To celebrate National Inclusion Week (23 – 29th September 2024), Compass Group UK & Ireland has organised its second “Inclusioneers” event. Bringing together over 70 colleagues from across the business at The Kia Oval, to highlight the importance of its teams continued focus on diversity, inclusion and equity.
The event was kicked off by Jon Davies, Levy UK + Ireland CEO and Jane Byrd, Compass Cymru MD, who talked about the successes of the past 12 months and how creating the right culture to attract and retain purposeful people will drive the change. Attendees then heard from guest speakers Garry Clarke-Strange, Founder of Think Inclusion Consulting and Peter Hall from FAIRER Consulting – who discussed how thinking differently can drive meaningful change and ensuring ED&I is aways a continued conversation.
To represent and drive inclusion at Compass, the organisation has several colleague networks – Within; Pride in Food; YouMatter; Ability and Women in Food. Colleagues from across these networks shared their thoughts on inclusion in the workplace, with panel host Ebony Rainford-Brent MBE, a former English cricketer who is now a commentator for the BBC and Sky and also the Levy UK + Ireland Ethnicity Employment Ambassador. The event was informative and collaborative, leaning in on experts to create forward-facing initiatives to drive forward the ED&I agenda.
The event saw a range of breakout activities, which included colleagues having time to deep dive into certain inclusion topics and explore how as an organisation inclusion needs to be accessible for all – colleagues had honest and open discussions to ensure the next 12 months built on the current successes.
Other activities this week have included internal InclusiviTEA events, seminars and training sessions facilitated by partners: Inclusive Employers and WiTHL and the announcement that Compass had become a finalist for four awards in the inaugural ‘inclusion in Awards’, powered by WiHTL & DiR.
Aaron Phipps MBE, fresh from competing in the Paralympics, who is also the Levy UK + Ireland Disability Employment Ambassador, shared his story about the importance of his family during the various stages of his life. He said: “Sharing my latest Paralympic adventure is still very emotional. I am immensely proud of myself and the team on what we achieved especially the opportunities that I have been given to raise awareness to drive Paralympic sport into the mainstream. These events allow me to share and today was such a fantastic event – to see so many engaged people driving the inclusion agenda.”
Garry Clarke-Strange, Founder of Think Inclusion Consulting commented: “It’s inspiring to work with organisations like Compass Group UK & Ireland and see the journey they are on. The passion and energy in the room today is making change happen.”
Kirsty Adams, Talent, Learning and D&I Director, Compass Group UK & Ireland: “This event has been held to ensure we continue to create an inclusive environment where people feel they belong. It is critical that everyone can be themselves and thrive; this is important to our success and that of the people within our business.
“It’s been fantastic to witness the coming together as a company to be a powerful voice for driving change. All our employee networks are safe spaces, focussed on ensuring we learn and grow from our colleague networks. To see everyone really get behind this important focus makes me excited for the future.”
In 2022, Compass launched Our Social Promise, which includes the Mission to a Million commitment, to provide support to one million people by 2030 through jobs, training, community engagement and development. It also outlined targets to improve diversity across the company. The commitments include ambitious gender, ethnicity (with specific targets on Black representation) and the industry’s first socio-economic representation targets. These are set for the executive and leadership team, middle management, junior management and frontline workers.
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