female involvement in areas such as coding, so we are always happy to help!
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Read moreSponsorship of CoderDojo movement. We have also sponsored the CoderDojo movement which encourages young children to learn how to code. CoderDojo is a volunteer enterprise which works with young people (with a particular focus on socially disadvantaged areas and female participation) who are interested in learning how to code.
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Code Your Future are a voluntary movement who teach Coding to refugees and migrants to assist with social integration and the promotion of diversity within technology populations. We invited them to speak at a Talent4.0 Meet-Up and we assisted their Glasgow group with the use of our office and facilities for their weekly meetings.
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MBN Hosted Community Initiatives
We believe that one of the biggest ways to make an impact on Diversity and Inclusion is to be accessible to as wide and varied an audience as possible. To this end, we have built a hugely diverse Meet-Up Community – numbering over 8,000 individuals – who meet regularly to discuss and debate. We are very proud that our groups contain a wide cross-section of society.
Scotland Data Science and Technology meet-up Scottish Blockchain meet-up DevOps Glasgow
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Event Speaker Line-Ups
We frequently feature diverse and inclusive speaker line-ups at our Meet-Ups and formal Events (our Data Scientist 2.0 and Human and AI: Better Together events, for example) as part of our corporate inclusion and diversity agenda. We believe that we have a platform that we should use to reflect the amazing diversity that we see in society and to promote diversity in data and technology
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Individual Contributions by staff to Diversity & Inclusion activities
Our Director of Academy and Client Services contributes to DMA Scotland. DMA have identified Neurodiversity as a key inclusion and diversity initiative for organisations within the Data and Marketing space.
Our MBN Academy Project Manager, Bethany Rodgers-Rintoul, contributes to Equate Scotland (an organisation established to promote and encourage the advancement of women in science, engineering, technology and the built environment) and has most recently presented at their Women in Data Science event. This event was focused on women who wanted to enter into the domain or upskill in Data Science techniques.
Bethany has also partnered with CodeClan (award-winning Digital Skills academy) to help mentor and develop their students.
Codeclan courses focus on Software Development, Web Development and Data Analysis, using knowledge of the market and Employability to help students move forward in their careers. Bethany has mentored all Data Analysis student cohorts since March 2020. These students come from a range of different backgrounds and Bethany works with them to help increase their Employability prospects.
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Academic Outreach with Primary Schools in Socially Disadvantaged areas
We have, for a number of years, supported Primary Schools with visits and presentations designed to encourage young children to think about a potential career in data and technology. Typically, these schools are located in socially deprived areas. We believe that it’s important that ALL children have an opportunity to meet with and talk to technology Professionals.
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Recognition of our efforts towards promoting Diversity & Inclusion
The Data Lab is an innovation body of the Scottish Government. It was established with the aim of addressing the Data Skills gap in Scotland. MBN have been the delivery partners for their MSc Placement Programme for the past 5 years. Data Lab funds a number of students (160 in 2020/21) who are undertaking a Data focused MSc course. MBN teach these students ‘Employability Skills’ and source placement opportunities for them. Over the last few years, the gender diversity within these courses has incrementally increased, recently sitting at 44/56% (female/male).
We were finalists in Data IQ’s 2018 Awards in the “Best Diversity in Data Programme” for our partnership with The Data Lab on their MSc. Placement Programme.
We believe that by staying active and visible as an organisation, championing inclusion and diversity and challenging exclusivity within our communities we can ensure that we set an inclusive and diverse example as an organisation. We believe that the actions that we take help us to reach the widest pool of talent and also allow us to supply diversity to any resourcing project that we undertake.
