Capgemini is a French technology and consulting firm with 350,000+ colleagues in more than 50 countries. ‘Respectfully Us’ is a pillar of the company’s Active Inclusion programme, which empowers employees to create a respectful and inclusive workplace. They are encouraged to foster a safe environment where people feel comfortable to speak up; to demonstrate respect and acceptance of others’ opinions and experiences; and to embrace open conversations and informal resolution rather than conflict.

However, since the pandemic new challenges have emerged. Hybrid working means people are more disconnected and there can be increased opportunities for inappropriate behaviour, while the programme itself lost some momentum as people balanced other business priorities. Capgemini needed to build clarity and buy-in across the business through ambassadors that would drive the conversation, and a digital charter that would reflect how Active Inclusion would work in the hybrid world. This would help other employees who felt there could be an impact on their careers if they brought up difficult issues.

Pink Squid helped the business create a narrative structure that would deliver a key takeaway at each stage: such as ‘how does this make people feel?’ or being open to learning. An animated style was chosen to take the focus away from individuals. This would also show the emotional responses to different situations with more clarity and simplicity than actors. The campaign was launched internally through an email campaign to thousands of Capgemini colleagues and hosted on the ‘Respectfully Us’ section of the intranet. The new guidelines received the highest engagement of any internal HR page during launch month, and continued to be frequently visited in the following 12 months, with the fourth highest engagement of all internal UK pages. Respectfully Us contributes towards Capgemini being one of 135 companies who are considered to be the most ethical in the world.