Anglian Water named one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality 2023

Anglian Water has been listed as one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality 2023 for its commitment to addressing gender inequalities in the workplace.

The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality is the UK’s most highly profiled and well-established listing of employers taking actions and making gender equality part of their business strategy at all levels.

Traditionally, the water industry has been dominated by white men, however in the last three years Anglian Water has been working to change the culture and gender composition of the business. To help achieve this, the water company is committed to being an excellent employer for women, creating family-friendly work policies that support women at every stage of their working lives.

Anglian Water is continuing to build an inclusive workforce where all employees feel valued and welcome during their time working with them and one which is representative of the community they serve.

This year’s applicants were assessed on the work they do to remove gender inequalities in the workplace, from flexible working to family friendly policies to pay and progression at work.

Victoria Bannerman, Inclusion Lead at Anglian Water said: “Our vision is to build an inclusive workforce, ensuring all our employees feel valued during their time working with us.

“We want our workforce to be representative of the community we serve, and we recognise that we need to significantly improve the gender and ethnicity split of our employees to achieve this.

“We are working to shift the gender makeup of our business to attract and retain women in a wide variety of roles, the majority of which require science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills.”

Anglian Water has a multi-stage, long-term plan to ‘move the needle’ towards great inclusion across the business. This includes developing awareness and education, building and growing their inclusion community and delivering specific interventions to move the organisation forward.

Business in the Community (BITC) has been running The Times Top 50 for 13 years, and this year they received more applications than ever before.

The name of the list has been updated to better reflect that addressing gender quality in the workplace requires achieving equality for all and requires engagement from everyone. BITC’s gender equality work focuses on equality for all genders and for those who do not identify as a gender.

While progress has been made, gender inequalities are still very prevalent in workplaces across the UK – especially in times of economic disruption, such as the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.

Charlotte Woodworth, Gender Equality Director at Business in the Community said: “Whilst companies such as Anglian Water are doing a brilliant job at reducing gender inequalities in the workplace, it is evident that there is far more work to be done.

“There are still too many employees who face barriers in the workplace, from pay gaps to caring responsibilities. The cost-of-living crisis following the pandemic has made these inequalities even more noticeable.

 “It is encouraging to see that this year, we have seen the highest number of applications to the Times Top 50 compared to any year so far. Anglian Water being recognised as a Times Top 50 employer for gender equality shows that it is committed to addressing gender inequalities in the workplace so that once and for all, inequalities in the workplace can be a thing of the past.”

It’s the third year that Anglian Water have been refining and assessing their progress by making changes in response to employee data, feedback from their annual staff survey and suggestions from individuals in the workplace.

Since 2020, 39% of employees that moved to a higher-level role were women. The percentage of the female workforce who were promoted company-wide since 2020 is 3% compared to 2% of the male work force. 87% of employees believe that it is an inclusive place to work, regardless of gender, age, race, disability, religion or sexual orientation and 82% would recommend it as a place to work.

Mary Macleod, Chief Executive at Business in the Community said: “We know that when women succeed, the UK succeeds, enabling our communities and planet to thrive. Anglian Water is one of the companies leading the way in building a culture where women can reach their full potential by showing real commitment to addressing gender inequalities in the workplace.”

About Business in the Community:

Business in the Community is the UK’s largest and most influential responsible business network dedicated to building a fairer and greener world together, supported by His Majesty the King for over 40 years. We inspire, engage and challenge purposeful leaders to take practical action to mobilise their collective strength as a force for good in society.

Visit the full list of The Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality here.