A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OUR 2021 SPONSORS
HEADLINE SPONSOR
CATEGORY SPONSORS
BP
We want to be an energy company with purpose; one that is trusted by society, valued by shareholders and motivating for everyone who works at bp. Our purpose is reimagining energy for people and our planet. We want to help the world reach net zero and improve people’s lives.
We are prioritising diversity, equity and inclusion in our transition – we want our workforce and customers to experience greater equity –while also helping our partners in the bp ‘ecosystem’ do the same. We’ll aim to do this by improving workforce diversity and workplace inclusion, making customer experiences more inclusive and increasing our annual expenditure with diverse suppliers
We believe that promoting equity and inclusion goes beyond respect for human rights, worker rights and non-discrimination. It involves finding ways to achieve a more diverse and inclusive bp while also helping to address structural disadvantages and inequality in economic opportunity and participation.
Our diversity, equity and inclusion ambition is for bp to reflect the world around us by attracting the best and brightest talent the world has to offer.
You can find out more about bp’s purpose at https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/careers/life-at-bp/diversity-equity-and-inclusion.html#accordion_WIN and our approach to DE&I in our latest Diversity Equity and inclusion report at https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/business-sites/en/global/corporate/pdfs/sustainability/group-reports/bp-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-report-2021.pdf
Burberry
Inspirational Personalities
At Burberry, we believe diversity, equity and inclusion are essential to fulfilling our purpose and are core to our values. Attracting and retaining diverse talent and fostering an inclusive culture enable us to be more creative in everything we do and open spaces for our colleagues, customers and communities. Our global Diversity and Inclusion strategy is focused on valuing and embracing differences and creating an environment where everyone feels they belong, has a voice and can reach their full potential. This encompasses areas such as attracting and retaining the best talent, fostering an open and inclusive culture, raising awareness and tailoring our global strategy to a localised approach.
Further building on our initiatives, programmes and partnerships this year, we have continued to work closely with our valued partners to create lasting change, rolled out allyship training across the business in addition to mandatory unconscious bias training, further diversified our hiring processes, set aspirational goals within our strategy and empowered all key markets and functions to develop detailed action plans based on the global D&I strategy pillars. Incorporating input from colleagues, these plans cover local needs and opportunities for change, applying a local understanding of the D&I landscape while supporting our overarching global priorities. Each plan is sponsored by one of our senior leaders and will be regularly monitored to track progress.
Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion extends beyond Burberry too. We champion and advocate for changemakers, organisations and initiatives that have a meaningful impact on underrepresented communities.
Legal & General
Established in 1836, Legal & General is one of the UK’s leading financial services groups and a major global investor, with international businesses in the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia. With over £1.24 trillion in total assets under management, we are the UK’s largest investment manager for corporate pension schemes and a UK market leader in pension risk transfer, life insurance, workplace pensions and retirement income.
Link: Home : Legal & General
Lloyd's Banking Group
Lloyds Banking Group is committed to ensuring that our workforce reflects the diversity of our customer base and we were proud to be the first FTSE 100
company in 2018 to set a public goal to increase Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic representation at senior levels as part of our Helping Britain Prosper Plan. Our ethnicity strategy is led from the top and supported by comprehensive plans to ensure we make sustainable progress, including targeted career development interventions, a robust focus on increasing visibility of role models and a range of activities to build cultural awareness understanding and advocacy across our workforce.
In 2020 we launched our Race Action Plan to drive cultural change, recruitment and progression across the Group and, more widely to support Black communities. This includes:
- Setting a new public goal to increase Black representation in senior roles to at least 3% by 2025.
- Creating an advisory board of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues to influence and inform our plans.
- Working with external experts to develop a race education programme for all colleagues.
- Undertaking regular listening sessions to gauge our colleague experiences.
- Ensuring recruitment shortlists at executive leader grades are ethnically diverse
- Nurturing our talented Black colleagues through specific development and sponsorship programmes to help break the ceiling for senior roles.
- Establishing the Black Business Advisory Committee and working in partnership with Foundervine and Black Business Network.
MACQUARIE
Macquarie Group (Macquarie) is a diversified financial services group providing specialist, global expertise in areas such as infrastructure, energy and commodities. Founded in Sydney Australia in 1969, the group now operates in 32 markets globally.
Macquarie has been an active investor in the UK for over 30 years, employing around 2,000 directly with a further 16,000 employed through the businesses we manage. We focus on innovation, careful risk management and delivering sustained long-term value for our clients, partners, investors, staff and the broader communities in which we operate.
