Elevated Inclusive Leadership

200+ Leaders Engaged

To champion a workplace where everyone belongs, we’ve partnered with inclusion expert Catherine Garrod and started to roll out a Leadership Learning Journey for our leaders this past year.

We've given managers the practical tools and confidence to lead with empathy, provide guidance and unlock their teams' full potential. You can see a snippet of the programme here.

To date, we’ve already engaged over 200 leaders of which 100% said their awareness of Inclusion had increased and would recommend the programme. We have plans in place to reach even more of you and keep this momentum going strong to build an even more inclusive environment for everyone.

Data That Shapes Our Culture

Building inclusion into everyday thinking.

To ensure our policies truly reflect our workforce, last year we encouraged you to update your NEP profiles so we could get to know you better.

We're pleased we have moved forward in all demographic metrics and created massive percentage spikes providing more meaningful data! We reached 97% completion for Ethnicity and 96% for Marital Status, while building on our newer fields like Disability (up 468%) and Armed Forces (up 236%).

Moving forward this data goes beyond a spreadsheet, it directly guides how we build Inclusion into our everyday thinking that serves everyone.

Supporting Parents at NEXT

Making sure every family feels supported.

To ensure every family feels supported, we launched our brand-new Parenting at NEXT site, moving beyond our traditional maternity hub to create a single, inclusive hub for family leave.

As part of this commitment, we’ve enhanced our paternity pay by doubling our paternity leave entitlement. This means you can now receive four weeks of full paternity pay.

Our workplace nursery has also been widely praised for its exceptional welcome pack, which enhances early learning and supports every child through tailored funding, disability care and home language support, complete with personal voice recordings from families to get pronunciations just right! 

Elevating Our Careers Site

Reaching even more people!

To keep our hiring process simple and welcoming, we've enhanced how we present our careers. This makes applying to NEXT clearer and more accessible for everyone.

We redesigned our job adverts using gender decoders for neutral language, removed non-essential requirements like specific GCSE grades and added clear salary and hours.

We also updated the hiring journey with support for adjustments, clear guidance on unspent convictions and a new DE&I section showcasing our employee networks and wellbeing partnerships.

Inclusive Choices for Radio NEXT

Cultural spotlights and more.

Over in Distribution, they've been making sure their daily soundtrack reflects the incredible diversity of our teams. Radio NEXT has consciously shifted to track and curate their daily programmes. They consider their featured guests, music playlists and sharing cultural spotlights. This ensures that our diverse workforce is authentically represented over the radio.

By tuning in to what matters to our listeners, the station has received fantastic employee feedback, turning everyday shifts into a shared cultural experience that connects us all.

When every voice is celebrated, our whole community moves together.

Digital Accessibility for All

Harnessing innovation.

To make NEXT fully accessible for our colleagues and customers alike, we’ve set a clear goal to achieve WCAG AA compliance by 2030 across our key platforms, including our careers site, Thrive and Rewards.

On the customer side, we’re harnessing innovation with our new AI NEXT Stylist, making it easier than ever for shoppers to find adaptive and accessible products tailored to their needs.

Our Wider Impact

Empowering communities.

Our commitment to inclusion goes far beyond NEXT. It reaches into our global supply chain. Since 2015, our partnership with AIDER in New Delhi has supports local communities by providing vital education, healthcare and job training for women and their families.

Over the past decade, we’ve reached over 28,000 workers, supported 4,400+ students, delivered essential eye care and glasses to thousands and secured 257 direct job placements in banking and fashion. Successes include 42 children entering full time education and the creation of new breast cancer and dental medical camps.

Products Made for Everyone

Thinking about our customers.

Clothing should adapt to your life, not the other way around! We’re proud to design ranges that welcome everyone. From our GenM Menopause Friendly high-performance fabrics to magnetic-clipped Adaptive underwear, supportive Stoma knickers and seam-free Kind to Skin apparel engineered for sensitive skin.

Our product teams are always working on ways to make what we offer our customers more inclusive and fit for all. Small design choices make everyday dressing simple and stress-free for all.

Accessible Customer Support with InterpretersLive! 

Thinking about our customers.

As part of our mini Inclusion series, we're sharing the stories behind what has helped celebrate our inclusive culture and momentum.

We've enhanced our customer care by introducing InterpretersLive! This is a new video interpreting service launched in partnership with SignSolutions. This technology allows hard-of-hearing and vulnerable customers to connect via video calls with professional interpreters in real time, giving them seamless, direct access to our contact centre advisors.

This is a best-in-class, inclusive experience for our customers.