The Inclusion Rider is a template and a contract provision that implements widely applicable best practices for building workplace diversity.
Your company can use the Inclusion Rider for individual projects, a slate of projects, or as part of a company-wide policy (see Inclusion Rider Policy).
It’s important to note that the Inclusion Rider can and should be tailored to fit particular settings, productions and companies (see below for elements that must remain in place for successful adoption of the Inclusion Rider).
Although the Inclusion Rider is a flexible template, there are four elements that are essential for successful implementation:
1) A commitment to deepening and diversifying hiring pools
2) Established hiring benchmarks
3) Collection, measurement, and analyzation of hiring data
4) Implemented accountability measures to support progress
The Inclusion Rider encourages accountability through data collection and analysis, reporting, and a good faith donation where you may fall short of your goals.
Please see this link prepared by IllumiNative.
Intersectionality is a term and concept coined by Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw. It refers to the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups (Merriam-Webster).
Yes! Please see Color Of Change’s #ChangeIndustries Anti-Racist Trainer Directory for our recommendations.
No. The Inclusion Rider is explicit in setting forth a target for hiring, which could focus on progress over time, which is not the same as a quota. It also makes explicit that those making hiring determinations use their best efforts to hire qualified candidates from underrepresented backgrounds.
Here are two helpful from the ACLU on inclusive targets and the Inclusion Rider:
Hollywood Resolve to Make 2019 the Year of Inclusive Hiring Targets
No. The focus on building diverse and deep hiring pools and always hiring qualified candidates is designed to prevent reverse discrimination which occurs when a qualified candidate who does not come from an underrepresented background is passed over in favor of an unqualified candidates from an underrepresented backgrounds.
Please see these two resources for more on this from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission:
Yes. The Inclusion Rider has already been used for the tech industry, sports, fashion, music, the legal profession, publishing, and more.
As early as possible, ideally in the development stage. The sooner your team shares the Inclusion Rider template with everyone involved in hiring, the more quickly it can be utilized at every step of that process.
The Inclusion Rider can also be used retroactively on a production, a slate of productions or to examine your company’s hiring practices more generally.
Executives and creative leadership should work with Human Resources and DEIA personnel in consultation with counsel and outside academics or experts to tailor, adopt, and implement the Inclusion Rider. If your company does not have Human Resources and/or DEIA specialists, we encourage your production executives’ oversight.
As a template, the Inclusion Rider provides many channels for flexibility to ensure its workability. One of these is by ensuring story integrity in casting. For example, if you are producing a film that tells the true story of a group of people who are Latino/a/x, the production would not necessarily have to cast members outside of this identity group. However, story integrity should in no way limit your consideration in crew hiring and hiring more generally at your company.
Remember that the Inclusion Rider is a template. Each project or slate of projects will have different limitations and considerations, those considerations are reflected in the language of the Inclusion Rider.
Please see our link to databases to assist you in finding crew to hire in our hiring resources. For those working in Hollywood, we especially encourage you to expand the scope of who has been traditionally hired by considering crew positions outside of film and TV, that have crossover without a great deal of added training, such as people who work in theater and other live events.
The Inclusion Rider encourages accountability through data collection and analysis, reporting, and a good faith donation where you may fall short of your goals.
As organizations, we manage what we measure. So we must measure where we are in order to manage the issue of the lack of representation in the industry.
In committing to the Inclusion Rider, you agree to work with an expert to whom you will report the demographic data (as outlined in the Inclusion Rider), and who will collect and analyze the data. We encourage you to make use of the list of experts and consultants in our hiring resources if you do not already work with one.
The data will remain confidential and anonymous and will be kept separate from any job applications. This may then be further utilized (in its anonymous form) by the expert in research projects that examine diversity and inclusion in film and TV and/or to advocate for greater inclusion in the entertainment industry (in compliance with local, state and federal law).
Given that the Inclusion Rider is a flexible template, determining the amount of and who shares in contributing to the donation are up to each individual, individual project and company to state clearly upon negotiation and adoption of the Inclusion Rider.
Definitely. Having this data is important in order to help diversify hiring pools and to measure hiring practices. The Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract and Compliance Programs and their implementing regulations offer valuable resources on requesting voluntary self-identification at the application stage. For example, see 41 C.F.R. §60-741-42 (“Invitation to self identify”) as well as OFCCP’s form for voluntary self-identification re disability.
Implementing the Inclusion Rider is an added resource for encouraging mindful hiring at all levels of your company. The Inclusion Rider’s commitment to a fair process, data collection, transparent reporting and accountability make it an important and unique tool to advance measurable change.
The Inclusion Rider is specifically a tool for hiring. It does not focus on or help resolve people’s experiences once they are hired, nor on retention nor on promotions. The Inclusion Rider also does not directly influence the script for a project. It does not include recommendations for filming locations. It does not prescribe specific actions for all the various situations in which you will find yourselves as a company and/or on productions.The Inclusion Rider is one of many tools we strongly recommend you consider using in your DEIA efforts.
