Diversity and Inclusion 

What Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) means to Cadent

Diversity is about recognising our differences and acknowledging the benefit of having a range of perspectives in decision-making. That's why we are committed to building and maintaining a workforce that reflects the communities we serve across the UK.

Developing an inclusive environment ensures people's differences are valued and used to enable everyone to thrive at work. We want all our employees to feel that they belong without having to conform, that their contribution matters and they are able to perform to their full potential, no matter their background, identity or circumstances.

Our approach to recruitment and training

It’s our policy that all employees are treated fairly in relation to job applications and opportunities for training, career development and promotion. So, if you have a disability or long-term health condition that might impact your progress through our application process, let us know and we’ll do everything we can to make reasonable adjustments.

We're proactive in our approach to inclusive recruitment. Through our targeted initiatives and strategic partnerships with Energy & Utility Skills and EqualEngineers, we are putting ourselves at the forefront of securing equality in our industry. And, by celebrating the successes of our people, we continue to build a diverse and growing pool of talent.


Gender and Ethnicity Pay Gap report


Embracing diverse views

Diversity and inclusion are woven into the fabric of who we are as a business and, and this means it needs to be driven by our people.

One of the ways we’re doing this is through our Employee Communities. They represent a broad spectrum of what makes up our culture, and help nurture and support where we want to get to. Our Employee Communities play an important role in integrating a diverse workforce, creating an inclusive culture and keep employees engaged and motivated.


As a Cadent employee, you'll have access to a range of Employee Communities including:

 

Women in Cadent

Women in Cadent is a network of colleagues from across our business, who are all committed to creating equality and supporting women’s professional and personal development. We are committed to building our network to ensure we include both women and men in the conversation, to drive a gender-balanced culture. The community works closely with our Women’s Engineering Society ambassadors to support opportunities for female engineers, and partners with the Women’s Utilities Network which was co-founded by Cadent’s Director of Strategy, Dr Angela Needle.

Embrace

The Embrace Community raises awareness of and drives discussion on issues affecting colleagues from an ethnic minority background, and of all religions. We are committed to developing a workforce that reflects the communities we serve, and Embrace plays a key role in helping to create an inclusive environment for all.

Military Community

We are proud signatories to the Armed Forces Covenant, and it is important that we demonstrate that Cadent is an Armed Forces friendly employer. We actively support service leavers entering the business, our current reservists and those that have previously served. We show our commitment to this is by participating in the Armed Forces Day and Reserve Forces Day events.

Pride at Work

Our ambition is for current and future generations of LGBTQ+ employees to feel comfortable, safe and included at work. Our employee-led community, Pride at Work, is a welcoming and safe space where our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) and allied members can thrive and feel included. The group aims to provide informal support to LGBTQ+ colleagues and is run by employees for all employees.​

Thrive!

Our newest community, Thrive! is an employee-led community created to raise awareness of and support people with disabilities within Cadent. Its community members share a common vision of focusing on ability and making our workplace accessible and supportive to all.



Our partnerships

We have a growing number of partnerships that enable us to collaboratively drive change, challenging ourselves to do things differently. These include amazing organisations such as Women's Engineering Society, Race At Work Charter and Women’s Utilities Network.

We are focused on inclusion in its entirety, and also have targeted action to increase workforce representation and inclusion for a range of backgrounds including those who identify as Black, Asian or minority ethnic, LGBTQ+, service leavers, parents, those with a disability and people Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). Our partnerships ensure we create and celebrate the culture we need today, to help attract the workforce of tomorrow.
 

 


Our working groups

  • Fair and inclusive processes
  • Anti-racism
  • Inclusive Leadership
The ED&I Steering and Working Groups are made up of Executive members, Employee Community Sponsors and Leads, as well as other volunteers from across Cadent. We’re actively collaborating to drive change through:
 
  • Implementing actions against the priorities and strategy for EDI in Cadent
  • Identifying and making recommendations against the management of EDI into companywide policy and practice
  • Providing feedback on EDI within Cadent; representing the voice of the company

Menopause: Continuing the Conversation

We are very excited to announce our involvement in a news-style programme #ContinuingTheConversation in partnership with @ITNBusiness and British Menopause Society for #worldmenopauseday.

Anchored by broadcaster and journalist Louise Minchin from the ITN London Studio, the programme featured women embarking on the perimenopause and beyond, to support and empower lifestyle changes in workplace policies.
 

Recognition and awards

We benchmark the support we provide for employees by participating in national surveys and awards. This allows us to keep improving and delivering a diverse, inclusive environment.

TheJobCrowd
Based on feedback direcly from employees, we're currently ranked 9th in the UK for our Future Field-Force programmes, and 11th for our Future Professionals development programme.

Employees fed back that they feel "valued, part of the team", with "flexibility" and "work-life balance".

         

Engineering Talent Awards
We were shortlisted for two categories at the Engineering Talent Awards 2020, demonstrating our commitment to attracting and developing diverse talent.

Our very own Rachel Green won Engineering Future Field-Force of the Year 2020.

         

Enei Awards 2022:
Gurvinder Dosanjh – Industry Codes Manager and Chair of our Employee Community Embrace, was shortlisted for:
Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion Influencers of The Year 2022.
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The Ethnicity Awards 2022:
Asif Aziz – Senior Investment Programme Manager and Co-chair of our Employee Community Embrace Shortlisted for Top 10 Inspirational Leaders
We’re proud as an organisation, and as a people, to work with inspirational individuals to showcase and celebrate our diversity and inclusion and be recognised beyond our industry on behalf of the company.
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