We have a strategic commitment to improved diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) in the workplace, it is business imperative for us and we continue to prioritise our work in this area. Our passion and goal are to build more diverse teams and to create an environment where employees are engaged, thriving and feel a sense of belonging.
We know that diversity, equity and inclusion are critical to achieving our purpose as a business which is to navigate the most important and impactful engineering challenges of our time. We recently took some time to review our DE&I strategy and have a plan in place with lots of progress already underway. We continue to refine our approach by keeping our strategy live and updating it as things change and as we make progress against our actions.
We aim to recruit, retain and motivate the best possible talent from a broad range of society and we are committed to being an inclusive place to work, where diversity of thought is sought after and valued. We hire talented people and welcome applications from everyone. At this time, we particularly welcome applications from you if you are from an underrepresented demographic.
We have established regional DE&I forums and an LGBTQ+ Network (PRISM) and will continue to build out Employee Network Groups across other communities to represent and support diversity within our workforce.
We regularly review our policies and practices from recruitment and selection to development and progression with an equity lens to ensure that everyone regardless of their gender, gender identity, ethnicity, race, age, ability, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, nationality, life circumstance or marital status have what they need to succeed and thrive at BMT.
We continuously promote diversity awareness throughout our organisation, through our employee learning and by recognising and celebrating our employees' contributions, diverse backgrounds, and life experiences. Furthermore, we actively encourage everyone to improve the workplace and work together against harassment, bullying and discrimination.
We're continually playing an active part in projects that make this a rewarding and fulfilling place to work.
We are dedicated to improving the development of women in leadership, and the BMT Consulting Women Programme is just one example of that dedication in action. Designed to increase the presence and representation of women in leadership positions within our organisation, it has helped equip those that attend with the skills and competencies they need as they mature their careers and progress to more senior roles. Personal development is central to the programme, with participants being helped to understand and apply their unique strengths to their teams and increase their individual impact.
"Everyone leads from a different set of personal strengths; I have a far greater appreciation and confidence in my strengths to lead and help others."
"Gained an in-depth understanding of my core strengths that helped reinstate my confidence in myself and learnt the approach of focusing on utilising them to excel in life."
Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) is an initiative designed to enable and energise people in business, industry, and education to increase women's participation, contribution, and success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). WISE offers best-in-class expert support services to organisations that aim to improve their gender balance, including engagement and advancement of women.
We’re proud to be signatories of the Women in Defence Charter, dedicated to equal opportunity in the defence and security industries. Since its inception in 2011, it has made a concerted effort to make defence a better place for women. It has grown into a community that celebrates and recognises the achievements of individuals, teams and organisations working in the security of the UK. As signatories, we’re committed to driving inclusion and diversity within our organisation and providing opportunities for women to succeed at all levels.
We’re committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels welcome and can give their best. We believe in our responsibility to improve our gender diversity and close the gender pay gap. That’s why we produce regular gender pay gap reports, and we invest in initiatives that encourage greater diversity in our professions.
The gender pay gap is an equality measure that shows the difference in average earnings between women and men. Introduced in 2017, the UK government requires employers with a headcount of 250 employees or more, including the public sector, to publish their gender pay gap and gender bonus gap annually. This is a mandatory requirement that forms part of the Gender Pay Gap Regulations, otherwise known as the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. In the UK, Defence and Security UK Limited (DAS UK) is the only legal entity that meet the reporting requirements, and here we share with you their latest report.
We know that being able to bring your whole self to work leads to better performance and increases the cultural health of a company – especially for people who identify as LGBTQ+ who can find it exhausting and disempowering to be constricted to social norms. Despite this, inequalities for LGBTQ+ individuals persist in every corner of society. At BMT, we champion better LGBTQ+ inclusion, here are just a few examples of how we do this.
Prism is our network for LGBTQ+ colleagues and their allies. Its purpose is to provide support, connection and challenge for our organisation and our colleagues, to be a critical friend in the awareness and promotion of LGBTQ+ issues, and to encourage us to demonstrate our values through our behaviours.
They continually support us, our colleagues and our leaders with advice and access to resources and feedback on LGBTQ+ affecting issues and to demonstrate that we value the LGBTQ+ community. Thanks to their help, we can connect with colleagues, peer companies and external organisations to provide networking and peer support, and we continually challenge ourselves to positively influence behaviours, policies and processes across the group, and to advocate for LGBT inclusion.
Justin Beattie - Leading Consultant and Prism Chair
I chair Prism, BMT's network for LGBTQ+ colleagues and their allies. Prism provides support, connection and challenge, and it is a critical friend to BMT in the awareness and promotion of LGBTQ+ issues. It encourages BMT to demonstrate its values through its behaviours. Helping to create an inclusive culture is of central importance to me. Coming out to myself, family, colleagues and more widely whilst with BMT has given me some insight into the challenges this brings.
I am very pleased to be the Executive Committee sponsor for Prism. Ensuring an inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ employees across the globe is an integral part of our global diversity, equity and inclusion strategy. Prism plays an important role in creating a friendly community where individuals are comfortable being together and being themselves.
Gudrun Neumann - Global People Director
We’re proud to partner with Stonewall’s mission to help create real change for the better for LGBTQ+ people, and we support their work to help gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning and ace people around the world know that they're not alone.
As part of our commitment to creating an LGBTQ+ inclusive workplace, we’ve joined Stonewall’s Global Diversity Champions programme, which gives us the tools we need to take a strategic and structured approach to LGBTQ+ equality initiatives globally.
The YPN is more than just a network. It’s an integrated global community of engaged, well-informed and aspiring young professionals who work collaboratively to shape the future of BMT. It provides the opportunity to connect with other ambitious colleagues working globally in different sectors. It also offers the chance to cross-learn and take advantage of what’s working well for other members, develop each others’ understanding across technical disciplines and collaborate effectively to share experience and learning of good project management.
To qualify as a Young Professional, you’ll need to be working within the first three years of your first profession. The YPN is the perfect next step for Young Professionals to enhance their skills and knowledge gained throughout BMT’s Global Graduate and Apprentice Programme. YPN also offers members the opportunity to participate in the Young Professionals’ Global Event, where they can exchange ideas, build a community with other young BMT professionals, expand their support network and meet with campaign sponsors. You’ll need to be committed to the YPN throughout your 2-year membership and devote time to actively advocating for it. Still, more importantly, you’ll need to be willing and able to make a defined and ongoing contribution to a Strategic Campaign or BMT Together Transformation Workstream Campaign and a Local or Regional Campaign.
Our Global Graduate & Apprentice Programme comprises nine core modules that will support you all to develop your core business skills and focus on developing specific technical competencies. The modules will help you develop and improve skills such as consultancy, project management, or presentation.
We have a proud history of working with the military in supporting ex-service personnel in making the transition into civilian life. We also support reservists, both for ongoing training commitments and operational deployment.
We recognise the skills and value that veterans can bring to an organisation and, to that end, have recently signed up to be a supporter of the ‘Veterans’ Employment Commitment’ scheme in Australia. This is our public declaration of our intention to help veterans with employment opportunities within the business.
We have also signed the Armed Forces Covenant in the UK. In 2020, we won a Gold award for our support of the Armed Forces and for aligning our values with the covenant.
We recognise the leadership and technical skills that military personnel develop during their service - such as problem-solving and working under pressure - prepare them for our business environment, and we are proud to count them among our employees.
Here’s how we recognised Armed Forces Day in the UK.
Designed for anyone involved in recruiting new employees to our teams. , this online module lasts 30 minutes and covers the essential skills required for effective recruitment, different approaches and methods to consider when recruiting new employees, and the concept of unconscious bias.
Our diversity and inclusion strategy is centred around four pillars, the first of which is to “Embed Diversity and Inclusion into our business”. We have formed regional employee-led D&I forums which challenge the status quo, raise awareness and cultivate ideas on actions for areas where D&I is absent.
The Employee Engagement Group (EEG) works to facilitate effective two-way dialogue between the Executive Committee, the Main Board and Trustees of BMT and all employees. It aims to achieve a better-engaged workforce by providing trusted means for employees to express their views, ideas and concerns at the highest level of the organisation.