Alstom’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion recognised at Women in Rail Awards

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team Award

The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team Award credited Alstom with the tangible and positive effects its efforts have had among its workforce – and beyond.

The judges said: “Alstom’s leadership recognised its culture wasn’t creating the desired diverse and representative-balanced workforce. They listened, learned from, nurtured, and empowered Alstom’s ‘quiet voices’ to create and embed an inclusive and flexible culture; creating four employee networks with voices of Women, Disability, Cultural Diversity and Pride+.”

During the last year, Alstom has implemented widespread equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) training that was attended by over 2,100 employees across the UK and Ireland; taken its ‘Be the U in inclUsive’ roadshow to the majority of the company’s 37 sites across the two countries; and has demonstrated improvements in increasing the number of female employees.

Social Value Award

Earlier in the evening, Alstom was also handed the Social Value Award. The judges said: “Alstom has created and embedded an agile, inclusive and responsible culture committed to delivering social and environmental value for communities, employees, and customers. Alongside its Community Project Fund, it focuses on tackling social inequality, driving equal opportunity, improving health and wellbeing, and fighting climate change.”

Last month, Alstom announced ten charities and community-led projects in the UK and Ireland which are now benefitting from its 2023 Community Project Fund (CPF). Alstom employees are also being encouraged to use their annual volunteering day to offer additional support to the beneficiaries.

Elsewhere, Alstom’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) ambassadors and school outreach programme have helped 9,000 students in deprived areas in the last year alone.

Highly Commended – Best Training or Development Programme Award

Alstom was also Highly Commended by Women in Rail for its ‘Springboard’ initiative as part of the Best Training or Development Programme Award. Springboard is a bespoke development programme that encourages and supports women to compete for senior-level positions across Alstom UK and Ireland.

“The recognition from Women in Rail is a testament to the hard work and dedication of teams across our three businesses in the UK and Ireland – rolling stock, train services, and digital and integrated systems. For example, our bespoke development programme, Springboard, has been completed by more than 40% of women at Alstom, with recruitment and retention rates increasing across the board,” said Charlotte Briers, Rolling Stock Performance Lead, and Voices of Women Chair at Alstom.

The Women in Rail Awards 2024 was attended by over 780 individuals from across the British rail industry, coming together to celebrate colleagues, teams and companies, who work hard to support others and to help create a more gender-balanced, diverse and inclusive work culture in the industry.

Inclusive

As the country’s foremost supplier of new trains and train services, and a leading signalling and infrastructure provider, Alstom is committed to being a fully inclusive organisation.

In 2017, Alstom launched its biannual EDI census to identify improvement areas in the UK and Ireland. From the findings, the company developed and delivered the Alstom8 workshops to raise awareness and give practical advice on how to successfully drive inclusivity in the workplace. Alongside this, its four ‘Voices of’ groups – Women, Pride+, Cultural Diversity and Disability – help to share lived experiences; challenge groupthink in its strategy and policies; have oversight of relevant key performance indicators (KPIs); and act as ambassadors.

Meanwhile, Women in Rail was founded in 2012 to improve diversity in the UK rail industry through providing networking opportunities and support for all women within the sector, encourage undertakings and stakeholders to adopt diversity as a business strategy and devising initiatives aimed at positioning rail as an attractive career choice for young people.

“I am proud to be carrying on the journey started by visionary, Adeline Ginn MBE, who established the Women in Rail charity over a decade ago to improve sector diversity by supporting women across the industry,” said Marie Daly, Chair of Women in Rail, and Chief Customer and Culture Officer at Transport for Wales.

The Women in Rail Awards 2024 took place on Thursday 16 May at the Roundhouse, a Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London. The event was hosted by Reverend Canon Kate Bottley, vicar, journalist, media presenter and reality television star.

Alstom submitted 16 entries to the Women in Rail Awards 2024 and were shortlisted in eight categories.

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