How we’re building a diverse and inclusive workforce
Helen Bradbury, Chief People Officer at E.ON UK, shares why E.ON is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce.
Better together
At E.ON, we’re leading the transition to a better energy future and we’re committed to driving the industry forwards when it comes to sustainability and helping to achieve the UK’s target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
But to us, a better energy future means more than reduced emissions and improved sustainability; it’s also about positively impacting the lives of our people, our customers and our communities.
Our people and their passion are what drives our business and to truly represent our customers and society, we foster an inclusive environment where colleagues feel respected, valued and can thrive.
An employer of choice
Diversity and inclusion is at the heart of everything that we do at E.ON and we have a strong legacy of achievements in building an inclusive workplace where everyone feels a true sense of belonging.
We’re proud to have been recognised as one of the UK’s Top 50 Inclusive Employers for six years running and we’re recognised as an employer setting the standards for others to follow, with a vast range of support available for all our colleagues.
Supporting flexible working
Flexible working is crucial in helping ensure colleagues maintain a healthy work-life balance. That’s why we advertise all our roles as flexible, including part-time, full-time and job sharing options. And our hybrid working principles allow our office-based colleagues to enjoy the best of both home and office working.
In fact, our flexible working and parenting policies, such as advanced leave, equal parental leave and part time options, are award-winning, having been recognised at the Working Dads Employer Awards in 2023.
Our inclusion networks
Our colleague-led inclusion networks are supportive communities which promote allyship, equality, diversity and inclusion across E.ON in the UK. The networks provide supportive spaces for all colleagues to come together and share resources and conversations covering a range of topics and groups.
More than one in four colleagues are actively involved in these networks which support areas such as racial inclusion, gender equality, parenting, LGBT+, menopause, people with disabilities or long-term health conditions and mental health.
Shaping the future
We’re leading the charge in supporting people starting out in their careers. We offer a vast range of apprenticeships, which offer paid work whilst learning and completing an apprenticeship qualification.
We’re proud to have been listed as one of the Best 100 Apprenticeship Employers for 2022-23 based on the experiences and opinions of our existing apprentices.
Our degree apprenticeships allow people to work full-time, study for a fully funded degree and earn a competitive salary. During the four or five year programme with us, our degree apprentices work on number of placements across the business aligning to their academic work at university.
Tailored support for all
We were the first menopause friendly energy company and remain committed to raising awareness of the menopause and ensuring women who are experiencing menopausal symptoms can get the support they need at work. We also ensure managers and colleagues have information which enable them to provide support as well.
We’re delighted to be a member of Neurodiversity in Business, helping us further improve our collective awareness and understanding of neurodiversity, so we can better support and empower our neurodivergent colleagues.
Plus, we’ve been a Disability Confident employer since 2017, making sure candidates with disabilities receive the adjustments they need to help them be their best, right from applying for a role.
Our ambitions for a better tomorrow
Being an inclusive organisation is a journey, and we’re constantly learning and looking for ways to improve. For example:
- We’re working hard to close our gender pay gap and increase the number of women in our leadership roles to 50% by 2025.
- We’ve signed up to the Race at Work Charter and are committed to improving our ethnicity pay gap and achieving a more ethnically diverse representation in our senior executive roles by 2025.
- We’re continuing to build the membership of our colleague-led inclusion networks and further develop these supportive communities across E.ON.
The Power of Progress
From always doing the right thing for our colleagues to supporting our customers at home, in business and in their community, we’re working towards a better tomorrow, today.
We’ve showcased our commitment to a better energy future in our new report, The Power of Progress where you can see insights from some of our 8,800+ colleagues about what it’s like to work at E.ON and how we’re leading the energy transition.