In 2015 in the UK, six months after graduation 71% of white engineering graduates were in full time employment but only 51% of Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) graduates were full time employed.

Diversity and BLM

FIRST STATEMENT (2020)
Second Statement >

In recent months, we’ve been given a wake up call. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and public coverage of recent incidents have highlighted the everyday racism that continues to plague society.

We actively welcome diversity in the Whitby Wood workplace but these events have compelled us to re-examine ourselves. We can do more.

To try to find out more about the current situation in engineering, we looked for figures. For example: in 2015 in the UK — according to the Royal Academy of Engineering — six months after graduation, 71% of white engineering graduates were in full time employment but only 51% of Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) graduates were full time employed. This demonstrates a clear disparity between the diversity of skilled graduates and the composition of the workforce. It shows that BAME graduates face barriers to employment that their white counterparts do not.

We want to be honest with ourselves and with the wider construction community: as with society in general, there is also a problem with racism in our industry. We need to actively work to address this and to dismantle the barriers. The present situation does not reflect the diversity of talent in the industry or the country.

As a team, it has always been our vision that our people are the most important thing. We have been holding internal forums to discuss the experiences, thoughts and emotions of our colleagues and have worked collectively to pinpoint ways forward.

ACTIONS

We have decided on the following initial actions:

FIRSTLY, to expand on our current and community engagement activities …

We will focus on promoting engineering to young people of all backgrounds when undertaking community engagement work with local students.
We will support anti-racist charities.

SECONDLY, to undertake the following initiatives, expanding on our current policies …

We will encourage the engineering institutions to publish diversity data now and in the future, helping the industry to interrogate itself better.
We will publish any data that we collect ourselves concerning the composition of our own team, including different levels.
We will provide diversity training for members of our team, particularly those involved in management and hiring. This will help us better understand the issues, enabling further action. For the training, we will forge links with charities/organisations that promote diversity in engineering.

These actions are the beginning of an ongoing process. Therefore, we will regularly review the action list, our equal opportunities policy and the levels of diversity at Whitby Wood. The list is our promise to stand in support of black colleagues and colleagues of colour, and our commitment to work towards equality. We strongly believe that diversity is good for business and that an inclusive workplace enables people to thrive, so we will reinforce these values as central to our ethos and promote them in the construction industry.

Projects