People and inclusion
Here at Channel 4, we are passionate about supporting people to build great futures in the media industry – this includes people from all backgrounds and walks of life. By nurturing new and future talent and original ideas, we can inspire change in our industry and reflect the diversity of Britain today.
People and inclusion at Channel 4
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Channel 4 is proud to be an equal opportunities employer and celebrates diversity in all areas of our workforce. We do not discriminate on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, marital status, race, religion, ethnic origin, disability, political or religious beliefs in our recruitment or employment practices.
In 2016, our ‘Year of Disability’, we had an increased focus on providing opportunities for candidates with disabilities: we awarded 50% of Channel 4 apprenticeships and 35% of work experience placements to disabled people. We also increased the number of staff declaring a disability from 3% to 11%.
We monitor our diversity figures regularly and have short and longer-term targets within our Diversity Charter. We are also committed to the government’s ‘Disability Confident’ agenda. Indeed, in September 2017, Channel 4 became the first media company to achieve the status of Disability Confident Leader.
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We are passionate about providing routes into the industry for new and emerging talent. Our varied 4Talent programmes enable young talent to gain valuable experiences and connections into broadcast and digital media. We provide schemes for those with no previous experience alongside development programmes for creatives with more experience.
Our C4 Pop-Up is a national outreach programme of skills workshops targeted at young people in locations across the UK. Open to all and free to attend, we aim to take the industry out to the Regions and enable hundreds of young people to get practical advice and make contacts to start their careers.
More than 650 young people attended Channel 4 Pop Ups in 2016. Of these, 21% came from ethnic minority backgrounds, 13% identified as LGBT and 8% had disabilities.
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All of our roles are advertised on the Channel 4 jobs site. These include a wide variety of positions in departments including IT, Consumer Insights, Commissioning, 4Creative, Legal, Marketing, Corporate Affairs, Finance, HR and Sales alongside our apprenticeships and work experience placements.
We are a key sponsor of ‘Great with Disability’ which enables us to promote our opportunities to candidates with a wide variety of disabilities and also partner with organisations including Mencap, Scope, JobCentre Plus and Mind.
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Channel 4 employees have access to a variety of learning and development programmes and opportunities. These include coaching, mentoring, e-learning, formal training, team development, soft skills, IT training and line management.
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We are committed to providing a work environment that allows employees to flourish. Wellbeing and employee engagement are central to employees being empowered and enabled to do their best and most-fulfilling work.
From offering employees private medical insurance benefits – including a free annual flu jab and Virtual GP access – to supporting mental health awareness and emotional wellbeing, we actively promote a programme of activities that look after our employees.