Dedicated to supporting and inspiring its teams, leading construction company Bouygues UK strives to create a workplace that welcomes all staff. Whether you work in one of its offices or onsite, Bouygues UK is committed to creating an environment that treats people fairly and with respect, allowing staff to feel comfortable in themselves.
To fulfill its promise to embrace Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) at a strategic level, Bouygues UK launched 6 newly formed guiding principles under its ‘Be Yourself’ identity. These principles provide a set of core values to guide behaviours across the business.
Putting these principles into practice, the senior leadership team together with the company’s employee-led networks developed a plan outlining a number of new initiatives:
- Encouraging conversations and helping change behaviours to promote diversity and inclusivity, Bouygues UK have partnered with Hive Learning to launch a series of advanced management training programmes.
- Addressing unfair bias and promoting greater inclusivity in the recruitment process, a gender decoder and applicant tracking system have been introduced.
- Supporting fairness, diversity and difference whilst also addressing the ethnic and gender balance, new internal D&I metrics have been set up to measure, monitor and report on recruitment, promotion and recognition initiatives.
- Tackling inappropriate behaviour, bullying and harassment more effectively, a new hotline has been launched to provide an independent, safe and confidential reporting mechanism.
- Helping engage typically harder-to-reach operational staff a new network of D&I champions was launched.
- Empowering teams to create an LGBTQ+ inclusive environment a new toolkit has been launched.
- All new starter inductions will include D&I principles as part of an updated training and education strategy.
To ensure the long-term success of the initiative, generate ideas and identify areas for improvement, a new D&I Committee was created chaired by representatives from the employee-led networks.
The plan has gained significant momentum with increased engagement in its employee networks (growing from two networks in 2019 to five in 2022), over 50% attendance at its annual D&I week, and a growing thirst for awareness with new webinars on associated topics. A standout success story has been the courageous behaviour demonstrated by one member of staff who shared their personal story after taking part in a celebration of International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
With a consolidated D&I strategy in place and continued employee support, Bouygues UK has laid the foundations for open discussion and a more inclusive, welcoming and safe working environment for all staff.