SSE, Severn Trent, United Utilities and Pennon Group have once again qualified for the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index in recognition of their policies and practices.
The index of 418 publicly-listed global companies was designed to bring transparency to in-house gender-related practices and policies.
SSE has made the list for five years, while United Utilities, Pennon and Severn Trent have all featured three times.
The Bloomberg framework scores companies across five key pillars: female leadership and talent pipeline, equal pay and gender pay parity, inclusive culture, anti-sexual harassment policies, and pro-women brand.
Bloomberg said the index increased the breadth and depth of environmental, social, governance (ESG) data available to investors.
United Utilities was also ranked on the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers 2022 last month at number 7 alongside UK Power Networks (#10), E On (#14) and Southern Water (#46). The Inclusive league table ranks best practice across all strands of diversity – age, disability, gender, LGBT, race, faith and religion. To earn a place on the list companies must submit data on their recruitment procedures, training and diversity-related initiatives.
“Traditionally, the utilities sector is male dominated and we want to attract diverse and talented individuals with an interest in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM),” said Julie McGovern, head of people at United Utilities.
“This year, we ranked number seven in the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers List 2021/22 which reflects our commitment to driving equality and providing diverse working environments for all those who join and work for us.
“We recognise that leaders have a clear role when it comes to championing diversity & inclusion. Our leadership team has taken an active part in sponsoring each of our employee networks – which support colleagues within under-represented communities. This ensures our senior managers are addressing topics such as disability, inclusion in the workplace and gender equality,” added Julie.
Last year a study by Energy & Utilities Skills (EUS) showed that utility companies continued to lag behind other UK sectors for diversity despite gains in recent years. Compared to other power and utility groups, the water sector had the highest number of women working in it at 29%. This left it behind the national average of 47% of women in the nation’s workforce as a whole.