DEI Policy

PROUD Co.Lab was built on the belief that workplace culture is the single most powerful lever for human flourishing and business performance. We are committed to:

Diversity: Actively representing and welcoming people of all backgrounds, identities, abilities, orientations and lived experiences

Equity: Designing systems that account for structural barriers — giving everyone what they need to thrive

Inclusion: Creating environments where every person feels psychologically safe, valued and able to contribute fully

Belonging: Ensuring people don't just feel tolerated but genuinely at home

This policy applies to:

All PROUD Co.Lab team members, contractors and advisors

All users of the PROUD platform (talent and employers)

All coaching programme participants

All partner organisations and BPI France network organisations

Our AI systems and matching algorithms

Blind Matching

Our job matching platform anonymises identity markers — name, photo, ethnicity — at the matching stage. Hiring decisions are based solely on skills, experience and culture fit. Date of birth is collected for age verification only and is never used in matching.

Bias-Aware AI

Our AI matching engine is designed with bias detection and mitigation from the ground up. We conduct regular bias audits across protected characteristics, use diverse training data, maintain human oversight in all critical matching decisions, and build transparent AI models. This aligns with EU AI Act requirements for high-risk AI systems in employment contexts.

DEI Analytics

We provide organisations with anonymised, aggregated DEI metrics to help them understand and improve their hiring diversity over time. Individual data is never used in a way that could identify or disadvantage a candidate.

Coaching Content

All coaching programmes are developed and reviewed by Dr. Kalhari Hewage (Leadership & Wellbeing) and Lucy Vittrup (Chief Transformation Officer) to ensure content is trauma-informed, culturally sensitive and inclusive across all identities.

PROUD Co.Lab does not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic, including:

Age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation

Race and ethnicity, religion and belief, nationality

Pregnancy and maternity, neurodiversity, socioeconomic background

Migration status, language

All PROUD coaching sessions, platform interactions and community spaces operate under a zero-tolerance policy for harassment, discrimination, microaggressions or exclusionary behaviour.

Report concerns to [email protected]. All reports are investigated within 5 business days with full confidentiality. Substantiated reports result in immediate removal from the programme and platform.

Platform developed to WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards

Coaching content available with subtitles and transcripts

Accommodations for participants with disabilities: [email protected]

Languages: French, English, Sinhala (Phase 1) — expanding with each phase

All hiring decisions are skills-based and follow blind shortlisting processes

We actively recruit from underrepresented groups

Pay equity reviews conducted annually

All team members complete DEI onboarding training

We measure and publish our own DEI metrics annually

Organisations completing our DEI transformation programme and meeting our verified standards receive the Proud Verified certification. This is renewable annually and requires demonstrable progress across DEI metrics, not simply participation.

PROUD Co.Lab publishes an annual DEI impact report covering platform diversity metrics, coaching outcomes and our own team composition. Our Chief Transformation Officer (Lucy Vittrup) is accountable for DEI programme delivery.