In the words of the highly respected Jesse Jackson: “包容 is not a matter of political correctness. 这是增长的关键.” This month 40 of our key suppliers exchanged pledges at our latest event to raise the diversity and inclusion agenda across our supply chain and make suppliers more accountable.
We recognise that innovative problem solving is best approached through diversity of thought and that diversity and inclusion are important for a cohesive supply chain. To grow and be resilient for the future, 业务必须驱动和, 更重要的是, 领导这方面的行动. That’s why we’re actively working with our supply chain to accelerate change.
Building on the success of earlier events with suppliers, we recently launched a series of roundtables each shining a spotlight on a different area of diversity and inclusion. Our first session in September brought together LGBT leads from British Land and our key suppliers to share what’s working well and explore some of the obstacles to overcome.
之前参加, suppliers assessed their own organisations against a diversity maturity curve, so we could create a mentoring approach at the event. T在这里 was a wealth of experience to draw on in the room amongst our suppliers, 同事及合作伙伴, including members of the Albert Kennedy Trust. Guest speaker Yohanna Weber of Fieldfisher, who co-chairs LGBT network Planning Out, shared her insights into creating an LGBT Placemaking Toolkit.
Importantly, each attending supplier gave and received a pledge to take action. One supplier committed to helping their pledge partner develop and implement a transgender policy; another promised a year’s mentoring support. Other pledges included establishing an employee LGBTQ+ network and arranging an industry-wide LGBTQ+ awareness event.
供应商 signed and exchanged pledge contracts, confirming they’d complete them within nine months. I also made a commitment to keep a keen eye on their pledges over the next nine months and emphasised that contracts are binding agreements that shouldn’t be put away and forgotten.
We then enjoyed a networking celebration, w在这里 we continued to share stories and celebrate great work already started. It’s positive to hear about the progress since our first diversity and inclusion event for suppliers in 2017 (which I blogged about 在这里) and our 2018 supplier conference, w在这里 we explored the power of employee networks to nurture cultures w在这里 diversity and inclusion can thrive. Most people and businesses can embrace new ways of being but it takes time and effort.
了解详情 BL骄傲联盟
“By bringing us together and encouraging us to share our experiences and best practice through a pledge system, British Land is supporting its suppliers in creating more inclusive, sustainable working environments for our LGBT+ employees.” Sian Owles, Partner at Hogan Lovells
The thoughts and opinions expressed above are those of the individual author, and do not necessarily represent the views of British Land or other employees of the company. For further details of relevant legal terms and conditions, please refer to the Website Terms and Conditions.