Respect, Belonging and Opportunity

Clarks is for everyone! As a global business Clarks want to embrace individuality and draw on different perspectives, backgrounds and cultures giving everyone an equal opportunity to be successful. We comply with all legislation relating to equality, discrimination and harassment. Commitment to equality and providing dynamic opportunities for our employees is becoming a competitive differentiator for companies seeking to attract and retain a talent, supporting creativity and driving innovation. Being open, transparent, and active in promoting equal opportunity in the workplace can earn enduring customer and employee trust.

Inclusivity is essential for innovation. An inclusive team with a wide range of backgrounds and different perspectives will help identify opportunities, anticipate problems and innovate faster than the competition. Inclusivity comes from bringing together people from different cultures, races, and genders together but also includes welcoming diverse socio-economic backgrounds, education levels, geographic locations, sexual orientations, perspectives, and many others. Each employee brings to the table a lifetime of experiences and knowledge. Each of us is different and adds value to the organisation because of these differences.

We expect our employees to be mindful of any form of discrimination and avoid any behaviour which goes against the ethos of this. Our Code of Business Ethics Principle 1 requires us to “Treat colleagues with dignity and respect”. This means treating people in the way THEY want to be treated not the way WE want to be treated. Different people find different things acceptable and everyone has a right to decide what behaviour is acceptable to them and to have their feelings respected. We encourage our employees to tell us if we can make our workplace a more welcoming and respectful environment - our aim is continuous improvement and we will be tenacious in our approach to making changes to improve these areas.

All employees are responsible for ensuring that there is no discrimination in the workplace and are expected to apply the principles of equal opportunities and non-discrimination in their interactions with employees and third parties. Clarks promote a working environment that values difference and is free from prohibited discrimination, victimisation, bullying or harassment. We take all complaints seriously, and promptly investigate, and deal with them, in a sensitive and affect manner ensuring there is no victimisation or retaliation against employees who complain.

We are committed to providing equal opportunity for employment and advancement in all of our departments and regions. Our recruitment & selection, and promotion is transparent, merit-based and fair. We have clear policies in place to ensure that our practices do not put pressure on, or take advantage of people in vulnerable circumstances and ensure that we support these efforts by offering training programmes to support these efforts.

We will not tolerate behaviour that goes against this policy. Any breach of this and related policies will be promptly investigated andbreaches will be subject to disciplinary action. Breaches or concerns can be reported to your manager, Human Resources or at ethics@clarks.com

Anonymised equality and diversity monitoring information may be provided to external organisations to meet our contractual obligations or to comply with legislation.