Diverse workforce and inclusive culture ‘vital’ to future of industry
Highways England is working with the supply chain and partners to help improve diversity in the highways industry.
Today we hosted a training workshop to help companies promote fairness, inclusion and respect (FIR) in the industry. This included a demonstration of the new online FIR toolkit, funded by Construction Industry Training Board and launched by CECA, the Supply School, Highways England and a host of other industry partners.
This forms part of our wider commitment to improving diversity in the industry to help attract new talent and ensure construction brings through the next generation of highways specialists. Highways England will be working closely together with its supply chain to make this a reality, creating a culture where underrepresented groups see construction as more of an attractive career option.
David Poole, Commercial and Procurement director at Highways England, said:
There is evidence that our sector needs to attract from a wider talent pool and create working cultures that are conducive to leveraging the performance advantage that diversity can bring.
As a sector we must change in order to deliver and innovate. That’s why Highways England has supported the development of the FIR resources and is actively encouraging all of our supply chain to use them.
The event held today, attended by around 30 operational leaders, is one of a series of workshops for the industry to learn how they could further improve diversity and implement measures in their workplace. The next event is being hosted by GRAHAM Construction on 1 December in Chelmsford, Essex and all future events are available online.