Highways England Supply Chain Annual Workforce Diversity Data Supplementary case studies - 2018

0

Highways England would like to thank the following companies for taking part in this year’s data collection exercise:

AECOM Jacobs UK Ltd John Graham Ltd* Amey John Sisk & Son Ltd* Arcadis Human Resources Limited Kier ARUP Lagan Construction Group Plc Morgan Sindall Mott MacDonald BAM Nuttall* Osbourne Limited Carnell Support Services Ltd Pellfrischmann CH2M Ramboll UK Ltd Colas Ltd Ringway Corderoy Road safety markings association Costain Siemans Plc DYNNIQ (Imtech Traffic & Infra (UK) Ltd) Skanska FMG Support Group Ltd Sweco (Formerly Grontmij Ltd) Freyssnet Ltd Telent Quarry Products Limited Toppesfield Highways England VINCI Construction UK Limited (trading Hochtief as HW Martin (Traffic Management) Ltd Volker Fitzpatrick Construction WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff J Mccann

*Members of the Supplier Diversity Forum Benchmarking Working Group

1

Contents Page

1. Foreword 3

2. Ethnicity 4

3. Gender 5

4. Disability 6

5. Part-time & Flexible Working 7

6. Voluntary Leavers 8

7. Sexual Orientation & Religion and Belief 9

8. Resources 10

2

Foreword

Companies and organisations which make the commitment to develop and sustain diverse and inclusive workforces have been proven to serve their customers more effectively, deliver stronger results, retain and attract the best talent – and simply be better places to work.

We are grateful to the highest-ever number of our suppliers who have taken part in this year’s data reporting exercise, and for telling us that previous versions of this work have driven a better understanding of their own organisation’s market position. In many cases, this directly improves their ability to make lasting change, using the results to share messages and rich sector data with their own business teams. This year, following requests made at the playback event, we sought case studies to supplement the data which we hope will provide further impetus to create more inclusive workforces year-on-year.

Our challenge and expectations, wherever you are on the journey towards more diverse teams, are that you use this information to act; to engage with your people and to report the results back next year.

3

Ethnicity

Case Study: Jacobs

As winners of the 2018 Highways England Supplier Recognition Awards, we asked Jacobs to share their approach to increasing the diversity and inclusion of their staff.

Jacobs has had an impact on increasing the diversity of its staff, and in particular those from a BAME background, through its celebration of cultural diversity across its offices. Jacobs approach has been to develop a UK Inclusion Committee whose remit is to review Human Resource data and policies around talent attraction and retention. The committee's aim is to identify and remove blockers to attracting and retaining a diverse workforce.

Messages are shared throughout the business that everyone belongs. Staff are encouraged to participate in learning about each other’s cultural and religious diversity through office events, networks and online communities. UK projects make use of their Global Integrated Delivery model, which ensures colleagues in India and elsewhere have opportunities to connect with UK teams through secondments, video calls and office twinning. Project Managers consider key religious holidays such as Eid, Diwali and Christmas as part of their planning so colleagues can spend time with friends and family.

Other activities and initiatives include; • Provision of quiet places in offices for prayer or meditation such as a prayer room / wellbeing room. • A mix of organised informal/social events which respect the fact that many staff don’t drink alcohol and may feel uncomfortable in a pub or similar environment. • Annual reaffirmation of the Global Business Conduct, Integrity and Ethics Policy by all staff - which includes the policy against any form of harassment or discrimination. • Sharing of experiences and cultural celebrations through intranet pages. • Enabling cultural support networks. • Multi-cultural lunches and food days. • Lunch and learn sessions based around cultural diversity. • Twinning offices to celebrate diversity and learning. • Ramadan flexible working. • People Champion briefings.

To reflect the different cultural make up of each of Jacobs workplace locations, each office is given the opportunity to take their own approach using the range of initiatives as a framework for best practice.

4

Gender

Case Study: Morgan Sindall Morgan Sindall believes having a dedicated focus on EDI that is clearly communicated has created a shift in attitude/culture change. They have established the ‘People’s Board’ to embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at the heart of thier organisation. The Peoples Board is a quarterly forum where senior leadership individuals from across all areas of the business meet to focus solely on EDI. The forum considers issues affecting different groups, taking direct input and feedback from employees which has led to the development of a multi-faceted strategy rather than single issue approaches.

The People’s Board is then replicated at a local level where teams are given ownership of the strategy and encouraged to ‘choose what works best for you’ in terms of implementation. Regular monthly briefings ensure information about the activity taking place is shared across the business. Key actions to increase gender diversity have included: • Unconscious bias workshops held with the senior management team to challenge preconceptions and promote a different way of thinking. • New/enhanced policies: including a new Foster Carer Policy and enhanced maternity provisions. • A flexible and supported return to work process following maternity leave that incorporates a buddy system. • A review of all existing job roles to assess if the roles can be offered with flexible working. • Revision of the language in job descriptions to ensure inclusivity and reflection of the company’s ethos. • Virtual Careers Fairs where candidates can log in at a convenient time and engage with members of the Morgan Sindall team to ask about their experiences and career paths. • Creation of a Returners Programme aimed at attracting professional level returners to the workplace following a career break.

These initiatives have resulted in positive business benefits: • Increase in female employees in the construction and infrastructure business - 10% (2016) to 19% (2018): this is compared to the ONS industry data average of circa 13% • 46 of 48 women returned to work following maternity leave; 65% of those returning to flexible working arrangements • There were 90 applicants for their first Returners Programme of which 40% were female.

