Building an inclusive EW Group
We believe in the power of diversity to spark innovation, deliver excellent client care and help us reach our goals as a business. But we’re not stopping there: we see inclusion and belonging as the keys to bringing personal fulfilment and collective joy to our working lives.
The journey to systemic inclusion is at the core of our mission. It’s this state of belonging that will empower us all to find our personal values chiming with those of the business. This is where the real magic happens: engagement is at its highest, individual performance skyrockets, and team dynamics enter a flow state.
Achieving at EW Group
Here’s what achievement looks like for us:
- Diversity – Working in an organization that reflects and understands the communities in which we operate and the subjects we cover in our everyday work with clients.
- Inclusion – Working together in a way that means the whole team feels their perspectives and experiences are heard, observed and valued.
- Belonging – Being members of a team who can operate at their full potential — not regardless of their differences but because of them.
How diverse are we as a business?
At EW Group, we have a diverse team of employees and consultants, consisting of:
- 15% male, 85% female
- A good representation of different ethnicities (compared to UK census data)
- A mixture of religions and beliefs
- A range of ages from 35 and under to over 56
- A quarter of our staff are part of the LGBTQ+ community
- 11% of our employees consider themselves to have a disability
How are we driving our own diversity and inclusion agenda?
In 2021, we began to design and deliver our own Group EDI Review across the entire eQS Group.
The review incorporates consultations with staff (one-to-one and in groups), along with a review of our internal policies and data relating to EDI. We’ve established a working group, drawn from across the eQS family of businesses, who have been overseeing the Group EDI Review and acting as a critical friend. We’ve also been utilizing external consultants to assist so that we could facilitate a more honest and transparent review. This has helped to ensure our staff and other stakeholders feel valued and have a space of belonging within the process. We also believe it will lead to reflection on areas that may otherwise not have been noticed.
A key focus of our Group EDI Review is identifying examples of good practice in each part of the business and considering how these can be replicated elsewhere. We’re expecting the final Group EDI Review report to include:
- Recommended strategy and objectives at Group level (from leadership diversity to external communications)
- Recommended common approach and goals across all eQS businesses (e.g. recruitment practices, data collection)
- Action plans which are specific to each individual eQS business, setting out short and long term steps which will enable us to create an inclusive workplace.
Learn more about eQS’s diversity story so far and its on-going commitments to diversity and inclusion best practice.