• 4.0 Being a Responsible Business
  • 4.1 Making Sustainability Real
  • 4.2 Materiality
  • 4.3 Nurturing Our Team
  • 4.4 Growing Stronger Through Diversity
  • 4.5 Embracing Wellbeing
  • 4.6 Keeping our Estate Secure

    • Growing Stronger Through Diversity
    A diverse workforce benefits everyone in the company

    Diversity and inclusion are not just nice-to-haves – they generate new ideas and perspectives, boost creativity and are essential for a business to truly connect with its customers.

    We’re located in one of the most diverse communities imaginable – and we’re working hard to reflect that diversity in our own workforce. All our employees receive compulsory diversity training, reinforcing our commitment to building positive relationships in the workplace.

    Tackling the shortage of women in construction

    Women are underrepresented in our industry – just 14% of construction professionals are female – and we’re aware of the challenge we face to overturn that. Our Gender Pay Gap report published in 2018 highlighted areas where we’re doing well and showed us where we need to improve. We know there’s a shortage of women throughout our sector, and there’s still a lot of work to be done.

    We have launched a programme of identifying and mentoring female employees who have the potential for leadership and management training. As they grow and develop their careers, our aim is for them to be role models for young women who come on school visits or participate in the many initiatives we support. By inspiring these young women, we hope it encourages them to consider careers in construction. We also appointed two women in 2018 to senior roles in our construction business, where women are more underrepresented.

    In 2018, we also joined WISE – Women in Science and Engineering – which works across sectors to increase the number of women in these professions. WISE runs training, events and projects across the country to introduce women to science and engineering, and help them access the career opportunities that exist.

    To help us gain insights into the issues that face women within the industry, we held a series of focus groups for female employees in 2018 helped us gain better insights into the issues they face. The results provided real learning points for us, right down to the level of ensuring personal protective equipment that’s designed to fit women comfortably when working on site.

    Parental leave

    In 2017, we introduced a shared parental leave policy, which went well beyond the statutory requirements and allows both parents to take care of new family members. This proved extremely popular in 2018, and is helping to break down the assumptions that childcare is purely an issue for women. More than 10 colleagues are now taking advantage of Shared Parental Pay, allowing both parents to play an equal role in the early stages of raising a child.