How we’re championing equality, diversity and inclusion

At E.ON, we know we’re better together. It’s why we’re continually looking for ways we can improve our workplace for all our colleagues. We’re committed to creating an environment where everyone is welcome and where we support each other to learn, grow and thrive.

We’ve taken many steps over the years to build an inclusive organisation where colleagues know they’re valued, respected, and feel a sense of belonging so they can prosper and be at their best: from offering flexible working from day one to being a Disability Confident Employer to signing the Race at Work charter.

Plus, we now have 9 colleague-led inclusivity networks with over 30% of our colleagues as members. These networks are where colleagues can come together to share experiences, broaden knowledge and increase appreciation of a whole host of topics such as racial and gender equality, parenting, LGBT+, menopause and mental and physical wellbeing.

Over the past year, we’re proud to have made even more new commitments and polices; here are a few examples.

We aim to create a workplace where everyone can flourish. We’ve recently joined Neurodiversity in Business, an organisation which works to improve awareness and understanding of neurodiversity and support the participation of neurodivergent people in the workplace and our membership helps us better support and empower our neurodivergent colleagues.

We’ve continued to grow membership of our Neurodiversity network too, one of our colleague-led inclusivity networks, which celebrates neurodiversity and provides support and education for colleagues across E.ON. After starting with just four people 18 months ago, the network has now grown to over 800 members. 

We’re proud to be a Menopause Friendly employer and have provided managers and colleagues with guides on menopause, as well as additional training to help people understand the symptoms and their impacts. Our Menopause Matters network also runs monthly menopause cafes, giving colleagues the opportunity to share stories and experiences and to support each other.

We want to be truly menopause inclusive which is why we ran our first Menopause Inclusion survey earlier this year. The survey asked our colleagues for feedback on our current menopause support and what more we can do. In response to the feedback we received, we’ve brought in new initiatives to better support our colleagues dealing with menopause.

For example, we worked with Over the Bloody Moon, creators of the world’s first menopause simulator, who brought the Menovest (an outer garment which mimics the sensation of hot flushes) to one of our menopause cafes. While we know hot flushes are just one of over 40 symptoms, the Menovest is designed to foster understanding, engagement and allyship with those who won’t, or haven’t yet, experienced menopause.

“Menopause has long been shushed and a source of taboo for far too long. We do not censor these as horrible secrets anymore. It is a fact of life that will affect everyone. You, your partner, your friend, your mother, your sister, your manager, your children.

“Being able to have open conversations with others and sharing what we are going through at the cafes, and being heard is amazing. We’ve several men come to our sessions who want to ensure they are doing the right thing for their partners. It’s great knowing I am not alone in what I am going through.”

-        Ti Colluney, Energy Specialist 

Our racial inclusion network, embRace, is one of our largest colleague-led networks, with almost 2,000 members. The network celebrates our different backgrounds, marks important diversity dates through the year and has supported improvements in apprenticeship diversity with special events and signposted learning opportunities.

And earlier this year, working together with the embRace network, we launched our first bespoke development programme for ethnically diverse colleagues – embRace Your Talent. embRace Your Talent aims to provide critical skills for career planning and development such as communication, purpose and identity.

We launched our newest network, Fertility Forum, in October this year to support colleagues going through their fertility journey.

Fertility Forum is committed to increasing awareness and understanding, offering flexibility and helping to ease some of the pressure. The network provides a safe space for colleagues dealing with fertility issues, helps line managers to signpost the support available and can advocate for colleagues in overcoming any challenges in accessing the fertility support we provide.

And we’re delighted to announce that we’ve committed to being Fertility Friendly with Fertility Matters at Work, a Community Interest Company dedicated to improving fertility support at work and workplace experiences for those needing fertility treatment.

“I am really excited that E.ON UK is partnering with Fertility Matters at Work. I know first-hand the significant physical and emotional impact that fertility treatment can have. The partnership with FMAW will help E.ON to support all prospective parents who are on a fertility journey, whatever their gender/gender identity, sexual orientation or family status.”

-        Rachel Guest, member of Fertility Forum

We’re committed to supporting all families with greater flexibility and financial support to help care for their family. So at the start of 2023, we extended our maternity leave provision to introduce equal parent leave.

Our equal parent leave policy offers the same paid leave to dads, LGBT+ parents, guardians, adoptive parents and extended family who are legally responsible for a child, regardless of relationship. This means that all parents are entitled to full pay and time off for up to 18 weeks in the first 12 months when they become a parent or legal guardian, which can be taken flexibly. Plus, they also receive mirrored time off for pre-natal, ante-natal and adoption appointments.

Since we introduced equal parent leave, over 130 new dads have taken up the benefit, allowing all parents (regardless of gender) to spend time with and support their new and growing families. And we’re proud to have won two awards at the Working Dads Employer Awards for our parenting policies and flexible working. 

We’re proud to have been the first energy company to sign up the energy industry’s Leaders’ Commitment created by TIDE – Tackling Inclusion and Diversity in Energy. TIDE is a cross-industry group aimed at improving equity, diversity and inclusion in energy, using insights from across the industry to share best practice and drive forward inclusion across the energy sector.

Our UK CEO, Chris Norbury, has personally committed to leading by example, driving change at E.ON and continuing our commitment to diversity and inclusion as well as helping drive our entire industry forwards together. 

We’re proud that our efforts to make E.ON a truly inclusive place to work have been recognised and that we’ve been ranked in the top 10 most inclusive employers list, having consistently featured in the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers list since 2017.

We’ve improved year-on-year for the past seven years and are delighted to now be ranked number eight in the list.

To find out more about how we’re fostering a welcoming and inclusive environment for all our colleagues, read our 2023 UK Inclusion Report.