Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (DI&B)
Hippos are the people who make up our team
At the heart of everything, we are human, which is why ‘Human’ is one of our core values. We believe in maintaining our people-focused culture and creating a supportive environment for all our Hippos. Once someone joins the herd, they are given encouragement and opportunities to develop themselves and explore their unique talents.
We recognise the importance diversity plays in creating a successful, balanced, and fair organisation – both internally and in support of our external impact.
This is why Hippo prides itself on having an inclusive culture that welcomes and celebrates everyone, and does its best to reflect the communities and users that we serve.
At Hippo, inclusion isn’t just a value—it’s also a strategic advantage. It not only strengthens our internal culture, it also fuels the innovation, creativity, and problem-solving that drive our work. By bringing together diverse perspectives, we design smarter, more inclusive digital services that align with the needs of our customers and their users.
We know how important it is to have a good work-life balance and we do our best to allow every member of the team to establish a working pattern that suits them, whether that’s being around for school pickups or taking a longer lunch to walk the dog whilst recognising a professional working day and the needs of our clients.
We regularly ask for feedback from Hippos to ensure that people’s perspectives are shared and we have the opportunity to respond to that feedback.
Our commitment
We believe that human diversity and varied lived experiences offer fresh insights, help us to challenge assumptions, and support us to build more effective digital services.
Through inclusion we champion individuality, understand unique needs, and empower people to thrive.
Belonging means feeling valued, connected, and truly part of something—this is what we want for every Hippo.
Hippos are the heart of our business. If inclusion shapes our work, we must embody it within our teams and with our clients. We recognise that fostering an inclusive environment isn’t always simple—it requires continuous learning, reflection, and adaptability. We won’t always get it right, but we are committed to listening, evolving, and leading with empathy.
Hippo’s DI&B Strategy 2026
We have five strategic objectives:
Recruit and develop diverse teams that are more representative of society and the end users of the services we design and build.
Nurture a working environment that creates a sense of belonging and enables everyone to bring their authentic professional selves to work.
Support equity of opportunity for growth, progression and promotion, irrespective of any diversity characteristics.
Foster a greater understanding of diversity, enhance support for one another and build an inclusive environment within Hippo (and our clients), ensuring everyone is treated with respect.
Where our teams may not reflect end user groups or sections of society (e.g. those in social care), working towards a greater awareness from Hippos of the challenges they face.
DI&B forum
Hippo’s DI&B Forum meets once a month. Its membership ensures representation of a diverse range of backgrounds and demographics, as well as from across the business.
The role of the forum is to provide guidance to help shape and steer Hippo’s approach to DI&B, its strategy and overall programme of work, and to hold the organisation to account for making progress.
In doing so, members bring their diverse perspectives and lived experiences, as well as a wealth of knowledge and expertise from their various professional disciplines.
Communities of Belonging at Hippo
Our Communities of Belonging are dedicated spaces where Hippos with shared identities can connect, share experiences and come together to champion diversity, inclusion and belonging:
Disability
A space for disabled Hippos to chat, support each other and celebrate diverse abilities.
Ethnic minorities
A group of Hippos who identify as an ethnic minority, whether that is due to ethnicity, race, nationality, cultural background, heritage, or something else entirely.
Pride
A community for LGBTQ+ Hippos and allies to meet and connect with each other.
Gender equity
A forum for women at Hippo and allies of gender equity in tech.
Pay equity
Under the Equal Pay Act 1970 and the Equality Act 2010, we will ensure all employees are treated fairly and equally, both in general, and specifically, in relation to pay. We regularly review our pay to ensure there is no unfair treatment between genders and all are paid equally and fairly for doing the same job.
Gender pay reporting requires all employers with more than 250 employees to report annually on their pay structures and the gaps in pay between male and female employees. We believe in being open and transparent which is why you will be able to review our gender pay report on the website soon and we commit to regularly reviewing this information to ensure we are fair and compliant.
Best practice
To ensure we’re working in line with best practices, learning from reputable standards and accessing data-driven resources, we are aligned with the following initiatives:
Diversifying our talent pool
We also work with the following organisations to sponsor, mentor and run career development workshops with industry new entrants and provide additional learning and development opportunities for our team:
- Black Young Professionals
- Disability Action Yorkshire
- Elizabeth School of London
- Generation UK
- Ladies that UX
- Leeds Trinity University
- Rise Up
- Salford Foundation
- School of Code
- Scope
- STEM Ambassadors
- UK Black Tech
- UTC Leeds
Make an impact in a workplace where everyone can thrive
We are always on the lookout for talented people to work with us on a range of exciting projects. Join our diverse Hippo herd and become a trusted partner to our customers and their users.
