Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | JUNE 2022 | 31 Workforce diversity Comment James Wallin Editor, Utility Week O ver the past eight months, the Utility Week edito- rial team have been recording the split of male and female interviewees and contributors across our platforms. Here I can reveal the progress we have made in achieving a fair representation as part of the BBC's 50:50 Equality Project. As the name suggests, this initiative aims for a gender balance in reporting or in any content produced. We were among the 143 organisations signed up to the project to submit this data for the BBC's Chal- lenge Month in May. Ofgem and Energy UK are also representing the utilities sector in this project. When we ˆ rst started recording the data in August 2021, 69% of the people quoted in our articles were male. In March 2022 this ˆ gure had fallen to 64%. I am, of course, pleased to see the numbers are going in the right direction but I'm not sure I can celebrate the fact that there remains a clear gender imbalance in our coverage. The gains we have made in female representa- tion are a result of actively promoting female voices and seeking out diverse views. We will continue to do this but we also need the industry's help. Utilities have spoken warm words about the need to address diversity and inclusion yet the ˆ gures highlight the scale of the challenge. The latest statistics from Energy & Utility Skills actually showed a fall in the female percentage of the workforce, down to 18.3% – compared with a UK-wide tally of 47.3%. This has to change and I want Utility Week to play a full role in hold- ing up a mirror to the sector – celebrating successes and scrutinising progress. It remains the case that the vast majority of senior ˆ gures at utilities are male, and while there is a clear appetite to promote diverse voices, the spokespeople put forward by companies when we approach them are overwhelmingly male. Our commitment to driving forward diversity will not stop with this one announcement and I am determined to see that divide in our coverage narrow. I am asking for your help to do this. We would like to build a database of experts throughout the utilities sector who are willing to be quoted on a variety of topics, representing a true cross-section of society. At the moment, we are not recording statistics more widely on the diversity of our coverage but deˆ nitely intend to gauge how we are representing a range of ethnicities and disabilities and would like to re˜ ect this in our database. Please contact me if you would like to put forward a range of speakers from your organisation or if you feel you have a story to tell on promoting diversity. Email: jameswallin@fav-house.com "Utility Week data highlights need for action on diversity" in association with "Utility Week data highlights need in our company and this is what it stands for'. It's about 'how do I put that into prac- tice in my behaviours and why is that impor- tant to the people who are impacted by it?'" Underpinning all discussion around diversity is a need for robust data, which can provide invaluable insight into both existing and prospective employees. Booth admitted that "data is tricky", with many people reluctant to share their infor- mation and concerned over how it will be used. "People don't understand why you want to share it. To me, the answer here is about leadership," she said. "I think once we've got that transparency among our leaders, peo- ple will be more open to disclosing. It's a bit chicken and egg – to collect data, to have the data, to show why we need it." Serle added that while employees are likely to share their ethnicity and gender data, they are still very unlikely to share data concerning sexual orientation and also any wellbeing issues they have, especially regarding mental wellbeing. "It's actually very diž cult to tell and set targets if you have such poor quantities of data that are ˆ led by the employees," heŸsaid. While diversity data is o¡ en prioritised, Serle believes inclusion data could be a pow- erful tool for utilities by exploring if people feel included and if they feel that their views matter. "If you're really interested, and you believe that the answers don't have to come from the most senior people, which I certainly do, then to have active listening sessions, where you're not gathering quan- titative data, you're just understanding how people feel in their organisation, what their experiences are – that's super useful as a data source," he said. Concluding the debate, Workday's direc- tor for presales, Michelle Dawkins, concurred that focusing on inclusion and "listening to our people and the next generation" must be a priority for the sector. "It's quite clear that we don't have all the answers," she said. "We all know the right thing to do and we have some great ideas and thoughts about how we're going to get there. "But it's changing all the time, so we have to stay ˜ exible in our approach. We can't just be ˆ xed on our goals and strategy." Nadine Buddoo, head of content • You can watch the webinar on- demand at: https://utilityweek.co.uk/ diversity-whats-stopping-us/ "Whose job is it to set the boundaries of what's acceptable nowadays and what isn't?" WILL SERLE, CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER, NATIONAL GRID "We used to have 'safety' moments, we then started moving towards 'inclusion' moments. Now at the beginning of our meetings, we talk about 'values' moments." ANGELA BOOTH, CHAIR OF THAMES WATER WOMEN'S NETWORK.

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