Delivery needs to match intent on diversity

There is much work to do to increase diversity and inclusion in the utilities sector, the findings of the inaugural Inclusion Measurement Framework from the Energy & Utilities Skills Partnership (EUSP) suggests.

Among the findings were:

• 29% of leadership roles are held by women and only 4% of leaders identified as being from a black or minority ethnic background; • 50% of leaders had inclusive behaviours as a formal required competence; and • There is a significant dilution of candidates from a black and minority ethnic background between the application stages of a job role and final recruitment (21% of applications versus 10% of those appointed).

Transparent measurement and reporting is one of five key principles behind the Inclusion Commitment introduced by the EUSP in 2019. This now has 45 organisations signed up. The framework focuses on “what the energy and utilities sector can measure now; including the protected characteristics of gender, age and ethnicity, examining these characteristics in relation to leadership and recruitment”. Twenty-eight energy and utilities companies participated in the voluntary framework, delivered in partnership with The Equal Group.