Portsmouth Water signs up to Sector’s Inclusion Commitment

As an organisation, we are proud to announce that we have signed up to the Energy and Utility Sector’s Inclusion Commitment. Evidence shows the sector is not yet representative of the UK workforce for gender,
BAME, disability, and under 24s. Only 5% of the sector’s employees are from black, Asian or minority ethnic groups compared to 15% nationally. Most of the sector’s workforce is male and white.

Facing this challenge, the sector have committed to proactively changing these statistics and promote their businesses to under-represented talent. Leveraging its collective impact, the partnership is committed to working across all sectors to recruit and attract a workforce that mirrors and speaks to the communities it serves. Through its work, the Energy & Utilities Skills Partnership and the CEO’s, will build on the work
already being done by the sector as well as continuing to drive change through its ongoing commitment to inclusive attraction, recruitment, and development of its workforce.

By signing up to The Inclusion Commitment, we commit to:

• Ensuring the Energy and Utilities sector workforce is inclusive and diverse
• Being inclusive enables our sector to attract and retain the diverse talent that is crucial to ensuring a resilient workforce.
• Being inclusive will help us to be more innovative and achieve greater productivity by adapting to our changing environment.
• Having a diverse workforce ensures we are reflective and inclusive of the customers and communities we serve.

On signing up to the Inclusion Commitment Bob Taylor, CEO of Portsmouth Water said, “I am delighted to add our name to the EU Skills Partnership Inclusion Commitment. It is important that as we drive towards a stronger social purpose within our sector we have a diverse and talented workforce that truly represents the communities we serve. It is incumbent on all of us in the industry to work together to ensure we are truly representative of our communities. I want people to be proud to work for Portsmouth Water and equally be part of a community that is proud to have Portsmouth Water as its water supplier – supporting this Inclusion Commitment will help us achieve that.”

More information about the Inclusion Commitment can be found by visiting www.euskills.co.uk/the-sectors-inclusion-commitment/