Constant progress

This week, we celebrate National Inclusion Week, an opportunity to celebrate everyday inclusion in all its forms and acknowledge the importance of placing equality, diversity and respect at the heart of our business.

Today, we hear from Emma Swe, senior HR business partner – Chester & North Wales, on what she loves about her role and how she benefitted from our BAME mentoring scheme.

‘I started working for Royal Mail in 2013 as an OPG at Chester Mail Centre,’ said Emma. ‘I was a teacher before I joined the business and was looking for a potential change of career. When I first began working at Royal Mail, I was still teaching in the day and then working 6-10pm in the mail centre to see whether I felt the job was right for me.

‘I became part of the BAME mentoring circles after progressing to the plant improvement manager role. I was part of the first cohort. I was also the only woman in Chester’s senior leadership team and the only person from a BAME background. There were very few BAME colleagues within the unit, and so it could feel quite isolated, both from a gender and BAME perspective.

‘The mentoring circles themselves were really refreshing and a great opportunity to meet other BAME colleagues from across the business. They gave us the chance to explore some of the challenging barriers we might face as well as potential strategies to overcome them.

‘Being able to network through the BAME mentoring circles and the subsequent work experiences I’ve had has increased my confidence and made me more aware of my own skills, talents and abilities, as well as areas that could benefit from personal development.

‘Since the circles ended, I have covered the plant manager role in Chester. This enabled me to be a leader in our service delivery area and influence positive change. I now work in HR, after making the move from Operations to the HR function and have been in my present role for the past eight months.

‘HR is an area of the business that I have always wanted to work in, and so making this move has refreshed my motivation and offered me a new challenge to learn and develop new skills. I love that I can help people, whether it involves supporting health and wellbeing or diversity, or supporting managers with their queries on policy, conduct or attendance.

‘HR is always evolving, and every day is different. The role is really varied and enables me to use my operational experience to provide the best support I can to the team.

‘The advice I would give to someone first starting in the business is to take every opportunity you can. I’ve said “yes” to every opportunity and through doing that, I have been able to understand more about which roles I prefer and where I see my future career. It has enabled me to keep moving over the past seven-and-a-half years and to keep developing myself. 

‘Trust and integrity are really important, so if you say you’re going to do something, then do it. Being resilient has got me through many things, both in work and in my personal life – you will always come up against difficult situations, it’s how you work through them that counts. And as the saying goes, in a world where you can be anything, be kind.’

Supporting our BAME colleagues

Making our business a place where black, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues can achieve their potential remains a priority.

Career progression is a key focus as we work towards improving the representation of colleagues from BAME backgrounds across all levels of the business. We need to build greater awareness that the network exists and is there to support our people and shine a light on all the good positive things we are doing across the business. 

If you are thinking about holding a BAME cultural event in your unit, and need some help, please reach out to the BAME steering group, or volunteer to help out with their activities. You can contact the group by emailing bame@royalmail.com.