Huws Gray, one of our Strategic Partners, shares the work they’ve done as part of the Built on Better Pledge to increase awareness, improve education and measure their progress in their organisation.
The Huws Gray Group is one of the UK’s leading independent building merchants and specialist distribution businesses.
Founded in 1990 from a single branch in Anglesey, the Group has rapidly expanded over the past 30 years through organic growth and acquisitions. The Group operates at over 300 trading and distribution locations and employ c.5,000 colleagues.
The Huws Gray Group had no common approach or language around EDI and leaders lacked awareness of the more recent evolution of this important topic.
It’s well known that the construction industry has some sizeable challenges so the Huws Gray Group recognised that focusing on EDI not only could offer a wider talent pool through greater inclusion, it would also afford a greater opportunity for growth through diversity of thinking.
So, the Group started at the top by raising awareness through education.
Huws Gray Group partnered with a specialist EDI lawyer and designed a training programme (a blend of e-learning and face to face workshops) and rolled this out, firstly to the 60 most senior leaders and then to all people managers across the Group. The intention is to roll out a version of this training to all colleagues.
Training topics included the benefits of promoting EDI, unconscious bias, equality versus equity and banter.
Leadership discussions were particularly engaging, lively, educational and sometimes challenging and ‘eye opening’. Whilst the Group are still in the early days on their culture journey, the objective of building awareness and EDI education has certainly started.
In their most recent engagement survey results, 76% of Huws Gray Group colleagues responded that ‘I can be myself around here’, with all demographics indicating good levels of ‘I get fair treatment’.
If you want to be part of the solution to build a better construction industry, please get in touch here.
