Since October 2021, Diversity Champions and people from across Sumo Group collaborate to enact change as part of Prism – our internal inclusion and belonging community group.
Prism: A Spectrum of Light and Colours
Prism gets its name from the optics that occur when light shines through a prism shape and produces a spectrum of colours. Within Sumo, Prism is a grassroots initiative which gives our people the opportunity to make meaningful change at policy level.
Led by EDI Manager Leon Killin, Prism is made for and by our people.
Prism & Our People
Prism currently houses five public community streams – Ethnic Minorities, Women, LGBTQ+, Nationality, Culture and Faith, and Ability, Wellbeing and Families – and two closed channels for Ethnic Minorities and Marginalised Genders. These are guided by ‘Diversity Champions’, who collaborate with members of their community to host panels, attend events, run workshops and share resources. Since launching last year, Prism has gained over 200 members from across Sumo Group’s global teams.
When it comes to our people, Diversity Champions are given access to the resources and training needed to develop their skills in public speaking and leadership, as well as giving them experience in collaborating, hosting events and workshops, and managing budgets.
Prism for the Community
Over the last 12 months, Prism has hosted a range of panels, including LGBTQ characters and themes in games for Pride 2022, BSL Workshop for Accessibility Awareness, and Consultancy and the Positives of Rich Inclusion for Black History Month. We’ve also seen the Women’s Prism stream lead several panels and discussions as part of Women in Games’ career festivals.
For accessibility, we’re proud to be bringing passionate people from all areas of game development together to identify ways to make access-forward changes to our games, our communications, our spaces and our processes.
Prism & Our Policies
Prism has played a key role in change as we enable our people to bring their whole, authentic self to work every day. As part of this, we’re proud to have launched our Pronoun and Self-Affirming Language Guide which will see our people able to self-identify without unnecessary barriers and are giving prospective candidates the ability to choose what identity information they share with us.
Furthermore, as part of our ongoing commitments, we’re in the process of formalising a Transition in the Workplace policy to support and empower our trans colleagues through exciting and life-changing times, also equipping our cis colleagues with the skills to confidently champion and assist their transitioning team members. Prism has also hosted trans-awareness webinars from Gendered Intelligence to provide a safer space for our people to educate themselves.
Prism & Our Places
Our policies are evolving, and so are our buildings! We’re working to make our physical spaces more accessible for all by introducing single-sex and gender-neutral toilets wherever we’re able – with over half of our UK studios now offering these facilities.
We’re on a mission to make the games industry a safer, more inclusive and diverse place to be – and we’re so grateful to our people for being with us on the journey.
It’s been a fantastic first year – here’s to the future of Prism!