Diversity and inclusion

Our recently established Inclusion Council, an international forum chaired by the Regional CEO for Europe and the Regional CEO for Africa & Middle East, assists with the development and implementation of our diversity and inclusion strategy. Over the past year, the Council’s focus has been on two areas of under-representation – women in operational management and of ethnic minorities in management and leadership roles.

During 2021, recommendations from council members led to the development of a new Recruitment Code. The Code applies both internally and to all search agencies utilized when sourcing talent externally. It sets out the best practice guidance for sourcing a more diverse and representative range of candidates. The launch of the Code has been followed by closer scrutiny of our recruitment processes, and our talent and succession management to ensure that we are not inadvertently creating barriers that are hindering our progress towards more balanced representation.

Another of the Council’s roles is to increase awareness of the importance of inclusion and to promote the right behaviors in our businesses. A broad variety of tools and events have been created to support this work, such as online resources on unconscious bias, our cultural calendar and our annual celebration of Inclusion Week and International Women’s Day.

In 2022, we will launch the newly integrated diversity and inclusion strategy. Our team is committed to increasing diversity and inclusion across the organization, but in particular within our management population. We will support the work that we are undertaking to become the employer of choice – a company where we welcome everyone who shares our values and our commitment to doing business in the right way.