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Diversity Charter

The role of the senior management team is vital in communicating the drive for diversity across the group and we strive to maintain a working environment that is inclusive and based on celebrating individual differences. We see great benefits in utilising the know-how of our employees to achieve a competitive advantage.

To deliver service excellence while creating profitable growth, we believe we must invest in nurturing our employees. We recognise that an effective and productive organisation is one where every employee can contribute to the organisation's objectives and we provide opportunities for all employees to develop their skills and to reach their full potential.

Recruitment and selection

It is important that we draw upon the skills and knowledge of the communities in which we serve; this will mean broadening how we target and advertise our vacancies. We will also work closely with local authorities and agencies to help boost the local economies by offering job opportunities to people in the areas we are working in. We aim to engage the talents of local people to help the socially disadvantaged and long-term unemployed back into employment whether through temporary or permanent work. We will also endeavour to offer work placements for students wishing to pursue a career in construction. We will work closely with local schools to increase awareness of the variety of jobs that are available within construction and mapping out career progression routes. Recruitment and selection will be based on the skills and talents of individual applicants. The focus of recruitment will be based on the objective assessment of an applicant to successfully carry out the role.

'Employer of Choice'

We are committed by our need to become the 'Employer of Choice' and having the best people management strategies in place to allow this to become a reality. To this end we will roll out the diversity programme to all our employees, which will include ascertaining the views of our customers, subcontractors and suppliers about how they appraise Strategic Team Group in managing the diversity cycle.

We will comply with all anti-discrimination laws to combat inequality in the workplace; our aim is to work towards the Equality Bill which is the all encompassing legislation that will enable the business to really drive diversity forward.

We want to create a fairer, just and tolerant workforce that respects, values and appreciates individual differences. Our people are our greatest asset and they enable us to meet our long-term goals and aims. People make the difference at work and we know everyone is different.

Positive action

We will work towards positive action measures to help us increase diversity in our business. We are involved in a number of initiatives aimed at opening up the construction profession to a broader talent pool. This will involve promoting our business in local schools and colleges which will involve providing work experience placements and working with organisations such as Youth Build and Construction Skills. We will target our recruitment drive in specific media aimed at encouraging women and ethnic minorities to apply to address areas which are currently unrepresented in construction. We are committed to attaining fairness across all our policies and actively encouraging the diversity agenda.

Development and promotion

We will mentor, coach, lead by example and will provide the relevant skills training to enable individuals to do well and succeed in their career aspirations. We believe education plays a key role in harnessing understanding of diversity and creating a work environment that is inclusive, open and where everyone can reach their potential. Employees will participate in annual appraisals where the principal objective is to assess an individual's performance based on core competencies for their area of work, as well as asking the employee to participate in self-appraisal which will be a valuable part of the review process.

Apprenticeships

We aim to offer apprenticeships to school leavers who register with Construction Skills when we see an upsurge in our workload. We believe apprentices add real value to the business and we strive to nurture and develop apprentices through structured assessment to become potential future leaders.

Our values

Our values underpin everything that we do; the four 'E's are based on recognising individual differences, upholding mutual respect and dignity for one another, embracing change, coupled with strong leadership from the board of directors.

The four 'E's

Energy - a positive force in welcoming and managing the speed of change
Encouragement - creating an environment that helps people to deliver their best
Empowerment - releasing people to make the right decisions
Execution - to consistently deliver great results

Workplace behaviour

The Group will not tolerate any form of harassment, bullying and or intimidation by employees, subcontractors, suppliers or customers. The consequences of such behaviour may lead to severe sanctions being imposed on the person for displaying inappropriate behaviour pending investigations into the matter.

Communication

We will continually strive to develop a culture that is open and transparent by communicating effectively with employees, customers, suppliers and subcontractors on diversity management. Communication can be through a variety of channels such as meetings, employee handbooks, notice boards, email and open consultations and forums on how to improve our current practices.

Training

We will train our employees on equality of opportunity and raising awareness of working with differences in and around work.

Supplier, subcontractor and customer involvement

We will work closely with our suppliers, subcontractors and customers to get a better understanding of their needs to ensure the services we provide are fit and proper, so that we are better placed for addressing diversity issues needs and to improve our service delivery.

Ownership

Our aim is to ensure our employees take ownership of complying with the group's policy on ensuring equality of opportunity for all. We want to discourage risk aversion and ensure we have the appropriate safeguards in place to ensure we make the right decisions at the appropriate level and to deal swiftly with matters that require urgent attention.

Work-life balance

We recognise that parents face many challenges in trying to manage a work-life balance. We welcome applications for flexible working requests; to help parents manage their childcare arrangements. We will consider the responsibilities of the job holder and whether a suitable alternative arrangement can be met to suit both parties.

Review

We will review the diversity charter annually to assess its effectiveness in line with the group's commitment to providing equality of opportunity for all.