How Sodexo is breaking benchmarks for race & ethnic inclusion

Sodexo UK and Ireland has been named as one the Top 25 companies for race and ethnic inclusion in the workplace score as part of Investing in Ethnicity’s Maturity Matrix.

It is the first year it has been ranked in the Top 25 index, a benchmarking tool that assesses how organisations are progressing towards improving DEI within their organisations. We spoke to Raj Jones, head of diversity, equity and inclusion, Sodexo UK & Ireland, to find out what went right…

What specific initiatives or policies have been most instrumental in helping you achieve recognition in the Top 25 index?

The matrix provides us with a robust framework that helps to inform our strategy on developing our culture and inclusion and to measure impact.

With more than 150 nationalities within our workforce, it’s important that we create a culture where colleagues can belong, act and thrive. It’s therefore key to understand the make-up of our 30,000 strong employee workforce through voluntary workforce monitoring, and then using this data to understand if our workforce is representative of society in-line with UK census data.

Work on this area sits within our cultures and origins workstream, which has an executive sponsor who guides and champions our work to develop an inclusive culture.

We run regular listening sessions at our sites to understand employee experience and their perceptions, and invite their feedback on how we can do things differently to foster a positive culture where everyone feels they can belong, act, and thrive.

We work with a range of organisations such as the 10,000 Black interns programme, Aurora Foxes, Ways into Work, and DNS Project Search to offer supported work placements to break down the barriers for disadvantaged groups helping improve their employment prospects with valuable skills and experience.

We provide a number of supported work placements across the business. This forms part of our social recruitment strategy where we work with a number of external partners to support social mobility by improving access to opportunities as part of our commitment to providing inclusive workplaces.