Why is diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) so important?
Everyone wants to feel welcome at work and to feel as if they can be themselves. The best way to achieve this is through fostering an inclusive workplace, where diversity is embraced. We're committed to creating a work environment where people are treated fairly and where everyone feels respected, valued and empowered to reach their full potential. Our mission is to build a business that represents, reflects and celebrates the cultures and communities we serve.
Achieving this is everyone’s responsibility. We all need to be honest and open in the way we communicate and work together to ensure everyone is accepted, supported and given the chance to succeed. A welcoming environment where all our people can share their diverse skills, cultures, backgrounds, expertise and insights is the key to a united team and a successful business.
I fundamentally believe that it's our people that make National Grid such a great place to work, and ensuring that we create the right environment to allow everyone to be themselves and to thrive is essential.
— John Pettigrew, Chief Executive, National Grid
Our values
At National Grid what we deliver is important, but how we deliver is just as important. Our core values are Do the Right Thing, Find a Better Way and Make It Happen, and this extends to our colleagues, customers and the community. We're passionate about living our values and for us doing the right thing is ensuring everyone is respected and can bring their whole, authentic self to work. This enables us all to fulfil our potential and find better ways to work together and make it happen to deliver on our ambition as a business.
Find out more about our vision and values
Our DEI strategy
Our aspiration is to one day be among the most inclusive, diverse and equitable companies in business. We will do this by:
- empowering our people by embedding inclusion into everything we do
- building a diverse an innovative green workforce for our customers
- moving boldly and quickly to deliver organisation-wide equity through our processes
- using our voice, platform and influence to create dialogue and elevate issues impacting people across the world.
Our Responsible Business Charter
We now have a simplified and refreshed charter where we set out some new commitments across our environment, our customers and communities, and our people. With changes in our operations and the environment around us since the launch of our first charter, it was only right that we refreshed our charter to ensure we remain focused on the important issues for us, our stakeholders and our communities; reaffirming that we are committed to keep pace with the external market and align to our new portfolio. We are committed to delivering a clean energy future and enabling a fair and affordable transition for all.
Championing diversity – employees lead the way
Diversity is championed and led by our own people. We have 17 highly active Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that are voluntary and employee led.
ERGs provide a crucial support network for everyone who works at National Grid, helping to raise awareness of all the diverse types of people who work within our organisation in the US and the UK. They champion and support the needs of many areas including LGBTQ+, disability and gender, veterans and new starters, through events and campaigns held throughout the year.
