Enforcing Diversity & Inclusion At ICE Cleaning

Since launching in 2017, we have dedicated time and effort to promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

We have hired a variety of people with different levels of abilities over the last few months, from university graduates to young people from the government’s kick-starter scheme. Most recently, we welcomed Nouman Sarwar and Lewis Hole to the team – completing our new level of management.

Speaking of the latest recruits, our Founding Director, Zac Hemming, commented, “We aspire to hire individuals with different characteristics and backgrounds from one another to provoke a variety of different opinions and perspectives.

“We feel that the more diverse the workplace is, the more rewarding it is for the entire workforce. Ultimately, our employees are our most important asset, so ensuring that each member is getting the most out of their job is essential.”

Since March 2021, our company has recruited another 14 employees, resulting in 47 employees in total. We are currently on a journey of growing our workforce, with the next steps of moving from our current office in Orpington, Kent to a bigger office in Cudham, Kent.

Having a diverse workforce challenges our leaders, Zac Hemming and James Reynolds, to keep pushing forward to improve the working environment for both employees and the wider company.

To accomplish such challenges, we aim to foster a company culture where every voice is welcome, heard and respected. We will also acknowledge and honour all cultures by ensuring all holidays and celebrations are respected.

Our company culture is based on four core values: integrity, humility, accountability and ambition. These values represent our company as a whole, and we push all new members of staff to abide by the same principles.

James shared, “As a company, we aim to enforce equality both in the workplace and within the wider environment. In terms of gender equality, we currently operate with a 60:40 female to male ratio.”

Recruitment within a company coincides with the focus on diversity and inclusion.  It enables us to innovate, discover, attract and expand our talent pool, creating an environment that unleashes different perspectives and keeps staff open-minded.

Whilst our main focus is to develop gender equality in the workplace, we also want to diversify our following on social media.

On average, our social media following is males ranging from 35 to 44 years old. The next big step is to target the female audience on social media. To reach this step, our plan is to focus on making our content more gender neutral. We also plan to produce additional content with West Ham United women’s team – who we’ve sponsored since the beginning of the season.

Zac commented, “We’d like to think that all of our employees feel valued and accepted in the workplace, and convey that message across our platforms too.

“We’ve managed to develop an excellent brand reputation both internally and externally, and even that can be put down to our caring company culture. We’re proud that our core values are reflected in our customer service, enabling our employees to develop meaningful relationships with our clients.

“Going forward, we should continue to embrace a people-first approach to all that we do. We may have experienced significant growth over the past year, but we look to stay grounded as we enter the next phase of our journey.”