We recognise that equity, success and personal empowerment must be available to all our people as a right, not a privilege, and we must continue our efforts both outside and within the workplace to build a future that secures these rights for everyone.
You can discover more about Macquarie at https://www.macquarie.com/
National Grid
National Grid is one of the largest listed utilities in the world, with operations in the UK and the US, and 23,069 employees worldwide. It lies at the heart of the transforming energy system, playing a vital role in connecting millions of people safely, reliably and efficiently to the energy they use.
The power of our business lies in our people. Their expertise and dedication enables us to deliver to our customers. We are dedicated to supporting their ongoing development, wellbeing and to encouraging inclusion and diversity in the workplace, because we believe that everyone should be able to bring their whole self to work to allow them to achieve their full potential.
TESCO
Everyone’s welcome at Tesco, and equality, diversity and inclusion is an important part of our business. We not only celebrate diversity, but embrace the value it
brings to enable us to serve our customers. We want to support and encourage all colleagues in developing their careers, and ensure Black Asian Minority Ethnic
individuals in the wider community see Tesco as a great place to work. Our BAME at Tesco network unites and represents colleagues from all ethnicities,
and helps raise awareness of different cultures and beliefs. The network supports colleagues to be themselves at work.
In the past 12 months Tesco has focused more on Black inclusion after recognising our own gaps with our colleagues. During this time we have launched a number of initiatives which include:
- Partnering with Arrival Education to help our leaders understand how to attract and retain ethnically and low socio diverse talent
- Creating our first diversity internship supporting young people from diverse backgrounds to join Tesco
- Starting a partnership with Add Psalt which helps Black-owned businesses bring products to market
- Joined the Black British Network with our senior leaders and Black colleagues taking part in roundtable discussions with UK businesses, to understand how organisations can improve the inclusion of Black colleagues at every level
- Taken part in the Channel 4 Back to Black Campaign where our colleague Jacqueline shared what brings her personal joy
PARAMOUNT
ViacomCBS Networks international (VCNI) is home to the world’s most iconic entertainment brands, including Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount Network, Channel 5, Network 10, Telefe, Viacom 18 and Pluto TV.
VCNI’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion is a movement, not a moment – we are tackling racial representation head-on with several new and existing measures, such as our VCNI Race & Equity Task Forces, which work across three broad areas – Programming & Audience, Creative & Talent and Employee Inclusion – to develop new initiatives that help drive business-wide change.
We are continuing to work with a variety of external partners to support Black, Asian and minority ethnic employees in the UK, and to make sure that ViacomCBS is an inclusive destination for BAME talent.
We have implemented a ‘no diversity, no commission’ policy across VCNI, alongside in-house opportunities for BAME talent through a sponsorship programme and a ‘Promotion Opportunity Project’ for those in production.
Fundamentally, we value our people, and we work to weave diversity and inclusion into our DNA. By keeping transparency and accountability at the heart of our inclusion strategy, we champion a values-driven approach that embeds diversity, equity and inclusion into every aspect of our operations.
METRO
BIO COMING SOON
SUPPORTING SPONSORS
BT
BT is one of the world’s leading communications services companies. We serve the needs of customers in the UK and in 180 countries worldwide. We have a bold Diversity and Inclusion strategy that aims to ensure our business reflects the communities and societies in which we operate. BT’s Ethnic Diversity Network is one of our ten People Networks, supported by Executive Sponsor Marc Allera, BT Consumer CEO & Chaired by Bernadette Kisaalu, Principal Lawyer at BT.
The Network is dedicated to empower and amplify the voices of BT’s racially diverse communities, and is a strategic partner to the business. The Network influenced BT’s ExCo to develop BT’s Ethnicity Rapid Action Plan (ERAP) that aims to boost ethnic diversity at BT through four rapid action commitments: Accelerating diversity within, Educating and empowering our people, Leading by example and Building transparency.
We recognise the importance of supporting diverse talent especially at entry level so for the past five years we’ve supported an annual leadership programme delivered by the Aleto Foundation – a social mobility charity that provides employability training for young talent from predominantly Black, African and ethnic minority backgrounds. This year we collaborated with Aleto to successfully deliver a virtual leadership programme to support approximately 100 delegates.
BT Website Link: Home | BT Plc
OVO Energy
OVO Energy was founded in 2009 and redesigned the energy experience to be fair, effortless, green and simple for all customers. OVO is on a mission through its sustainability strategy, Plan Zero to tackle the most important issue of our time; the climate crisis. We know we can only succeed if our culture is inclusive, our team truly diverse, and if everyone is valued for who they are. At OVO, we know that an environment where we all feel welcome and respected means we can do our best work.