Balfour Beatty today announces that it has become a member of the UK-focused Business Disability Forum (BDF), in support of its long standing commitment to equal opportunity.
The BDF provides pragmatic support to businesses by sharing expertise, giving advice, providing training and facilitating networking opportunities, helping organisations to become fully accessible to disabled customers and employees.
Through its membership, Balfour Beatty will plan, review and improve current policies and practices to help remove any barriers that might currently exist and drive change within the business and across the construction industry.
Ian Rylatt, Executive Sponsor of Balfour Beatty’s Ability Affinity Network and CEO of Balfour Beatty’s Highways, Investments, Plant & Fleet and Homes businesses, said: “The definition of inclusion is ‘everyone is included’ and that means we recognise all skills and abilities.
“Greater diversity within our working environment creates positive outcomes and is helping us to achieve our goal of becoming an employer of choice; to recruit, retain and develop our people and to provide an environment where all employees have the same level of opportunity.”
Balfour Beatty has also been accredited to Level 2 of the Government’s Disability Confident Scheme. As one of only three Disability Confident employers in the UK construction industry, Balfour Beatty is committed to ensuring that disabled people and those with long term health conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations.
To support its diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives, Balfour Beatty has created four employee-led Affinity Networks, including Gender Equality, LGBT, Multi-Cultural and Ability. By joining these groups as a member or an ally, employees can help support Balfour Beatty’s overall D&I strategy and in turn, create a fair and inclusive working environment.
ENDS
Media enquiries to:
Vivienne Dunn
Balfour Beatty
+44 (0)207 963 2150
vivienne.dunn@balfourbeatty.com
www.balfourbeatty.com | follow us @balfourbeatty
All non-media related enquiries should be directed to +44 (0)20 7216 6800 or info@balfourbeatty.com
Notes to editors:
- Balfour Beatty (balfourbeatty.com) is a leading international infrastructure group. With 28,000 employees, we provide innovative and efficient infrastructure that underpins our daily lives, supports communities and enables economic growth. We finance, develop, build and maintain complex infrastructure such as transportation, power and utility systems, social and commercial buildings.
- Our main geographies are the UK & Ireland, US and Far East. Over the last 100 years we have created iconic buildings and infrastructure all over the world including the London Olympics’ Aquatic Centre, Hong Kong’s first Zero Carbon building, the National Museum of the Marine Corps in the US and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
- Balfour Beatty is committed to creating an environment where all our employees can be themselves at work and perform at their best. As a global company, it is critical to our success that our employees are as diverse as the customers and communities we serve. In order to achieve this Balfour Beatty has taken the following action:
- Establishing diversity as a key part of the company’s Build to Last transformation. The diversity and inclusion three-year plan sets out strategic aims, objectives and, more importantly, metrics in support of our endeavours. Overseen by Balfour Beatty Chief Executive Leo Quinn its progress against these metrics is regularly tracked.
- Creating a range of national networks, known as affinity networks, across the company to support BAME, Women and LGBTQ staff in creating a workplace that is more inclusive.
- With the support of its customers, Balfour Beatty is recruiting from a large and more diverse pool of talent. For instance, in collaboration with Network Grid, our Power, Transmission and Distribution business provides opportunities for ex-offenders to get back into employment. Our Rail business n supports the British Forces Resettlement Services and its careers events, through advising service personnel on careers within the construction industry.
- Working with expert diversity & inclusion focused bodies such as Stonewall and the Youth Women’s Trust to get guidance on how we can better improve our recruitment and workplace culture so that we can recruit and retain a talented and diverse workforce.
