Presentation by Hollie Woodard, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at VolkerWessels UK, at the APM Project Management Conference Manchester 2019.
4. ‘Building inclusion together’
Vision
By building inclusion together and creating a highly
effective, learning and working community, VolkerWessels
UK and its partners will create the most inspiring and
vibrant environment for all.
How did we get here?
8. “If we can reach a stage where each man or woman is
respected for the job they do, and is doing his or her best
because the atmosphere is right, because they are proud
of what we are and do and share in the general
enthusiasm, then we are home”.
Sir Ove Nyquist Arup, CBE, MICE, MIStructE, FCIOB (16 April 1895 – 5
February 1988)
An English engineer who founded Arup Group Limited, a multinational
corporation that offers engineering, design, planning, project management, and
consulting services for building systems.
And finally….
Hinweis der Redaktion
1 – male dominated – no surprise there – data – baseline
2 – No dedicated resource – not peoples day job
3 – low level awareness – why do we need to do something
4 – No direction – no strategy in place – key activities
1 – dedicated role
2 – EDI steering group
3 – over 30 EDI champions – organising events locally – powerful and relevant – bottom up momentum – passionate individuals
4 - accreditation
What does that mean?
Led from the top – board commitment – senior sponsor is our CFO – female board member
Worked with an external partner – National centre for Diversity
Provided us with a structure and baseline of where we were – strategy and action plan aligned to where we needed to focus
Case studies – lessons learnt from logs etc. so we used our staff stories – regular comms
Deaf colleague – training session and accessibility
ICT involved – accesibility
Yammer groups – natural conversations - networks
Webinars - men's mental health – champions – menopause in the workplace
EDI awareness training – Starbucks example – roll out a suite of training
Unconscious bias for recruiting managers
Share best practice – not just in construction industry but wider
More schools engagement – opportunities and career options – nurse in rail industry etc.
Keep the conversation going…
Ove Arup made this statement as part of a key speech in 1970!!! 49 years ago?