OPEN TO THE WORLD
Selfridges has always been more than a shop. In 1909, when our founder Harry Gordon Selfridge opened our first store, he said ‘Everyone is welcome’, and to this day these words ring true. Harry was renowned for championing women’s rights, from creating window displays supporting the suffragettes to opening the first toilets for women in a department store. Today, we’re working to continue Harry’s legacy in making Selfridges a truly diverse and inclusive environment in which to work and shop – for our teams, our customers and our partners.
Our DEI strategy is a powerful enabler for strengthening inclusion and belonging, both within our business and across our external communities. We have always been, and will continue to be, Open to the World.
OUR INCLUSIVE & CREATIVE WORKFORCE
We want everyone to bring their whole selves to work and feel a sense of belonging, and we believe being a diverse and inclusive brand is critical to our success. We’re working hard to not only increase the visibility and recognition of under-represented talent within our organisation, but the wider industry too.
YELLOW CAREERS
We are dedicated to fostering internal progression opportunities for our team members. We proudly launched The Yellow Careers Club in 2023 to support team members with career advice and professional development. It is as an integral part of our inclusive talent management, providing an opportunity for growth and career development of our team members and ultimately supporting our succession planning strategy, ensuring transparency and equity to drive internal mobility.
LEADERSHIP ROLE MODELLING
We have developed extensive inclusive leadership training to equip our managers with the tools they need to have confident, open and honest conversations around equity in our business. All Selfridges line managers have been trained in inclusive leadership so far. Our inclusive leadership training is just the beginning, and we plan to extend this to all team members.
TEAM MEMBER COMMUNITIES
Our Selfridges team member communities inspire a sense of purpose and belonging, and are an integral part of our success. Spanning Proud at Selfridges (LGBTQIA+), Family Matters, Thinking Differently and EmbRACE & Ethnicity, plus many more, our team led communities create ways to amplify key calendar moments throughout the year – from Pride to Mental Health Awareness Week to Black History Month, whilst enabling our team members to bring their whole selves to Selfridges.
CREATING OPPORTUNITY
We are empowering the next generation of diverse talent and are committed to cultivating the behaviours, attitudes and environments that enable equal and equitable opportunities for under -represented groups.
ATTRACTING DIVERSE TALENT
We are actively working with external partners such as Code First Girls, Diversity in Retail and charities such as The King’s Trust & Centrepoint, to not only attract diverse talent to our business, but to retain representation through the positions we fill. In doing so, we aim to fully reflect the communities that make up Selfridges.
DIVERSITY IN RETAIL
We are a member of Diversity in Retail, to support our team members from minority groups to develop and progress into senior roles and to provide access to mentors. Across our business it’s about facilitating and delivering the right opportunities for our team members so they can grow and succeed. In signing the WiHTL & Diversity in Retail pledge, we are proud to be joining organisations across sectors in co-creating the change we all want to see towards a more inclusive culture.
INCREASED REPRESENTATION
Our recruitment process has been designed to enhance the richness and diversity of our team member population. Our recruitment teams are trailblazers for inclusive hiring across the business. They have trained all hiring managers to ensure every candidate’s experience is consistent, fair and transparent. We have maintained a baseline of 50% women in leadership and we are working towards achieving a minimum of 18% under-represented ethnic leadership. As part of our Open to the World strategy, we are committed to reducing the Gender Pay Gap through a multi-year plan that focuses on recruitment, pay governance and internal mobility and progression.
COMMUNITY BUILDERS
We nurture the communities that make our destinations thrive, underpinned by one of our values, Embrace Every Self.
CHARITY PARTNERSHIPS & VOLUNTEERING
We collaborate with national and local organisations that share our values to create positive change. Together with our charity partners, (Oxfam, Centrepoint and The King’s Trust) we are making a meaningful difference through volunteering drives, fundraising initiatives and corporate funding for partnership programmes. You can find out more about our charity partnerships, here.
CHAT FOR CHANGE
Our ‘Chat for Change’ initiative gives team members a forum to talk about a wide range of diversity topics. Since its creation, we have come together with team members to discuss everything from mental health in the workplace and gender pronouns to Neurodiversity and Anti-Semitism. External community experts have joined these conversations too including activist Peter Tatchell and author Magdalene Abraha.
QUIET HOUR
We understand that shopping experiences for people with autism spectrum conditions, sensory sensitivities and mental health conditions like anxiety can be stressful. That's why we introduced Quiet Hour to all our stores, which takes place every Wednesday from 10–11am. By lowering or turning off the music and, where possible, switching off the screens in the stores, we can create a calmer, more peaceful environment.