The power of difference

As a company, Royal Mail is committed to placing equality, diversity and respect at the heart of our business and creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for everyone regardless of their race, gender, sexuality, disability or religious beliefs.

We believe that diversity involves more than just a workforce with representation from a wide variety of groups. It also involves giving every one of those groups a voice and valuing contributions from all our people.

A diverse and inclusive working environment that allows every one of us to bring our ‘whole self’ to work, is fundamental to our identity as a business. We believe that a diverse workforce with a wide range of individual perspectives and experiences, not only reflects the communities we serve, but also drives innovation and positive cultural change.

Creating an inclusive workplace

We know, however, that this is only possible if we create an inclusive workplace where everyone can put forward their ideas, challenge opinions, and question whether existing business practices can be improved.

To help us achieve this, Royal Mail has six dedicated employee networks. They provide a voice for our under-represented employees and decide on organisational-wide initiatives that directly benefit the communities and customers they represent.

We are also working on a wide range of programmes that will help us to deliver a more diverse and inclusive workplace. These include a group wide inclusive leadership training programme, a ‘Future Delivery Board’ that replicates our existing leadership with colleagues under the age of 30 to provide insight and innovation on business-critical projects, and a reverse mentoring partnership between junior BAME colleagues and our senior leaders. We also have a BAME mentoring programme, a proud record of attendance at Pride events, including Black Pride and Bi Pride, specific female and BAME career development programmes, as well as many other initiatives.

Peter de Norville, head of diversity and inclusion, said: ‘All of this is work underpinned by our annual Employee Survey and overseen by our ‘Inclusive Action’ steering group, which is made up of the most senior people in Royal Mail and chaired by our CEO.

‘The level of senior involvement is testament to how serious we are about diversity and inclusion, not only within our own organisation, but within our suppliers, our customers, our partners, and the wider society that we are part of.

‘It is vital that, as a company, we emphasise how committed we are to making our business a place where black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) colleagues can achieve their potential. Career progression is a key focus as we work towards improving the representation of colleagues from BAME backgrounds across all levels of the business.’

Ethnic diversity

Royal Mail’s ethnic profile is broadly representative of the UK population. According to our 2018-19 Employee Survey, around 14 per cent of employees declared themselves to be from black, asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

Royal Mail was one of the founding signatories to the Race at Work Charter when it launched in September 2018. We work with Business in the Community’s Opportunity Now and Race for Opportunity campaigns to ensure we support and follow best practice in gender and race diversity.