Our policy: We will be a fair, respectful, and inclusive company; encouraging a culture that values openness and transparency and recognises individual achievement
Our 2030 commitments
Our progress
We will employ a minimum of 10% of women in operational roles and 20% overall within Hanson
4% of women (102) in operational roles and 17% overall (up from 15% in 2019)
25% of our senior roles will be filled by women by 2025
12% of our senior roles filled by women
We will ensure all employees are fully trained and competent for their roles
There was a reduction in training hours in 2020 to 21,020 (38,025 in 2019) due to Covid-19 and employees being furloughed
E-learning hours increased in 2020 to 7,140 (6,705 in 2019) as employees worked remotely.
We will identify the specific diversity-related requirements of our employees, and fully integrate these into our business culture
Fairness, inclusion and respect (FIR) committee adapted to be more inclusive
The overall number of employees on 1 January 2020 was 3,474. At the peak of the lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, 1,560 employees were furloughed; although the vast majority of these have now returned to work with a small number remaining on furlough due to their vulnerable status and the requirement to isolate. Throughout the pandemic, furloughed employees’ wages were topped up to 80% of normal salary.
FIR in action
We believe in the effectiveness of engaged and empowered employees, where everyone, whatever their background, gender, ethnicity or sexuality, has the opportunity to reach their full potential and contribute to the success of our business. We have expanded our activities within our fairness, inclusion and respect (FIR) committee within the year, building on the experience of members from diverse backgrounds, in terms of seniority, age, gender, race, sexuality or disability. The committee meets quarterly to monitor business progress in this area, promote FIR throughout the company and ensure that resources are directed as necessary. The FIR committee is chaired by a member of the Hanson UK Executive Committee, who updates the board on progress periodically and will divert sufficient resources to FIR initiatives. We count on the support of all employees and stakeholders to further the FIR principles in our strategy, our policies and in our day-to-day work. A key objective of the FIR committee is to increase awareness and support for persons with disabilities as well as ensure Hanson UK is known as a place where persons from any background feel happy and comfortable and able to achieve a successful, long-term career.
Rebecca Smith, for example, an employee within our Customer Service Centre, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis four years ago. The company was committed to ensuring she was treated fairly and offered every opportunity to maintain a future within the business. To assist in adapting to the condition, Rebecca was offered counselling, medical appointments and physiotherapy sessions along with other support. Meanwhile, Rebecca has continued to develop her career – having progressed from orders team leader to sales and haulier admin team leader in 2020. She is now also part of the FIR Committee; assisting the business in shaping our current and future FIR strategy as well as providing key insights in our journey to change perceptions throughout the industry and close the disability employment gap.
Improvements in maternity and shared parental leave, setting recruitment equality targets and launching an unconscious bias education programme are some of the other changes we’ve implemented in 2020 as part of our FIR initiative.
Congratulations to Mawgan Naylor, one of our graduate trainee managers, who was named Best UK Mineral Extractives Diploma Student 2020 at the Institute of Quarrying student awards
By 2025 we want 25% of our senior and executive roles to be filled by women. To achieve this, we are participating in the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) campaign ‘10 steps’ workshop which aims to ensure women in industries like ours have the same opportunities to progress their careers as men. In 2020 we also launched Network of Women in the UK (NOW UK). NOW UK is part of a Group-wide initiative, providing a networking platform to facilitate collaboration, discuss challenges and support female colleagues in fulfilling their career goals. It will also work to raise awareness of the changing demands of work and life and is open to all employees.
In 2020 we also joined The 5% Club, a dynamic movement of employers committed to driving ‘earn and learn’ training opportunities, helping to address the skills shortage and youth unemployment in the UK. We have already achieved our pledge of having a minimum of 5% of our workforce enrolled on formalised apprentice, sponsored student and/or graduate development schemes, with 7.9% of our workforce in earn and learn positions. These include our established graduate, LEAD (leadership, education and development) and craft apprenticeship programmes.
