Shakespeare Martineau has demonstrated its commitment to diversity and inclusion by being one of the first 50 companies to sign up to CBI’s ‘Change the Race Ratio’ campaign.

Change the Race Ratio is a coalition of senior leaders committed to taking action to increase racial and ethnic participation in businesses.

As part of this campaign, Shakespeare Martineau has pledged to take action and promised to work towards the following four commitments: increase racial and ethnic diversity among board members, increase racial and ethnic diversity among senior leadership, be transparent on targets and actions, and create an inclusive culture within which talent from all diversities can thrive.

CEO at Shakespeare Martineau, Sarah Walker-Smith, said: “Taking responsibility for equality, diversity and inclusivity is not just a nice thing to do, or a moral thing to do, it’s actually a commercial thing to do.

“It’s better for business, better for the economy, better for society, better for the world.

“While we are successfully shifting the gender balance in senior positions and have a good track record in social mobility and LGBTQ representation, we are aware that we need to improve our position when it comes to ethnic diversity in our senior leadership teams, and by pledging to campaigns like this we are holding ourselves accountable for that change.”

The firm will sit alongside the likes of Sainsbury’s, Centrica and HSBC Global Asset Management as signatories of the campaign.

Shakespeare Martineau is also a member of the Business in the community (BITC) race at work charter and was recently named as the first major employer to sign up to the fair redundancy pledge. Further commitments include; the COVID-19 pledge and Social Mobility Pledge as the firm continues to create a level playing field for all.

Sarah added: “2020 is providing us with a unique opportunity to make a permanent change in our thinking, behaviours, words and actions and we pledge to ‘be the change we want to see’ and make a difference to our people, future generations and the communities we serve.”