Diversity Works for London
Diversity Works for London
National Grid is a FTSE 100 company with a workforce of over 11,000 in the UK.
National Grid has a five-year plan of significant investment and growth and needs to support this by retaining and developing its best talent. With the impact of changing demographics on the workforce plus a limited pool of skilled engineers, there is a strong business imperative to attract and develop women in what is traditionally a male-dominated, engineering-based company.
Among the development programmes that the company runs are one for female staff and team leaders, and another for female first-line managers and senior specialists. The focus is on improving women’s confidence and career planning to help them achieve their potential.
Each course has a guest speaker drawn from National Grid’s Women in Networks (WiN) or from previous course attendees. These women share their own experiences and encourage discussion of issues facing women within National Grid. Senior female employees also play a part in running the courses.
Course participants are encouraged to take on projects that support the company and recent initiatives have included a UK-wide workshop examining the different communication styles of men and women. Another project led to the launch of a mentoring programme encouraging female employees to seek advice and role models. Women who have completed the line-manager programme are encouraged to become mentors for the less senior female employees.
In the scheme’s first 18 months, 115 women completed the courses, with many successfully changing roles or being promoted as a result of their new skills and greater confidence. External recognition of the company’s diversity practices and greater visibility of female role models has also raised internal awareness of the programmes.
Programme attendees are very positive about their impact. For Debbie Trew, a project planner in UK Construction, the programme was pivotal in helping her move on to her next role. The support and encouragement from her fellow course members was very important:
"I came away from the course elated by the positive reinforcement from the other women and with greater self-belief. I was determined to make changes and I did."
