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At least once a month, Rolls-Royce employees gain insight into the lives of their colleagues. The UK’s FTSE 100 group’s intranet has a section under the banner ‘Being Like Me’ where employees share personal information about everything from coming out to what it’s like to live with a physical difference. There are posts where people share their experiences.
Colleagues have the opportunity to write a story about “what makes them who they are,” explains Natasha Whitehurst, the company’s head of diversity, inclusion and belonging.
This initiative allows people to “come to work and not necessarily feel like they have to edit themselves when they walk through the door,” she says. The company says it does a lot of work to help people be “open and honest,” which helps foster inclusion and “psychological safety” among its employees. she added.
Launched in 2022, these “stories” are one of several initiatives used by aerospace and defense groups to promote a safe and inclusive work environment.
The 118-year-old company is one of Britain’s best-known engineering brands and employs around 50,000 people in more than 50 countries. It is best known for the engines that power the world’s largest commercial aircraft, such as the Airbus A350. The group also makes engines for fighter jets and nuclear reactors that power submarines.
Rolls-Royce, ranked 10th in this year’s FT/Statista rankings, stands out among its peers with high scores on diversity and inclusion indicators. Traditionally, manufacturing companies, particularly those in sectors with a strong skew toward STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) skills, have struggled to recruit talent from diverse backgrounds. Women in particular are proving difficult to retain before reaching senior roles.
“There is still a lack of progress for women in this type of heavy industry,” says Anne Franke, chief executive of the UK’s Chartered Management Institute (CMI).
The number of women working in engineering and technology fell from 16.5% of the workforce in 2022 to 15.7% in 2023, according to figures from industry body EngineeringUK. This shows that women are not being retained.
Although significant progress has been made in the appointment of women to boards, companies need to ensure the presence of “women at senior levels and women who step up from junior to middle management positions.” . . to ensure maintenance,” Franke said.
Three years ago, Rolls-Royce appointed Anita Frew as its first female chairman, a move seen as a milestone for both the company and the industry. Since then, the group has achieved gender parity on its board of directors and increased the number of women on its executive team.
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Frew admitted earlier this year that Rolls-Royce “still has work to do at lower levels of the organization”, but said the company “is committed to setting an example at board level and setting clear expectations within the company and across the industry.” He said that he recognized the importance of demonstrating the importance of .
Ms Whitehurst said that when she joined the company almost two years ago, she was struck by the “passion and enthusiasm” for promoting diversity, inclusion and belonging at Rolls-Royce.
She says there was a lot of “great work” happening through a variety of initiatives, including an employee inclusion network and a Stem-focused advocacy program. Since then, the company has begun to mature its approach into something more systematic.
“We embed (diversity, inclusion and belonging) in everything we do. This was a real switch for us, to take this holistic approach,” Whitehurst said. It added that diversity policy was considered a “strategic priority”.
In the medium term, this means focusing on how to foster a psychologically safe environment and how to strengthen the skills and engagement of corporate leaders around diversity and inclusion. “We see inclusion as a skill,” Whitehurst emphasizes.
Training is seen as an important tool by industry experts, as the definition of diversity now extends beyond gender and race to include education, economic background, and neurodiversity.
CMI research shows that trained, supportive managers who know what they’re doing play a bigger role in creating an inclusive workplace than initiatives like flexible work arrangements. I found out that it is working.
“If you really want to see results, you need to treat inclusion as a fundamental part of your business strategy,” says CMI’s Franke. It manifests itself by “training managers to practice good line management and act inclusively.”
In the wake of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action in college admissions programs, industry experts are also keen to emphasize the link between strong diversity policies and performance. The decision sparked lawsuits targeting diversity and inclusion programs run by multiple companies.
“Fear of litigation in the US” is impacting the European outlook, Franke said. However, she believes that companies that address diversity properly are less likely to change course. Diversity is “a great business strategy if you take it seriously, but it’s not effective if it’s done at a superficial, ‘tick-the-box’ level,” she added. “You’ll get better results. You’ll attract better talent and retain them longer.”
