Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 22ND - 28TH MARCH 2019 | 23 Operations & Assets those in the technically quali ed and specialist roles in the indus- try can retire in the early 2020s – which will leave an industry shortfall of 1.8 million roles. The nal focus is how more diversity, speci cally at senior levels "brings better business results". According to the com- pany's award submission, even having one woman on a board "reduces the chance of a com- pany going bust by 20 per cent". SSE wanted to understand two things: • The economic return of the investment made in gender diversity over the previous three years; • To learn more about the speci c actions it needs to take to increase the diversity across the whole organisation In 2017, SSE engaged inclu- sion specialists Equal Approach to conduct a return on inclusion study. A total of 81 data points over 20 categories were reviewed, using qualitative and quanti- tative research, focus groups, interview feedback and public domain information. The research scored SSE 67 out of 100 "aspiring", which showed progress and areas for development. It also revealed for every £1 invested by SSE in gender diver- sity there was a £4.52 return. Through the return on inclusion study, SSE learnt that by chang- ing its inclusion and diversity strategy its nancial return could increase to £15 for every £1 spent. SSE will continue to invest and re-run the inclusion model- ling tool for the next two years so it can see any year-on-year shiŒ s, which will allow it to re- shape its strategy if needed. Bene ts to the workforce Female graduates attracted to SSE increased by 17 per cent to 40 per cent over the course of one year, while of SSE's hires across all directorates last year 39 per cent were female – almost 20 per cent up from when it started recording the informa- tion in 2013/14. The company's intake of BAME employees (black, Asian and minority ethnic people) has increased from 4 per cent in 2013/14 to 9 per cent. Meanwhile, it received a 16 per cent higher employee engagement index score for those working di˜ erently. SSE's e˜ orts resulted in the company being placed on the Bloomberg global gender equal- ity index and Equileap's top 200 gender equality ranking. The bene t of diversity is "being harnessed throughout the business" by in™ uencing the way the company does things, much "more broadly" than from simply what is being driven through the HR agenda. Diversity Award Award winner: SSE and Equal Approach • Annual company turnover: £32.1 billion • Employees: 20,000 • Customers: 5.88 million SSE Energy Service customer accounts; Four million homes and businesses looked aŒ er by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks; SSE Business Energy delivers for 500,000 business customers and SSE Airtricity has 750,000 homes and business customers in Ireland and Northern Ireland Entry criteria: 1. Provide a brief outline of how your business has promoted diversity 2. Quantify the scale of ambition of your entry, in relation to your company size and size of your customer base 3. Demonstrate how you have embed- ded a sustainable culture of diversity within your business 4. Outline how you have measured the success of your work on diversity and how this measure is veri ed 5. Provide details of how your approach to diversity has bene ted individuals within your workforce 6. Demonstrate how you have harnessed the bene t of diversity throughout your business and how you can quan- tify this bene t 5. Evidence of going beyond business as usual The Utility Week Awards are held in association with Capgemini, CGI and MicrosoŒ What the judges said… Judges were impressed with SSE's "clear and systematic approach" to championing diver- sity at every level of the organisation SSE and Equal Approach on Awards night, with guest host Sue Perkins (left) and Utility Week acting editor Suzanne Heneghan (right) The 2019 Utility Week Awards will be opening soon. Sponsor- ship opportunities are available – contact Utility Week business development manager Ben Hammond on benhammond@fav-house.com or call 01342 332116 for more information. Other shortlisted companies in this category were: • UK Power Networks • UK Power Reserve

• Cover