Signatories in the Spotlight
Industry Charter signatory profile: EDF Energy
We have been part of the WiN family since its inception…
Because… we wanted to assist and support WiN in their aim to increase gender diversity in the nuclear industry.
We pledged to continue all our work in Diversity & Inclusion, building on the National Equality Standard, and creating and delivering action plans to increase the diversity of our organisation at all levels.
We signed the Industry Charter because our aims and that of the Industry Charter are similar. We are already focusing on many of the same areas in order to improve gender diversity. The industry is already preparing for the impact of the increasing number of retirees – it’s a challenge for us and a big opportunity for girls to get a career in science and technology. A significant number of nuclear engineers are coming up to retirement after joining during the last major period of nuclear construction. That’s why we are investing heavily in apprenticeships, skills and training and the new recruitment means we have been able to increase the percentage of women joining our workforce – but we are determined to go further.
Since signing up to the Industry Charter in January 2016:
- We have increased the gender diversity of our engineering maintenance apprentices to 35% in 2017, a 14% increase on 2016.
- To encourage the recruitment and progression of women within EDF Energy we have implemented gender diversity targets at a senior leader, manager and employee level for each of our business units and on a company-wide level. In our first year of implementation we have increased our gender diversity at a senior leader level by over 4% in total, appointing 6 new female senior leaders. These figures are reported to the Executive Team of EDF Energy on an annual basis and to each business unit team on a quarterly basis to track and monitor progress.
- We track and monitor the number of women who enter and are successful in our talent processes, to ensure these are rising and are at least proportionate to the number of women we have in the organisation.
- We have strong policies and practices as recognised by EY in awarding us our National Equality Standard in 2015, and we have built upon these to be in The Times Top 50 places for Women to Work in both 2016 and 2017.
- We were Platinum sponsors of the WiN Annual Conference in February 2016 and Gold sponsors in 2017.
Our biggest highlight has been the launch and successful roll out of our successful Pretty Curious campaign, which aims to attract young women into STEM careers
- Our cinema short film has been seen by over 18 million
- Our hands on events have been experienced by over 1,000 girls, with 92% saying that it made STEM more interesting.
- Our 360 degree film on STEM careers has been seen over 248,000
We’ve faced some challenges… the biggest being deciding on the priorities we take forward, and where we focus our resources to have the maximum impact.
And we’ve celebrated our successes!
EDF Energy’s SmartSTEMs event at Glasgow Caledonian University
EDF Energy sponsored the Edinburgh International Science Festival 2017 to encourage girls to study STEM subjects.
EDF Energy Employees at the Hinkley Point C construction site.
In the future we:
- aim to continue with our commitments making specific links into the inclusion strategy objectives in terms of how they will add value for us and help us achieve our objectives
- aim to be involved in upcoming events and encourage our employees to join regional teams and attend both local and national events
- are happy for our Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Employer Branding to continue as the Vice Chair of WiN UK, and offer time and facilities to the WiN Executive.
If you would like to know more about the Industry Charter please click here.