Several years ago, Moose Toys – an Australian toy company known for its range of action figures, collectibles, dolls and games and partnerships with Bluey and Mr Beast – recognised that as the business scaled to new markets, fostering an inclusive team culture for its 700+ team members based in Australia, the US, UK, France, Germany, Vietnam, China, and Hong Kong was one of its most important strategic priorities.
“Moose is known as one of the most innovative companies in the toy industry. We shook up the industry with Mighty Beanz and Shopkins – global hits of major proportions, and more recently with Magic Mixies and Cookeez Makery. Diversity of thinking and experience is so critical to our success, and we recognised the opportunity to be more intentional in how we create the environment for our people to do great work.”
Since then, Moose has made considerable progress. The business has developed a strong representation of women at leadership level, and seen the benefit of its investment in career development.
“Our Diversity & Inclusion Survey saw an Inclusion score of 82%, which was above Culture Amp’s Australian benchmark. We are proud to have consistently achieved high scores globally for Diversity statements within the Great Place to Work ™ surveys conducted each year and this year recorded an average score of 88%,”
This year has seen Moose recognised as one of Australia’s Best Workplaces™ by Great Place To Work® (GPTW) within the medium sized company category, listed by GPTW and Fortune Magazine as one of the USA 2024 Best Workplaces in Manufacturing & Production™, and as a GPTW Best workplace in the UK for Wellbeing™, Women™ and Development™. In 2023, Moose employee and D&I Committee member, Brent Bell, was the recipient of the TOTY Champion of Diversity & Inclusion award by The Toy Foundation.
Our collaboration with Moose Toys
Diversity Partners has worked with Moose since 2021 to guide and support this progress. This has included:
- Developing a diversity and inclusion roadmap following a review of the workforce profile, engagement survey results, and other data/focus groups
- Development of a D&I scorecard, regularly reviewed by the Board
- Providing education to leaders on practical ways to lead diverse teams with an inclusive mindset – to boost innovation and team engagement
- A review of the company’s recruitment toolkit, promotion policy and interview guides to ensure hiring and talent management processes minimise the potential for unconscious bias to impact decisions
- Presentations to all employees on gender equality and domestic violence
- Gender Pay Gap analysis and support
Other initiatives by Moose
Moose has introduced several new offerings to support team members to prioritise their wellbeing and support an inclusive environment. These include:
- A ‘leave swap’ policy that enables employees to exchange public holidays to better align with their cultural or religious practices. This signals the company’s recognition of the diverse needs and backgrounds of its people.
- Truth Telling Workshop for Melbourne based Moosies with partner, Children’s Ground, to educate and support First Nations people.
- Inclusive Leadership training for all employees.
- Prioritisation of five D&I workstreams, led by employee champions and advocates. These active groups are supporting the broader D&I strategy by delivering initiatives that support diverse employees and communities. For example, the Accessibility Group provided earphones to those who need a quieter environment to focus, and developed a toolkit to help employees with disability or who are neurodivergent work more effectively with their screens and available tools. In another example, the LGBTQIA+ group has championed the use of pronouns in the workplace.
- Wellness Days for Mental Health, where employees can take an additional two days of leave per year, without needing to provide a reason or certification
“Our people make Moose Toys so special. By making inclusion a priority, as well as supporting their wellbeing with a holistic approach, we create an environment where our people feel welcome, valued and trusted. This empowerment helps to create new, exciting and innovative products for kids around the world. We know there’s more we want to do, and are working with Diversity Partners to map our new three-year strategy.”