Please see this link prepared by IllumiNative.
Intersectionality is a term and concept coined by Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw. It refers to the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups (Merriam-Webster).
Yes! Please see Color Of Change’s #ChangeIndustries Anti-Racist Trainer Directory for our recommendations.
No. The Inclusion Rider is explicit in setting forth a target for hiring, which could focus on progress over time, which is not the same as a quota. It also makes explicit that those making hiring determinations use their best efforts to hire qualified candidates from underrepresented backgrounds.
Here are two helpful from the ACLU on inclusive targets and the Inclusion Rider:
Hollywood Resolve to Make 2019 the Year of Inclusive Hiring Targets
No. The focus on building diverse and deep hiring pools and always hiring qualified candidates is designed to prevent reverse discrimination which occurs when a qualified candidate who does not come from an underrepresented background is passed over in favor of an unqualified candidates from an underrepresented backgrounds.
Please see these two resources for more on this from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission:
Yes. The Inclusion Rider has already been used for the tech industry, sports, fashion, music, the legal profession, publishing, and more.
As early as possible, ideally in the development stage. The sooner your team shares the Inclusion Rider template with everyone involved in hiring, the more quickly it can be utilized at every step of that process.
The Inclusion Rider can also be used retroactively on a production, a slate of productions or to examine your company’s hiring practices more generally.
Executives and creative leadership should work with Human Resources and DEIA personnel in consultation with counsel and outside academics or experts to tailor, adopt, and implement the Inclusion Rider. If your company does not have Human Resources and/or DEIA specialists, we encourage your production executives’ oversight.
As a template, the Inclusion Rider provides many channels for flexibility to ensure its workability. One of these is by ensuring story integrity in casting. For example, if you are producing a film that tells the true story of a group of people who are Latino/a/x, the production would not necessarily have to cast members outside of this identity group. However, story integrity should in no way limit your consideration in crew hiring and hiring more generally at your company.
Remember that the Inclusion Rider is a template. Each project or slate of projects will have different limitations and considerations, those considerations are reflected in the language of the Inclusion Rider.
Please see our link to databases to assist you in finding crew to hire in our hiring resources. For those working in Hollywood, we especially encourage you to expand the scope of who has been traditionally hired by considering crew positions outside of film and TV, that have crossover without a great deal of added training, such as people who work in theater and other live events.
As organizations, we manage what we measure. So we must measure where we are in order to manage the issue of the lack of representation in the industry.
In committing to the Inclusion Rider, you agree to work with an expert to whom you will report the demographic data (as outlined in the Inclusion Rider), and who will collect and analyze the data. We encourage you to make use of the list of experts and consultants in our hiring resources if you do not already work with one.
The data will remain confidential and anonymous and will be kept separate from any job applications. This may then be further utilized (in its anonymous form) by the expert in research projects that examine diversity and inclusion in film and TV and/or to advocate for greater inclusion in the entertainment industry (in compliance with local, state and federal law).
Given that the Inclusion Rider is a flexible template, determining the amount of and who shares in contributing to the donation are up to each individual, individual project and company to state clearly upon negotiation and adoption of the Inclusion Rider.
Definitely. Having this data is important in order to help diversify hiring pools and to measure hiring practices. The Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract and Compliance Programs and their implementing regulations offer valuable resources on requesting voluntary self-identification at the application stage. For example, see 41 C.F.R. §60-741-42 (“Invitation to self identify”) as well as OFCCP’s form for voluntary self-identification re disability.
Implementing the Inclusion Rider is an added resource for encouraging mindful hiring at all levels of your company. The Inclusion Rider’s commitment to a fair process, data collection, transparent reporting and accountability make it an important and unique tool to advance measurable change.
As early as possible. The Inclusion Rider can be discussed as early as the parties start thinking about a new project or event and hiring for it. Sometimes hiring can happen quickly, so the sooner the Inclusion Rider can be included in the conversation, the better.
This depends on the parties and/or attorneys discussing the Inclusion Rider. The Inclusion Rider template is very straightforward and achievable, and therefore should not require a great deal of time to negotiate.
Depending on your leverage in the negotiation, you can determine how strongly you’d like to encourage the addition of the Inclusion Rider to your contract. Some people feel strongly that they’d prefer not to work in an environment with little or no DEIA representation. Others may not feel they have enough power, or are concerned about risking their position. Either way, it is valuable to ask to include the Inclusion Rider in your contract, because you plant a seed in the employer’s mind to consider DEIA in their hiring.
Yes, you definitely can! Letting your employer know that this is important to you is a helpful way for all of us to work together towards sustainable change and greater DEIA representation at work.