Our employees’ skills and capabilities are what sets us apart from the competition.
By creating an organisation and culture that is diverse, equitable and inclusive, we aim to be the employer of choice for high quality, talented people and harness their creativity and innovation to make us a better business.
As a company that looks to achieve meaningful, sustainable changes – not quick fixes – we recognise that change must be led from the top and our Group Chief Executive, Leo Quinn, is our board-level sponsor for diversity and inclusion.
In the UK, our Diversity & Inclusion Strategy is helping us to create an open and welcoming workplace and culture where everyone can thrive. Its strategic goals are delivered via our UK Value Everyone Action Plan and, since setting our baseline in 2021, we have made steady progress towards our targets to improve Female, Minority Ethnic and Black representation across our UK business.
Our targets
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Creating an inclusive culture
Across the UK, our affinity groups provide a placefor our people to connect, raise awareness and develop and deliver ideas that help create a more inclusive workplace. They are helping Balfour Beatty to make meaningful changes in the medium to long term and have been instrumental to delivering improvements to how we operate. An example of how they have driven change is through the development of our EcoSense cabins which include a range of disability and neurodiverse features including wider corridors for wheelchair users and tri-coloured LED lighting for those who are hyper-sensitive to bright light. Following a successful trial, EcoSense cabins are now used as standard across our UK operations.
Understanding that we operate in an increasingly dynamic and fast-paced environment and that businesses and individuals need to do the right thing, we hold high standards for the conduct and behaviour of our people to ensure everyone feels safe, comfortable and able to reach their full potential. To support our people in upholding these standards, our Code of Ethics clearly sets out the principles that guide our everyday decisions. Recognising that it is not always clear where the lines or boundaries are, our Right to Respect programme which has been rolled out across the UK. The programme is helping everyone who works for or with us to develop a shared understanding of the behaviours we expect, empowering our colleagues and partners to hold each other to account.
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Accessing a diverse pipeline of talent
As part of our efforts to attract a diverse range of talented people to Balfour Beatty and our industry as a whole, we engage with schools and universities to promote STEM careers as well as mentoring and providing placements for students in the UK. We are also developing relationships with expert partners to help us build a diverse workforce. Working with RENAISI, a social enterprise which aims to provide skilled refugees with lifelong, safe and fulfilling careers, we have offered positions to a number of refugees.
Our focus on hiring ex-military talent has seen us welcome hundreds of veterans to Balfour Beatty who benefit from our military talent pathway which aims to set them up for successful careers in our industry. We have also recruited a number of ex-offenders and will continue our focus in this area.
Case studies
Hope Enterprises and Groundwork in Northamptonshire
On our Northamptonshire contract our team joined forces with Groundwork. This is a charity who focuses on transforming lives in the UK’s most disadvantaged communities.
We supported a four-week Kickstart initiative, delivered in partnership with Groundwork. Kickstart supports young people to learn skills and develop themselves personally and professionally. This enables them to transition into adult life.
Following taking part in meet and greet sessions and volunteering days, candidates joined a four-week work experience placement on our Northamptonshire contract between June and July. At the end of the placements, one young person joined us as an Operational Apprentice.
In addition, our team also support local social enterprise, Hope Enterprises, who work with homeless and deprived people across the county. We do this by donating to local food clubs, allotments and charity shops and also take part in volunteering days where the community are provided hot meals, showers, clean clothes, workshops and guidance.
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Footnotes
¹ Measured against the 2021 baseline