This week, we had the pleasure of chatting with Maddi Robinson, Talent Acquisition Partner at Ricardo Energy and Environment, about their great work in attracting more diverse talent to their organisation and fostering an inclusive working culture.
Do you have any initiatives to encourage diversity and inclusion within your workforce?
- We advertise our vacancies on a range of job boards
- We use a gender decoder on all job adverts
- We have removed the need for specific qualifications from many roles
- Flexible working is open to all from day one
- We are a level 2 disability-confident employer
- Part-time work is open to everyone
- All jobs are linked to our DEI statement from our CEO, which states our aims
- We ensure we don’t have any all-male recruitment panels
- We are working towards having anonymised CVs, which have all identifying characteristics removed
- We provide quarterly data on our recruitment
- We have a dedicated Teams channel that talks about DEI called Mosaic
- We support many employee-led forums, ally schemes and affinity groups, which all have regular access to our Senior Leadership team
- DEI strategy is refreshed each financial year
- Global DEI council with other divisions within our group
- Regularly work with the wider Campus well-being network to share and learn from one another
How do you support employees returning to the workplace after maternity/paternity/adoption leave?
- We have listened to the employee voice and have made sure all those returning to work after any long-term parental leave have:
- Buddies
- Keep in touch (KIT) days
- Option to use shared leave
- Membership of our Parents’ Chat Channel
- All team leaders are being offered training to help them manage the return-to-work process and make it as smooth as possible.
- All returners are encouraged to use a KIT day a month before returning to discuss arrangements and ease any anxiety. This offers clarity and certainty to both parties.
Do you advertise jobs as being open to flexible working?
- We do not have a specific scheme, but we have all the elements of one
- All new recruits have a personal development plan in place from week one
- We upskill those wishing to return to the workplace after a career break
- All new starters have buddies
- Everyone joining us has an induction period with defined objectives and support in place to help achieve them.
How do you support employees with disabilities?
- We are a disability level 2 employer and aim to achieve level 3 within the next two years
- We have an excellent Employee Assistance Programme and occupational health support
- Disabilities haven’t prevented anyone from delivering their work. We make adjustments wherever and whenever necessary – whether that be working pattern, specific software, or physical and practical adjustments
- Ricardo offers mentoring schemes, a disability forum and a careers policy that supports our staff who have caring responsibilities for people with disabilities
What is the gender split in your organisation?
- Our gender split is 60/40 male/female
- We are working hard to improve this as we are aware the split is not equal, particularly at a more senior level
- Our current focus is on recruiting more internal candidates into senior roles and developing women into senior management
- Ricardo has established reverse mentoring and traditional mentoring relationships and supports our people with charterships
- We have revised our process for promotions, which offers greater clarity, consistency and support
- Our gender split is 50/50 within entry-level roles
What percentage of employees work part-time / in a job share?
- We have 615 employees, 16 % of whom work part-time – this is 69 women and 30 men
What was the result of your most recent gender pay gap report?
- Our last reported gap (12-month period to 5 April 2019 was:
- Mean 20.1%
- Median 19.5%
- We have a very active Gender Pay Gap Forum, which is employee-led and focuses on three areas of work
- Recruitment
- Progression
- Culture
- Our Senior Leadership Team has committed to ambitious targets to halve this gap by 2025.
- The gap in the lower and middle quartiles is negligible
- The gap exists in the upper and top quartile, which is where we are focusing the bulk of our attention currently
Do you offer enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption pay? What are the eligibility requirements?
- We offer enhanced maternity pay, which offers 4 months of full pay after one year’s full service, 15 weeks before the expected week of confinement
- We do not currently offer enhanced paternity leave, though we are looking at this
- It is culturally accepted in our business that mothers take a full year’s leave
Can employees purchase extra annual leave?
- Yes, all employees can purchase 5 extra days per holiday year
- We have a very generous and flexible special leave policy, as we believe annual leave is sacred and should be used for relaxation/leisure
- All parents are entitled to 4 weeks of parental leave up to their child’s 18th birthday
- We have recently introduced flexible bank holidays as we recognise that not everyone wishes to celebrate the festivals aligned with the Christian calendar. This equals 8 extra days of leave per FTE and is pro-rata for part-time employees
Ricardo Energy and Environment are a global strategic engineering and environmental consultancy specialising in the transport, energy and scarce resources sectors.
And if you’re looking for a flexible, part-time or work-from-home job, check out the latest job vacancies on the Investing in Women job board today.
- Yes – except for lab workers or field workers, all staff can work from home
- We offer flexible working and part-time hours as standard
Do you offer a returnship scheme for those who have taken a career break?
- We do not have a specific scheme, but we have all the elements of one
- All new recruits have a personal development plan in place from week one
- We upskill those wishing to return to the workplace after a career break
- All new starters have buddies
- Everyone joining us has an induction period with defined objectives and support in place to help achieve them.
How do you support employees with disabilities?
- We are a disability level 2 employer and aim to achieve level 3 within the next two years
- We have an excellent Employee Assistance Programme and occupational health support
- Disabilities haven’t prevented anyone from delivering their work. We make adjustments wherever and whenever necessary – whether that be working pattern, specific software, or physical and practical adjustments
- Ricardo offers mentoring schemes, a disability forum and a careers policy that supports our staff who have caring responsibilities for people with disabilities
What is the gender split in your organisation?
- Our gender split is 60/40 male/female
- We are working hard to improve this as we are aware the split is not equal, particularly at a more senior level
- Our current focus is on recruiting more internal candidates into senior roles and developing women into senior management
- Ricardo has established reverse mentoring and traditional mentoring relationships and supports our people with charterships
- We have revised our process for promotions, which offers greater clarity, consistency and support
- Our gender split is 50/50 within entry-level roles
What percentage of employees work part-time / in a job share?
- We have 615 employees, 16 % of whom work part-time – this is 69 women and 30 men
What was the result of your most recent gender pay gap report?
- Our last reported gap (12-month period to 5 April 2019 was:
- Mean 20.1%
- Median 19.5%
- We have a very active Gender Pay Gap Forum, which is employee-led and focuses on three areas of work
- Recruitment
- Progression
- Culture
- Our Senior Leadership Team has committed to ambitious targets to halve this gap by 2025.
- The gap in the lower and middle quartiles is negligible
- The gap exists in the upper and top quartile, which is where we are focusing the bulk of our attention currently
Do you offer enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption pay? What are the eligibility requirements?
- We offer enhanced maternity pay, which offers 4 months of full pay after one year’s full service, 15 weeks before the expected week of confinement
- We do not currently offer enhanced paternity leave, though we are looking at this
- It is culturally accepted in our business that mothers take a full year’s leave
Can employees purchase extra annual leave?
- Yes, all employees can purchase 5 extra days per holiday year
- We have a very generous and flexible special leave policy, as we believe annual leave is sacred and should be used for relaxation/leisure
- All parents are entitled to 4 weeks of parental leave up to their child’s 18th birthday
- We have recently introduced flexible bank holidays as we recognise that not everyone wishes to celebrate the festivals aligned with the Christian calendar. This equals 8 extra days of leave per FTE and is pro-rata for part-time employees
Ricardo Energy and Environment are a global strategic engineering and environmental consultancy specialising in the transport, energy and scarce resources sectors.
And if you’re looking for a flexible, part-time or work-from-home job, check out the latest job vacancies on the Investing in Women job board today.