National Highways, entrusted with the management and maintenance of the nation’s major roads and motorways, has been proactive in the realm of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I). With a workforce of over 6,000 employees, it is committed to fostering a more inclusive and diverse industry.
In 2021, in pursuit of furthering their industry-leading ED&I practices, National Highways approached the Supply Chain Sustainability School to develop and host a transport sector Diversity Data Collection Tool.
National Highways, entrusted with the management and maintenance of the nation’s major roads and motorways, has been proactive in the realm of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I). With a workforce of over 6,000 employees, it is committed to fostering a more inclusive and diverse industry.
In 2021, in pursuit of furthering their industry-leading ED&I practices, National Highways approached the Supply Chain Sustainability School to develop and host a transport sector Diversity Data Collection Tool.
Belinda Blake, Senior policy advisor (EDI) explained that National Highway’s main motivation in subscribing to the Tool was to track the evolution of their suppliers’ diversity year-on-year; helping to demonstrate the impact of their initiatives in creating a more inclusive industry.
Through increased collaboration with their suppliers and client peers, National Highways managed to create awareness of the importance of strong ED&I initiatives, enabling suppliers to target specific disparities in their organisations. In turn, this provided evidence of the real impact of these initiatives that could be reported on to internal stakeholders.
The ability to benchmark ED&I data via the Tools dashboards proves invaluable, providing crucial insights into industry trends. Privacy and security of sensitive data are of paramount importance to National Highways, and the tool facilitates the secure uploading and tracking of anonymised diversity data, granting National Highways a comprehensive overview of their supply chain’s diversity profile while respecting individual privacy and confidentiality.
