The proportion of women and ethnic minorities in the utility workforce fell in 2024, according to Energy & Utility Skills’ Inclusion Measurement Framework (IMF).
Women made up 28% of the workforce last year, down from 30% in 2023, while ethnic minorities comprised 8.9%, down from 12.3%. Energy & Utility Skills said: “These data points, along with [others] included in the IMF report [disability, age, sexual orientation and religion], signify how far the sector is from reflecting the UK’s workforce and the communities it serves.”
Other challenges revealed by the latest research included the significant dilution of ethnic minority candidates in the sector’s recruitment process and, in the context of an ageing workforce, that 26-35 year olds were the biggest age group leaving the sector.
There were some positive trends, including more female promotion and a high level of leadership commitment to improving equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
But overall, Energy & Utility Skills urged that the results be used to “underscore the continued need for sector employers to prioritise EDI”. The report offered four key recommendations:
Sector collaboration and best practice – More work is needed share the actions that are working and have resulted in fundamental changes in EDI within organisations and across the sector. Action should be co-ordinated and linked to addressing the workforce and skills challenges faced by the sector.
Retention and progression strategies – Investment in robust exit interview systems would help understand the reasons for the loss of diverse talent and develop targeted retention strategies.
Recruitment process transformation – The sector needs to find ways to accurately monitor and report on ethnicity data consistently across the recruitment process. This can inform the redesign of specific aspects of the recruitment process.
Targeted leadership diversity development – Organisations need to develop intentional, structured pathways to support diverse talent progression, which will positively impact retention.
The IMF provides an annual overview of progress in EDI, underpinned by a commitment to measure and be transparent about progress on diversity and inclusion as a sector and in individual organisations. It collates data on the representation of particular diversity characteristics – gender, ethnicity, age, disability, sexuality and religion – and reports on overall sector representation, leadership, recruitment, progression and retention.
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