Dear Sirs: a campaign to eradicate non-inclusive language in the workplace. >

I am Ellie Rees, Co-Founder of independent estate agency, Brickworks. We want to shape a progressive agenda for the property sector and positively impact those working within it. First, we aim to highlight and dismantle sexist attitudes and behaviours that we believe have gone unchallenged for too long.

The way you and your company can support:

If you are looking for ways to action this yourself, look no further than the five examples below. Originally cited in Harvard Business Review's “How to Make Your Organisation’s Language More Inclusive”, we have made their suggestions more relatable within our working practice. Still, please feel free to create and pledge your own ideas.

1. Removal of non-neutral terms and gender-based jargon. Make sure your teams, recruiters, and hiring managers slow down and pay attention to the language they use when drafting job postings, articles, internal communications, and external-facing marketing copy with an eye towards removing non-neutral terms. Remind people: it may not matter to you, but it may matter to someone you work with.

2. Create a list of words that are discouraged within your organisation and keep that list updated, or go one step further by conducting HR polls within your business to establish what language people feel is non-inclusive.

3. Offer accessible tips that can be put into immediate action (for example, an inclusive vocabulary reference guide). This might involve straightforward tools, such as the “inclusive language” feature available in Microsoft Office, which suggests neutral alternatives to biased language used in professional communications.

4. Choose ambassadors who are highly visible in the company to support your inclusive language initiatives. Hold workshops and encourage conversations in this area. Invite third-party experts to talk to your team.

5. Knowledge share with your peers. If you feel you are already doing most of the above –– fantastic! Instead, pledge to mentor individuals or share your expertise and experiences with our campaign so we can help other businesses take positive next steps and expand our support network.

Brickworks will host workshops and meet-ups on the Dear Sirs campaign throughout 2024. Please keep in touch for further details:

Via email: campaigns@brickworkslondon.com

Join us: @Brickworks_london

Thank you for your time,

Ellie Rees

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