Colleagues step up to champion importance of Inclusion & Diversity
The publication of our first Inclusion & Diversity Update is an important milestone.
It is a statement of our vision to make Princes a true leader in the field of I&D and also highlights some of the outstanding work that has been done over the last few months.
It is hard to believe that we only launched our I&D strategy in August 2020, consisting of six pillars:
• Accessibility
• Social Mobility
• LGBT+
• Gender Diversity
• Multicultural
• Age Diversity
We set up Colleague Resource Groups (CRGs) for each pillar and appointed six different Inclusion Champions, each one a senior leader in our business.
We then asked for volunteers among colleagues to come forward and volunteer to be part of one or more of the CRGs.
The way in which you responded was overwhelming with more than 100 of you stepping forward to play your part.
And, across the wider Princes business, the levels of engagement we have seen from colleagues has been equally impressive.
This is important. To become a true leader in the area of I&D requires every one of us to understand how we can make a difference.
An undoubted highlight for me on our journey so far was the Princes Group Inclusion Week – held for the first time in September and now an annual fixture in our company’s diary.
During 2021/22, we will also be celebrating many other events as part of our I&D strategy.
They include International Women’s Day (March 2021), Pride Month (June 2021), World Mental Health Day (October 2021) International Men’s Day (November 2021), International Day of Disabled Persons (December 2021) and LGBT+ History Month (February 2022).
I encourage all colleagues to take a few minutes to reading our first I&D Update. I hope you are impressed by the progress we have made to date and, if you are not already a volunteer for one of the CRGs, perhaps it will encourage you to get more involved.
Equally, we would love to hear from any colleagues who have ideas or suggestions that we may be able to include in our I&D strategy as it continues to evolve.
I will leave the final word to a couple of our volunteer colleagues on the CRGs who are quoted in the I&D Update.
Mark Doherty, Senior National Account Manager in Liverpool, said: “I’m really proud to be working with and learning from such a great, diverse team from across the Group – it’s exciting to work with them on delivering a plan to celebrate the multicultural business we have.”
And Francesco Zenga, Customer Service Assistant in Foggia, said: “Inclusivity is one of the most important and challenging topics of our time. My professional experience over several years has involved me working with people from other cultures and speaking different languages. In a modern, global perspective, it will be an asset to continue improving our business.”
By Joe Dent, Chief People Officer
