Accenture, Ashurst, EY, Lloyds Banking Group, PepsiCo UK and Ireland, and Vodafone are among the organisations that feature in The Times’ Top 50 Employers for Women 2017 list, compiled by The Times and Business in the Community (BITC).
The unranked list, which forms part of Responsible Business Week (24-28 April 2017), recognises UK employers that are making gender equality a key focus within their business strategy. This includes creating inclusive workplace cultures, and progressing women in their careers across all areas and levels of the organisation.
Organisations from 20 different sectors feature in the list, covering industries such as the arts, entertainment and telecommunications, financial services, legal services, the public sector, and utilities.
Other organisations that are recognised in 2017’s list include BNY Mellon, BT, Deloitte, the Greater London Authority, JP Morgan, Marks and Spencer, Mercer, Norton Rose Fulbright, the Post Office, RBS, and Shell UK.
In addition, three organisations from the list have also been named as winners in the Business in the Community Gender Equality Awards 2017. These awards celebrate progress in gender equality in the workplace, and showcase examples of best practice, impact, innovation and individual achievement in this area.
Consumer goods organisation Unilever won the responsible business award for gender equality, legal firm Ashurst received the game changer award, and the British Army was recognised with the gender champion award. Finalists across these categories include professional services firm Accenture, financial organisation Barclays, and media business Sky.
Kathryn Nawrockyi, gender equality director at Business in the Community, said: “Huge congratulations to all the organisations in The Times‘ Top 50 Employers for Women 2017 and to the Business in the Community Gender Equality Awards winners and finalists. They have made significant progress to understand and address the barriers to equality that women face at work and put fundamental workplace culture change at the core of their activity, recognising the benefits this brings to women and men at all levels and to the organisation as a whole. I hope other employers will follow their example.”
Paul Jenkins, managing partner at Ashurst, added: “We are proud to be included in The Times‘ Top 50 Employers for Women 2017. Ensuring that organisations reflect on the importance of addressing gender diversity from as many different angles as possible is critical. There is not one simple solution and while we have a number of initiatives in place to encourage a truly inclusive workplace, we need to continue striving towards this; there is a great deal still to be done.”
Dr Siobhan Martin, UK HR director at Mercer, said: “I am delighted that Mercer has been named among the Top 50 Employers for Women. We are constantly working to challenge ourselves on how we can be inclusive of all, and to provide appropriate workplace initiatives to help women at every level; this includes our returners plan to support those who have been out of the workplace for an extended period.
“We want to enable the best possible work-life balance, which is why we offer employees flexible-working options and provide training for line managers that ensures all employees are supportive of improving diversity and inclusion in the workplace.”