Covering
The Brief
Surface the invisible behaviour costing the firm talent it can’t afford to lose
Deloitte’s internal research revealed that employees across the firm were downplaying aspects of their identity to fit in — a behaviour known as covering. The emotional toll was measurable: anxiety, isolation, and exhaustion. Left unaddressed, covering erodes inclusion, accelerates attrition, and costs the firm the authentic thinking its business model depends on.
The Solution
Make the invisible visible
Faded: a dramatised short film following Theo, an employee who minimises the impact of his disability at work. As he covers, his reflection literally disappears. No compliance narration. No corporate framing. Just a story powerful enough to make people see what they’ve been trained not to notice.
Employees were hiding in plain sight. The cost was real
Covering occurs when individuals downplay aspects of their identity to conform to workplace norms — adjusting appearance, avoiding topics, suppressing cultural markers. The behaviour is widespread and its impact is corrosive.
Deloitte’s own research confirmed what the academic literature has long established: covering drives anxiety, isolation, and disengagement. In a professional services firm where attrition is expensive and diverse thinking is a commercial asset, the cost of inauthenticity is measured in lost talent and diminished performance.
The brief demanded content that would build empathy across identities, make the emotional toll of covering tangible, and inspire managers and colleagues to create environments where people could be themselves.
There’s a story behind the story
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Faded — Dramatised Inclusion Film
Our Approach
Let the metaphor do what a memo can’t
We built the film around a single visual device: as Theo covers, his reflection gradually fades and disappears. Blurring, refracting, dissolving — a dreamlike sequence that made the invisible emotional labour of covering something you could actually see.
Blue tones signalled isolation; warm hues arrived with acceptance. Camera movements mirrored Theo’s internal state — constrained when covering, fluid when authentic. Multiple characters at different career stages ensured the story resonated across the workforce, not just one demographic.
The narrative culminated in vulnerability: Theo confronting his fears and finding support from colleagues. Empathy mapping with Deloitte’s team shaped every creative decision, ensuring the film landed with sensitivity and broad representation.
Film Stills
Covering is something most people do but few ever name. The film doesn’t explain the concept — it makes you feel it. That’s a fundamentally different starting point for change.
Paul Mallaghan, Director of Creative Strategy & Content — We Are Tilt
Faded Film Still
Key Project Assets
Faded — Dramatised Inclusion Film
A short film using the disappearing-reflection motif to make workplace covering visible — following one employee’s journey from suppression to authenticity.
Empathy-Led Creative Framework
A research-grounded approach built from empathy mapping with Deloitte’s team — ensuring the film’s narrative resonated across identities and career stages.
Cinematic Visual Language System
A colour and camera grammar linking blue isolation to warm acceptance — giving the emotional arc a visual vocabulary that works without a word of narration.
Impact
Faded gave Deloitte’s inclusion programme a film that made people feel what covering costs — generating the kind of unprompted, emotional response that compliance content almost never achieves.
Behind the Scenes
Project Insights
From policy to feeling
Inclusion training usually asks people to think differently. We asked them to feel something first. When Theo’s reflection fades, you don’t need a facilitator to explain what’s happening. You already know — because you’ve either experienced it or been part of the environment that caused it.
A disappearing reflection. A shift from blue to warm. One employee’s story that belongs to everyone. Sometimes the most powerful way to change workplace behaviour is to make the invisible impossible to ignore.
