Chief People Officer At Arcus FM discusses being an inclusive employer
People have always been the core of our success, looking after them, engaging them, and providing them with learning and development opportunities and best-in-class benefits is central to our strategy.
In July 2022, we appointed our first Chief People Officer, Debbie Gregory, to strengthen our people-driven approach. Debbie has a wealth of knowledge and expertise over her 25-year career in HR and discusses below how she has been hard at work over the last year to enhance our position as an inclusive employer.
When I first joined the team here at Arcus, it was clear how much we value our colleagues, their personal and professional development, and our desire to create an environment where everyone feels able to be themselves.
Equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are important to Arcus, as they should be to all of us, but there is always more that can be done.
Over the last year, we have worked hard to support underrepresented groups get back into work, support our local communities with donations and voluntary labour, drive down our CO2 emissions, and ensure everyone gets home safely at the end of each and every day.
With the launch of our EDI strategy, we are making a commitment to work collaboratively across the business to ensure we are opening up opportunities to those facing barriers to work and celebrating what makes us unique.
To begin this work, we are currently collecting data from across the business to better understand who our colleagues are. Each of us brings our whole selves to work. We don’t leave our religious beliefs, our marital status, our gender identity, or our sexual orientation at home.
Once we have this data, we will be opening up colleague forums that will help support those with protected characteristics and allow a safe space where everyone can learn and share their voice.
We host an annual ‘Have Your Say’ survey where our colleagues are encouraged to provide feedback on ways in which we could provide support to enhance their workplace experience.
Utilising this feedback, we work across the organisation to review our policies, procedures and culture to be reflective of our colleagues values and needs. Our aim is to be led by our colleagues and the data they provide, whether this is a simple change in language to ensure gender-neutral pronouns are used or to remove any pre-existing restrictions due to gender, race, or beliefs.
Whilst implementing our strategy and reviewing our policies is important to focus our work, it is ultimately the collective efforts of our people every day that will truly make the difference.
I believe a great employee experience results in exceptional customer experiences and I look forward to continuing to work with our colleagues to provide workplaces that are inclusive and enable everyone to feel valued, respected, and recognised.
