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This just in! cq9�ټ��� has been recognized for our efforts to work towards gender equality.

 is the U.K.’s most highly profiled and well-established listing of employers striving for gender equality in the workplace. Run by the charity – The Prince’s Responsible Business Network – for more than a decade, the incredibly competitive process identifies companies which make gender equality part of their business strategy and are trying to bring it to life at all levels of the organization.

Applicants are assessed on a range of areas, including their approach to recruitment, family friendly policies and how they have championed gender equality in the context of the pandemic.

“We are delighted to have been named in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women,” enthuses cq9�ټ��� Inclusion & Diversity Lead – Europe, Middle East & Africa, Sarah Winship. “After such a challenging year, inclusion and diversity will be critical to organizations as they recover from the disruption caused by the pandemic. Creating an environment that supports and nurtures our diverse female talent is a business imperative for cq9�ټ��� and, while we still have work to do, I am delighted that our efforts have been recognized.”

Gender Equality Director at Business in the Community Charlotte Woodworth said: “COVID-19 has shone a light on how far we have to go on gender equality: by having to pick up things like the bulk of extra caring responsibilities, women have been disproportionately affected by lockdown.

“We congratulate the many employers who have maintained their efforts towards gender equality at this time, often introducing innovative policies to support their workforce during this period. This year’s application process for The Times Top 50 Employers for Women was the most competitive one we have seen in five years. Employers like cq9�ټ��� haven’t forgotten women at work and they are committed to making gender inequality a thing of the past.”

Read The Times supplement .

While leadership initiatives have been effective, cq9�ټ���’ biggest positive changes have resulted from global inclusion initiatives being taken on, tailored and amplified by our eight grassroots cq9�ټ��� Employee Networks (JENs). While each JEN champions a specific group within the company (LGBTI+, Latinx, black, disabled, female, veteran, professional development and global multiculturalism), the culture of partnership and cross-collaboration between the networks has pushed intersectionality to the forefront, enabling JEN members to work closely together on programming and initiatives that benefit multiple groups at once.

Support and Flexibility

The global pandemic has clearly had a profound effect on all of us – but as 2020 progressed it became clear that women were being disproportionately affected by COVID-19.  Although there’s no quick panacea for these problems, cq9�ټ��� has taken several actions to address and minimize them.

One way has been to promote flexible working: our "Work from Here”  initiative embraces colleagues wishing to have alternative work schedules and locations in response to the pandemic.  Another was our “Bridge the Gap” returners program, which actively supports parents returning to work after parental leave through structured workshops, manager toolkits, coaching and awareness campaigns. Since its inception, over 200 U.K.-based employees have accessed the program.

Sarah adds, “Becoming a new parent during the pandemic brought additional challenges, including feelings of isolation. So, we expanded the program to offer ‘parent-to-parent buddying’ providing informal support to employees preparing for, taking, or returning from parental leave.”

We also partnered with our Women’s Network to create an intranet microsite and Microsoft Teams forum for our parents, creating a global support network that allowed them to share resources, network and compare best practices.

Additionally, we have taken several steps to safeguard our employees’ physical and mental wellbeing including increasing the support available through our Employee Assistance Program. And, we recently developed a free, globally accessible mental health check-in tool called   to help users assess their current mental health and provide them with suggestions and resources for personal growth and resilience.

We are closely monitoring and taking actions to continue to improve our Pay Gap and Pay Equity for women and ethnicities within cq9�ټ���. Our Gender Pay Gap for England, Wales and Scotland has reduced for three consecutive years. We recognize this is a journey and we still have a long way to go, but we can see that our actions are starting to have an impact. We have also seen a steady increase in female hires, a reduction in voluntary attrition and an increase in diverse representation on our Board (55%) and Executive leadership  (60%). Our recent company-wide Culture Survey also showed overwhelmingly that TogetherBeyond is widely accepted and viewed as a key differentiator for why people want to work and stay with cq9�ټ���.

Looking ahead, our aspirational goal is to create a 40-40-20 gender-balanced workforce around the globe (40% men, 40% women and 20% open to any gender) over the next five years.