Sports betting and company Entain wanted to improve gender diversity in its industry, acknowledging that only 24% of STEM roles are occupied by women. Through two of its brands, PartyCasino and PartyPoker, it had a commercial sponsorship with the McLaren Formula 1 team. Female fans in F1 have grown to 40%, so a partnership with McLaren made sense. The solution was a new and innovative talent development programme – the Entain x McLaren F1 Team returnship, which would take action on improving female representation in STEM careers.

The returnship runs for 6 months with the intention to convert delegates into permanent recruits during or after the scheme. Delegates are matched to one role for the duration of the 6 months so the placement can be meaningful, while at the same time building knowledge and networks within the rest of the business. In addition, they work on team projects and a ‘Meet our Leaders’ initiative. All receive a team buddy, a workplace mentor and access to 1:1 transitional coaching throughout, and flexible working patterns are supported.

A marketing campaign was released across specialist recruitment sites and bodies such as the Women in Engineering Society, the organisations worked with future of work guru Christine Armstrong, and booked programmatic promotions targeted at females reading tech and F1 content. Chief people officers of Entain and McLaren joined a podcast, and in-house employer brand ambassadors shared content across their personal channels. The returnship generated thousands of impressions online and a three-fold increase in engagement, which in turn has led to an increase in the volume and diversity of applicants.