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.
How important is DEI in creating a net zero future?
Delivering a future of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 will require fundamental transformation in many aspects of our society, so how important is the role of diversity, equity and inclusion in achieving this net zero future?
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 while building the net zero workforce to enable a fair and affordable transition for all.
Awards and recognition
We're recognised as a good employer who takes our responsibilities to make everyone welcome at work seriously. We continue to strive to drive progress and we are proud that our efforts have been rewarded across the globe.
The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality 2023
The annual Times Top 50 list recognises the employers that are taking action to drive gender equality at work.
The businesses in the Top 50 are all working towards gender equality – from embracing flexible working practices to tackling the pay gap and normalising caring responsibilities for all genders.
Find out more about The Times Top 50
2023 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index
National Grid is one of 484 companies across 45 countries to be included in the 2023 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI), which aims to track the performance of public companies committed to transparency in gender-data reporting. It measures gender equality across five pillars: female leadership and talent pipeline; equal pay and gender pay parity; inclusive culture; anti-sexual harassment policies; and, pro-women brand.
Find out more about the Bloomberg GEI
2022 Workforce Disclosure Initiative
In 2022, National Grid took part in the Workforce Disclosure Initiative for the fifth consecutive year. We were awarded a disclosure score of 84% and received a special mention at the annual WDI Transparency Awards in the Workforce Action category. Participation in the initiative highlights commitment to improving workforce related metrics such as diversity, equality and inclusion, as well as ensuring workplace policies are aligned to relevant standards.
Find out more about the Workforce Disclosure Initiative
No.1 for gender equality in the 2022 Equileap report
We rank 1st in the UK and 3rd globally for gender equality in an assessment of almost 4000 companies in 23 markets by Equileap, the leading provider of gender equality data & insights, in 2021. Among the utility companies that were assessed, we rank 1st in the UK and the world.
Find out more about the Equileap report
The Valuable 500
We've joined 499 other companies around the world to take action on disability inclusion.
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.
