People
People make Keywords possible. We value them; we trust them and we work with them to support their passion to provide the best service for each project and customer.
As a multicultural business, we thrive on diversity and collaborate as a team across our global studios.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
We are on a purposeful diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) journey at Keywords, embedding these principles in all aspects of our business. We have a global Diversity and Inclusion Council, local chapters to represent the voices from across our regions, global Affinity Groups and regional Collaborators networks. Through our annual inclusion calendar and DEIB learning program we provide opportunities to recognise, reflect, and learn.
To read about our diversity and inclusion targets and the progress of the DEIB programme you can access the Keywords Annual Report; our Gender Pay Gap reports can be found below.
We also recognise the need for change in our industries and we invest in diversity, representation, and inclusion through our partnerships. We sponsor the Women in Games Individual Ambassador Programme and continue to be a proud UKIE #RaiseTheGame pledge partner, a commitment to cultural and behavioural change in all games businesses.
Reports
Our Culture
The success of our business is testament to the Keywords culture, and the skills and commitment of our talented and passionate employees and collaborators.
With One Keywords we are looking to galvanise the Group's culture of entrepreneurialism by facilitating more collaboration through the simplification of structures. We have already seen tangible benefits from these changes, which help us serve our clients more effectively and ensure our employees get the most out of being part of the Group.
As part of this, we have refreshed our operating principles with a simple set of five Leadership Principles. These are designed as practical tools that we can apply to everyday working life, whilst supporting the individual cultures that exist within each of our studios and service lines.
Leadership Principles
The Power of Partnership
We collaborate with our clients as an extension of their team. With shared passion and purpose, we proactively support them in bringing their stories to life.
One Keywords
We believe in a network with efficiency at its core. Combining the strength of a global platform with the agility of local studios creates our superpower.
Raise the Game
We embrace technology, innovation and our entrepreneurial spirit to help our clients and the industry thrive. Leveraging the sum of our experience brings new value to gaming and beyond.
Embrace an Open World
We champion diversity of talent and ideas from every corner of our global community. Inclusivity makes us stronger and enables us to deliver world-class entertainment creation to our partners.
Trust Through Transparency
We pursue open and honest relationships with our people, clients, and communities. Clear and authentic communication is foundational as we create success together.
Health & Safety
We care about the health and well-being of our people and provide a safe and healthy work environment for all. Our global and local leadership teams are responsible for health and safety in the workplace and all Keywords’ people contribute to a positive safety culture to minimise accidents.
We offer progressive and proactive support when it comes to mental health and wellbeing to prevent ill-health and to foster an inclusive working environment. We encourage our employees to take reasonable care of their own and other people’s welfare and to report any situation that may undermine this.
Expanding our employee assistance programme and building a Well-being Champions Network in the coming year will lay the foundation for future health initiatives.
Employee Engagement
Over the past year, enhancing our global employee engagement has become a key area of focus. In order to help with this, our Key Communicator network was established. This network enables transparent and open communication, and was created in order to share pertinent news in advance of a global internal announcement to all employees. Our goal is to empower our Key Communicators and to share knowledge and spark information flow among our teams.
Training and Development
Across Keywords, we provide training and development programmes to support the development of our talented employees. We are undertaking group-wide training on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) as we seek to make sure that our communications and behaviours build inclusion.
We continue to partner with local institutes and professional bodies with online and in-person management development and skills programmes throughout Keywords.
In 2023, we expanded Art Academies in India to include game development and ran transitional skills bootcamps globally to open more industry career paths. Our testing business’s “Level Up” programme enables ambitious testers to take on more responsibility and progress. Partnerships with institutes and professional bodies facilitate broader online and in-person management and skills training.
As part of our drive to ensure that our teams continue to remain at the forefront of the latest technological advancements, we have a number of training projects underway in different parts of the business. Within Create, as a research project, we are developing a game solely utilising AI tools to understand and then educate our teams on where the opportunities and limitations of technology lie. We are also in the process of establishing collaborations with technology partners to be able to provide our teams with early access to new products and to become subject matter experts, in much the same way as they currently master existing tools.