Benchmarking is the process of comparing something against a standard. For example, you can benchmark pay for a role with market research against the typical salary. Or you can benchmark your company's diversity using industry and geographic data. It's all about understanding how you compare to the typical standard. See our ultimate guide to benchmarking diversity in UK tech to learn more.

Bias is prejudice or preference that we feel internally. We all have internal biases, they occur naturally without us even realising. For example, we may think that women are automatically more suited to work as receptionists than engineers. Or that baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) wouldn't be able to keep up with the fast-paced environment of tech startups.

It's incredibly hard to train ourselves out of biases, but we can limit their influence by embedding equitable processes that give everyone fair treatment and equal opportunity.

'Culture fit' is the ability of a candidate to conform to the typical behaviours of a workplace and fit in with the culture. Assessing candidates based on this can exclude otherwise qualified people who stick out from the crowd. 'Culture add' takes into consideration what a candidate can bring to the table. Hiring for culture add means you welcome diverse perspectives, experiences and backgrounds to the team. Here's our how-to guide on interviewing for culture add (or value fit).

A disability is any mental or physical condition that impairs your ability to carry out normal daily activities. We can remove barriers facing people living with a disability by making our workplaces more accessible. For more information, read our post on how to design disability-inclusive workplaces that maximise people's strenghts.

Discrimination is when a group or individual faces unfair treatment because of their demographic characteristics. It often results from actions, rules, words or practices that exclude people and put them at a disadvantage.

Discrimination can be direct or indirect. Direct discrimination targets employees with certain characteristics. For example, if a hiring manager discounts a Black candidate because her natural hair makes her look “unprofessional.”

Indirect discrimination occurs when a rule has the unintended consequence of putting some people at a disadvantage. For example, if promotions are only open to full-time employees, this can discriminate against certain groups who often work part-time, such as parents, carers or disabled employees.

Diversity means the mix of all the different social groups within society. True diversity goes beyond visible characteristics, such as gender and ethnicity, considering invisible diversity as well, such as sexuality, religion, disability and socioeconomic status. Read our blog post 'What is diversity?' to dive deeper.

Technically 'equity' is the most accurate word but for our customers in finance and tech it can be a loaded term. For this reason we mostly use Equality currently.

Equality means that individuals face the same treatment and get ahead based on objective metrics of performance and skill, not based on who they know or what they look like. To achieve equality, we have to break down barriers and eliminate discrimination so that everyone gets a fair chance at success. Read this post to find out why equality is the foundation of diversity and inclusion.

This is a broad term that refers to the shared traditions, religions, language, ancestry, culture, dialect and national origins of a group of people. According to the UK Census, there are 18 ethnic groups in the UK.

An all-inclusive term for people identifying as Black, Asian, Mixed, Middle Eastern or any other non-White ethnicity. These categories are based on the simplified UK Census recommended ethnic groups. In the Fair HQ platform, we use "ethnic minorities" as a label to collectively refer to these groups.

This encompasses the set of expectations our culture assigns to gendered roles, usually based on perceptions of masculine or feminine.

Fair HQ commonly groups women and other genders together as the minoritised gender group compared to the gender majority, cisgendered men. When there are at least 5 people from the same gender we'll also show that group too e.g. at least 5 women, at least 5 non-binary people, etc.

When people feel listened to, valued, safe to be themselves, able to contribute to conversations and able to trust their peers, then they have a strong sense of inclusion. In the workplace, this means that employees are empowered and valued by their colleagues and leaders, no matter their perspectives or identity. Here's more on why inclusion is so important.

This is the concept that multiple social identities overlap and affect an individual's experiences of discrimination. For example, women of colour face unique barriers at work due to the overlapping effects of sexism and racism. It's important not to silo people's characteristics. We can't see people just as men or women, straight or gay. Our identities are much more complex than that. Gender overlaps with ethnicity, disability, sexuality and many more characteristics to form unique experiences.

An acronym standing for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer. The + symbol represents other gender identities and sexualities that are part of the LGBTQ+ community.

This concept refers to our psychological, emotional and social wellbeing. We all have mental health - it affects how we feel on a daily basis. In the Fair HQ employee survey, we ask employees to self-report any mental health challenges they've experienced in the previous 12 months, including stress, anxiety, depression and more.

It's important to note that your Mental Health Insights are not necessarily a snapshot of people's current mental health, nor their medically diagnosed conditions. But being aware of the kinds of challenges people experience can help you offer targeted support and foster a culture that values mental wellbeing.

The generation born between 1981 and 1996. Anyone who reached young adulthood in the early 21st century is considered a Millennial.

Fair HQ currently categories into Millennials and Non-Millenials due to the data volumes. However, we're not a fan of defining things in terms of 'not' the majority and intend to migrate away from this soon.

Minority groups refers to any group of people who are traditionally represented in fewer numbers than the majority group, such as Asian people, Black women, or LGBTQ+ folk.

The traditional majority makes up the dominant group — they're represented as the majority in most contexts, including at work. Fair HQ's traditional majority is based on the UK so it's white heterosexual cisgendered men. Anyone who doesn't meet every part of that is counted in the minority group (or unknown) for data analysis.

No two brains are the same. There are natural variations in all of our brains, and for some people, this encompasses their experience living with a cognitive condition such as Autism, Asperger's or ADHD. We refer to this as the concept of 'neurodiversity'.

This term originates from the USA and is starting to become popular in the UK too. It's an all-inclusive term for people identifying as African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islander Americans, multiracial Americans, and some Latino American ethnicity.

We use this term to refer to the social and economic factors that determine the types of opportunities that are accessible to us, including education and professional work.

At Fair HQ, we use parental education level as a proxy of people's level of social privilege. Out of 12 questions defined by the UK government, parental education level was the most effective measure of socio-economic background.

Stereotypes are widely held beliefs about a particular group of people being all the same. They're fixed ideas that result in unfair assumptions being made about people, just because of their social characteristics.

For example, a common gender stereotype is that women are more emotional than men. This leads some people to believe that women don't make capable leaders - a belief that actually impacts the type of feedback women receive at work. Harvard researchers recently found that women are encouraged to focus on delivering work and getting along, while men are encouraged to set the vision and claim their space.

Negative attitudes or discrimination strongly associated with a specific circumstance, quality, or person. For example, stigma surrounding mental health means that people may be reluctant to speak up and get help for fear of being labelled 'crazy' or 'faking it'.

People fall into the trap of tokenism when they want to appear diverse without actually putting in the work to make sure minority groups are included. If members of underrepresented groups are singled out as a sole representative of their entire group, or as symbols of diversity as a whole, they may feel that they're treated as a token rather than a fully valued member of the team.