BP named as a top employer for women in the UK
BP is announced as one of 50 organisations listed in The Times top 50 employers for women in recognition for driving gender equality in the UK
Up until now Shell has been the only oil and gas company to be featured in the list. The list is unranked and presented alphabetically. The top 50 places are awarded by gender equality experts at Business in the Community, the corporate social responsibility charity that manages the list.
Gender equality is a key priority for BP, since 2010 the number of women in the workforce has steadily increased from 24.3% to 30.3% (as at March 2019). The aim is for 25% of group leaders to be women by the end of 2020 (currently 24%) and senior level leaders to be 30% (currently 25.3%).
Brian Gilvary, BP CFO and Lucy Knight, HR vice president & head of D&I attended a dinner last night to receive the award.
"It’s great to see external recognition of the work Lucy and the HR teams have been doing, says Gilvary, "not just in the UK, but across the whole of BP. This award is a real testament to all they have achieved. But there is always more to do.
One of BP’s five strategic priorities is living our values – respect and courage are crucial to driving an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves and be given opportunities to develop and progress. BP must continue pushing this if we are to attract and retain the best talent."
“It is refreshing to work for an organisation that genuinely believes that celebrating our differences will make it a better company for all" says Tamara Holmgren, projects & modifications manager, Eastern Heliosphere. "BP recently refreshed the flexible working guidelines which has the power to positively impact the difficulties of juggling a work-life balance, something which is a major reason cited for loosing mid-career female engineers.
"Also we’re currently facing a significant skills shortage, particularly as the number of girls going into engineering is very low. What is promising, is that BP is keen to support a variety of initiatives that promote engineering amongst young people. There are many initiatives, such as work experience, internships and schools mentoring programmes which seek to open the eyes of young people to the opportunities for a great career in BP."
Chloe Chambraud, director of gender equality at Business in the Community added; "Congratulations to all of the organisations who have been named as Times Top 50 Employer for Women this year. Your relentless work to make your workplace more diverse and more inclusive deserves to be recognised and celebrated. We are delighted to see a growing number of employers supporting men to take on more caring responsibilities and tackling the root causes of gender inequality.
"Historically companies focused on policies and processes to address the inequality and bias that employees face on a daily basis. But this is not enough. It is only by changing the culture and promoting positive behaviours from the top that employers will see real change, and we look forward to supporting them on this journey."