Connection &
community

You can always be yourself and have your voice heard at Emerald. Finding ways we can all feel included is high on our agenda.

At Emerald, everyone is welcome. It's a place where you can be yourself and always have your voice heard, and this starts from the very first interaction you have with us.

This is especially important because we are based all over the world, often working remotely, so finding ways we can all feel included is high on our agenda. We treat each other with respect and always take the time to share knowledge and support each other to perform at our best.

Although most of us spend the majority of our time working remotely, we understand the importance of our time together in person. It's not just a change of scenery, but a chance to learn, network and to feel re-energised. We make sure that everyone has access to inspirational workspaces when they are meeting colleagues and if you are based in the UK, you will visit our beautiful headquarters in the centre of Leeds at least once a month. Twice a year or more we run companywide events around a theme that is important to us; giving us a chance to do some deep thinking and have some fun together.

Our "3Ps" of People, Prosperity and Planet are incredibly important to us, and we have a number of vibrant and active employee networks that are instrumental in devising and delivering our strategy across these pillars. We try to make sure that there is something for everyone: all we ask is that you are open-minded and have a willingness to get involved.

Our commitment to people, planet and prosperity

The golden thread across everything we do is our passion for sharing knowledge. We believe that knowledge and learning can diminish divides and be an inclusive force for change be it for people or our environment.

Our aim is to empower everyone to thrive in education, workplaces, community and society at large. We know not everyone has the same life chances or access to education and learning. So, via the commitments and work of our three pillars – People, Planet, and Prosperity – we hope to have a positive impact on our people, our communities, and our world. We call our three pillars the 3Ps.

Our colleagues get involved with the 3Ps through their personal development time, two paid volunteering days, dedicated 3Ps time blocked out in our calendars business-wide, or joining organised groups like our charity committee, planet squad, learning squad, or inclusion network. Contributions to these pillars are rewarded through our discretionary bonus.

People

Our people pillar includes our work in equity, diversity and inclusion, and our investment in ourselves through learning and development and wellbeing.Our recent actions include:

Introducing a transitioning at work guide.
Developing a networking group for parents and carers of neurodivergent young people.
Launching a learning squad to increase the impact of key opportunities like our mentor scheme, LinkedIn Learning, and Learning at Work Week.
Regular webinars focused on sleep, mental health, physical health, nutrition, and healthy hybrid working.
Community wellbeing activities, such as our wellbeing advent calendar, and stress awareness month challenge.

Planet

Our planet pillar includes the work we do to care for the environment, and become more sustainable in how we use, treat, and preserve our earth's resources as a business, individuals, and within our communities. Our recent actions include:

Relocating our Yorkshire headquarters from a large office space to a more accessible and fit-for-purpose leased space in Leeds City Centre.
Improving our ways of working to reduce carbon emissions by half, by 2030.
In 2023 we were very proud to become a signatory of Publishing Declares, the Publishers Association's Climate Action Pledge and we have pledged a number of commitments in line with this.
Created a learning module for all staff, focusing on environmental awareness.
Invested in the NetZero platform, encouraging healthy competition for sustainability.

Prosperity

Our prosperity pillar includes our charity, volunteering and fundraising work. Our recent actions include:

Hosting world of work experiences for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through partnerships with One in a Million, the Participate Project, and more.
Taking part in charity challenges such as sponsored walks and Dragon Boat Racing, raising over £10,000 for BookTrust and still going!
Holding our annual "Lamb Fest" charity day, where colleagues visit a local farm to spend time with newborn lambs and learn about the award-winning sheep.

Wellbeing

As a business, we take the physical, mental, and financial wellbeing of our employees seriously. All colleagues, regardless of length of service, have access to:

Mental Health First Aiders.
Employee Assistance Programme, including counselling support.
Virtual GP (24/7 365 days a year).
Bereavement and probate helpline and support services.
Legal and financial support helpline.
Discounts on fitness brands and gym membership.

Virtual workout classes.
Crisis 24 – worldwide security and health information.
Flu jabs.
Eye and hearing tests.
Access to the Wisdom App – wellbeing tools to improve mental and physical health.
Regular pension clinics.

Diversity, inclusion, and accessibility

We believe passionately in equitable representation, influence, and opportunity for all; regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexuality, or socioeconomic background. But the truth is, within Emerald and our communities, we still have a long way to go.

We consistently invest our time and resources to ensure that our workplace is inclusive and accessible by design, and that we are playing our part in driving change within our communities. Our action plan is sponsored by the C-Suite, and driven by a network of employees across the business who are empowered to make sure our strategy remains meaningful and relevant to our communities around the world.

Recent outputs of our action plan for employee experience include:

Revising our reward structure, with contributions to diversity, inclusion, accessibility, community and climate now making up 1-2% of our annual discretionary bonus.
Introducing a mandatory inclusive leadership development programme for all senior leadership team members, line managers, and area leads.
Improving our recruitment process to include fully anonymised applications and screening, skills-based interviews, objective scorecards, and more.
Partnering with values-aligned agencies, such as Radical Recruit, and RefuAid.
Hosting confidential employee listening circles through our inclusion network.
Launching a networking group for the parents and carers of neurodivergent children.

We are also committed to making a difference in our industry, consistently challenging under-representation within academic publishing. Our goal is for equal representation across our publishing practice, including editorial boards, reviewer pools, and lead authors. This will start with 40 titles in 2025, with an ambition to extend this to everything by 2030.

Working hours and location

We perform at our best when we feel trusted and are able to choose an approach to working that suits us best, which is why we are a remote-first company with no core hours, and a 35-hour working week.

We also believe in face-to-face collaboration. Our UK colleagues visit our Leeds office for team time at least once a month, and up to quarterly for company get togethers. When we meet in person, we proactively consider inclusion and accessibility, both in terms of the practicalities of the event, and in our food, drink and entertainment options.

For clarity, our minimum expectations are as follows:

All UK staff attend the Leeds office at least once a month. Some teams may have an expectation of more frequent attendance, particularly for certain roles or those that are within a reasonable commute of the office, but this would be discussed at interviews.
We run company wide in-person days at least twice per year and all UK based staff are expected to attend these.

We ask that you be within a distance that you are comfortable with that allows you to meet the minimum expectations. If you live over 30 miles away, we will cover expenses for your travel to these events.

For staff based outside of the UK, these guidelines do not apply. You can find more information on our offices outside of the UK on our global community pages.

How we work

Most of our work is done through digital collaboration. Though each team varies slightly in the tools they use to get their job done, we all collaborate using Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, Miro, and Monday. In a predominantly remote business, it is important to protect your time, so we have implemented a no meeting zone between 12:00-14:00 for all colleagues globally.

We connect as a company at our fortnightly all-hands meeting. Each all-hands meeting is run twice, to accommodate different time zones and working arrangements. Everyone, regardless of location, is expected to attend one of the fortnightly all-hands sessions. They are the best way to keep up to date with the performance of the business, key challenges we are facing, and the successes that have made us smile. If you are away, have urgent work, or a clash that cannot be moved, we expect you to catch up with the recording. Otherwise, please attend these live.

We also hold an annual company conference, and a mid-year check-in. These events are a way for us to come together, recognise what we have achieved, and share ambitious plans for the future. We focus on how we as individuals can make a difference and achieve our purpose. The conference and mid-year check-in take place online and are essential to attend.

Dress code

We have no formal dress code; you should wear whatever you feel most comfortable in.

All we ask is that you dress appropriately for the type of work that you carry out and use your judgement to avoid anything that might make your colleagues or anyone else you are working with feel uncomfortable.

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