We believe that a diverse workforce is important for the success of the company.
Ensuring equality of opportunity for all enables the best use of talent for the benefit of the business and the communities
in which we operate.
We introduced our first group-wide diversity review and performance measures on diversity in 2002, and we regularly monitor diversity profiles across the group. We have also benchmarked our policies and practices against best-practice organisations like Race for Opportunity and the Employers' Forum on Disability.
Our current workforce is predominantly white and male, reflecting our history as an engineering and science-based business. We believe that women and ethnic minorities remain under-represented, relative to the labour market and our customer base.
To address this, we continue to refine our recruitment and promotion practices in order to eliminate any unintended barriers to under-represented groups. Since 2002, we have extended the information we collect - for example, we monitor the diversity of job applicants to assess how effective our recruitment processes are.
Each business unit in the group is responsible for its own diversity strategy and action plan. Activities are reported to the board's Corporate Responsibility Committee on an annual basis.
Among Severn Trent Water's recent initiatives to promote diversity are the setting-up of a Women's Network open to female employees from all disciplines, departments and salary bands. The network provides a supportive environment for women in Severn Trent Water to express opinions, concerns and ideas. It also organises personal development sessions and other opportunities for self-development.
In addition, a new leadership model in Severn Trent will provide a consistent direction for the selection, assessment and development of senior managers. The decisions made using this model will reflect our diversity ambitions.
Within WTS programmes such as Affirmative Action in North America and other action plans around the world are ensuring that managers have a diverse applicant pool. Over 25% of the global STS workforce is represented by ethnic minorities and almost 25% of the workforce is female (these figures do not include the UK Laboratories business).
