Kier Highways has achieved the National Centre for Diversity’s Leaders in diversity accreditation for its commitment to equality and diversity in the workplace
The business unit has held the certification for Investors in Diversity for the last four years and has recently achieved the Leaders in Diversity accolade.
To achieve the coveted certification, Kier Highways has revamped its approach to equality, diversity and inclusion (ED&I).
It operates a dedicated ED&I steering group with senior leaders’ sponsorship and 55 representatives from across the business. It has launched a new strategy and accompanying action plan which focuses on three key areas:
- Employees – the plan commits to communicate, develop and coach our employees on ED&I to ensure employees are informed and committed to the businesses shared responsibility towards ED&I
- Customers and communities – the business puts people at the heart of everything it does by understanding the different needs of its customers and communities
- Supply chain partners – Kier Highways aims to be connected to its supply chain to help make wider change and improve overall industry performance
A key focus for Kier Highways in the last year has been to promote the business to females. In 2019, females working in the operations for Kier Highways increased by 1.5% and the business will be continuing to encourage this growth in the coming years.
The business has worked hard to make everyone feel comfortable at work with campaigns such as ‘bringing my whole self to work’ and through supporting National Inclusion Week.
These campaigns have helped to raise awareness of key issues, educate our employees on areas such as unconscious bias and encourage teams to get to know each other, celebrating differences and similarities to recognise the benefits of diverse teams.
As a credit to this hard work, an annual anonymous survey for employees showed an increase in employees feeling more comfortable declaring their sexual orientation and any disabilities they have.
Tracey Collins, talent, development and inclusion manager at Kier Highways, said: “Leaders in Diversity really challenged us to look at our ED&I journey. The National Centre of Diversity has been excellent and supportive as our critical friend. It’s useful to have an external body assess what we do and help us to form our action plan.
“We are delighted to achieve Leaders in Diversity and be recognised for all the great work we have done in this area. We will continue to be committed to ED&I growth; this is only the beginning of the journey for us.”
Kier Highways has recently been listed in the National Centre for Diversity’s Top 100 Champions of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion. This list celebrates the UK’s top 100 companies that make a difference in the workplace and set the bar high for fairness.