5

Disability

Case Study: GRAHAM

GRAHAM has been particularly successful in engaging with disabled employees resulting in above national levels of disclosure. GRAHAM provides flexible working timetables and IT equipment/software that enable an employee to work at home. GRAHAM has partnered with BHSF Occupational Health Ltd to undertake risk assessments and the development of bespoke personalised solutions, so an individual is supported in realising their full potential. As an example, an employee with a debilitating condition has been provided with a home office allowing them to work more flexibly. Their desk in the GRAHAM office has also been redesigned to suit their specific needs and relocated so that they can easily access the lift, the breakout area, the canteen and other facilities. Similarly, GRAHAM has worked with BHSF Ltd on a site layout for a site manager who uses a mobility scooter. This allows the manager to navigate the office and carry out their duties in a safe manner.

GRAHAM’s CONNECT personal development process also enables managers to focus directly on individual needs. The CONNECT programme:

• Integrates skills, behaviours and wellbeing • Brings everyone together as a multi-functional team to challenge and improve • Was designed with input from managers and employees through focus groups and workshops, creating a sense of ownership • Has senior leadership endorsement and every senior manager is signed up • Senior leaders act as mentors/advocates for other employees and discuss their own wellbeing and issues openly.

GRAHAM credits this approach with affecting their disclosure rates. Disabled employees are now more likely to disclose their disability and have a very low turnover rate at 1%.

6

Part-time and flexible working

Case Study: Costain - Flexible working on a site

Ricky Prett of won the CECA FIR Inspiration Award 2018 for his flexible working initiative. Ricky, a foreman with Costain Group, led a pilot project to roll out flexible working hours in a site team.

Foremen are traditionally expected to work 60+ hours per week – first to arrive, last to leave. Ricky challenged this and with his team of four showed how team work, collaboration and creative thinking can go some way to create a work/life balance.

Ricky supported his team of working fathers through ‘partnering’ - where the team covered each other’s responsibilities, so they could each work from home once every two weeks. Ricky created a timesheet to prove output and productivity has remained the same while the wellbeing of his staff has improved. His team set a precedent and the pilot of four has been extended to 20, all able to pursue better work life balance. The team has seen the positive impact of this change to working time in better sleep quality, higher uptake of training and more family time.

This model is now being shared widely across the sector to encourage others to follow suit.

7

Voluntary Leavers

Case Study - Atkins After the Data Benchmarking 2017 report and findings were released, Atkins used the results to review their own position compared to the wider benchmarking population. The review allowed very useful insight into how Atkins sat within the industry and allowed identification of areas to focus on in future.

Among the findings, it was noted that Atkins’ voluntary leavers stood at 8%, which was lower than the data benchmarking average of 10%, but they had a higher proportion of leavers aged 25-29. It was an area Atkins were keen to explore further, firstly to understand whether it was just part of the natural cycle of joiners/leavers within the sector, or whether staff were moving outside of the sector; which was of greater concern given the predictions for an upcoming skills shortage.

Atkins’ exit process at the time did not collate information on the onward job role of leavers. A large-scale search through LinkedIn accounts was undertaken to find the leavers’ new employer and position. Only around half of the leavers had updated their employment information, but encouragingly, of those that had, only around 5% had moved to positions outside of the sector.

The findings of this research were presented to Atkins’ Diversity and Inclusion Committee and to all line managers within the transportation business along with recommendations for the future. This included collation of onward movements for voluntary leavers and follow up calls six months after leaving to substantiate stated reason for leaving.

Atkins have put in place several measures to encourage staff retention, including flexible working (including part time, location based, and term-time working), training activity (mentoring, development programmes, returners schemes), and staff wellbeing measures (networks, celebrating diversity days, funding for wellbeing and sports groups). The review will be repeated with each wave of data obtained through the Data Benchmarking exercise to allow year-on-year comparisons and to allow some tracking of the success of the measures put in place.

8

Sexual Orientation and Religion and belief

Case Study – Amey

Amey had the lowest number of ‘prefer not say’ or ‘unknown’ responses in both data sets (Sexual Orientation and Religion & Belief). When asked about their approach, Amey shared that in 2016 they undertook a diversity data project to encourage and increase their declaration rates.

The project aligned their categories to the census and included sexual orientation for the first time. Online and offline methods were used to gather the data and internal communications were developed to generate awareness of the project and share co- ordinated messages as to why data collection is important. HR teams and line managers were galvanised to share these messages.

Amey recognised it wasn’t enough to collect data at on-boarding for new recruits but that it was also needed when TUPE transfers occurred and at various points throughout employment. Stonewall documents were used to draft the communication messaging which explained how monitoring helps employers identify what works well and what doesn’t in their organisation and that what you measure you can manage. As a result, Amey now has around 80% declaration rates.

9

Resources

Further reading and helpful resources to support you in taking action towards i mproving inclusion:

BITC - https://race.bitc.org.uk/

The Runnymede Trust - https://www.runnymedetrust.org/

Women into Construction - https://www.women-into-construction.org/

WISE Ten Steps - https://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/what-we-do/expertise/industry-led-ten-steps

CIPD People Management - https://www.cipd.co.uk/

Supply Chain Sustainability School - https://www.supplychainschool.co.uk/uk/fir/construction/default.aspx

Business Disability Forum - https://businessdisabilityforum.org.uk/

Stonewall - https://www.stonewall.org.uk/sites/default/files/do_ask_do_tell_guide_2016.pdf

10