Diversity and inclusion

Promoting equality of opportunity for all staff and ensuring an inclusive workplace creates the right culture for Tarmac.

Diversity is a term that sums up the ways people differ. These layers of difference give individuals a unique perspective, whether through visible differences like age, gender, ethnicity and appearance or underlying differences like belief systems, religion, nationality, sexual orientation and education. We aim to create an environment where people feel involved and respected. We want to use the richness of our people’s ideas, backgrounds and perspectives to develop a creative and innovative culture that appeals to customers and prospective employees alike.

Our policies uphold these principles and we also support the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Rights at Work. We oppose and aim to eliminate all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination on the grounds of a person’s race or ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, belief or age.

We want to attract and retain the best people to work at Tarmac, and we believe that the best way to achieve this is by reflecting the full diversity of society and the communities where we work. We’re committed to equal opportunities at all levels of our business, both at recruitment stage and through opportunities for promotion and development.

We are working to embed a culture of performance management. This approach provides opportunities for employees and managers to discuss performance, opportunities for development and a chance to raise any issues or concerns. We are committed to treating each employee fairly and consistently, responding to their needs and supporting their career progression.

During 2011, the governance bodies of Tarmac and Tarmac Building Products comprised ten individuals, including two females. All are classed as having a white racial background, with 90% of these individuals falling in the 30–50 age group, and 10% falling in the 50+ age group.

In 2011, 83.3% of UK employees were male and 16.7% were female, a slight increase in the proportion of females compared to 2010. We try to recruit locally so that our business at each site reflects the diversity of the local population. We do not currently collect comprehensive information on our employees’ ethnic backgrounds, although we are now in the process of initiating this information gathering and will be able to report back on our progress at the end of 2012.

Our actions

Diverse and inclusive culture

At Tarmac, our efforts to promote a diverse and inclusive workforce go beyond complying with all relevant equality legislation. In 2011, we developed a new Diversity and Inclusion Framework as part of our HR policies, which describes how we embed the principles of equality and diversity into everything we do. We value people’s differences and our diverse culture means we respond to challenges more effectively as individuals, as communities, and as a business.

Our goals are to:

encourage a diverse workforce that reflects broadly the communities in which we work
ensure we are a fair employer, achieving equality of opportunity where people are rewarded based on merit
identify and address any barriers to diversity and inclusion within our organisation
attract and retain a talented workforce that treats each other and the wider community with respect and dignity
create programmes and services that continue to meet our employees’ needs
communicate a clear commitment to diversity and inclusion to existing and new staff, along with the actions we aim to take as an employer.

Our approach covers: