Introduction
Our purpose is simple.
Nobody ever goes home after a working day and feels that they have been discriminated against or treated unfairly.
At Novus, we take our commitment to achieving this purpose seriously. Without action nothing will change. Our strategy focuses solely on Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (EDIB) and is a call to action for all our colleagues. It will hold every one of us to account against our commitments so that improvements for all are achieved.
Our focused commitments to achieve our purpose are:
1. Everyone is included and will feel able to be themselves
2. We will actively champion diversity, inclusion and belonging
3. We will enhance education and development opportunities that support everyone
The challenge ahead should not be underestimated. Our intention is that all our colleagues will feel they belong at Novus and that they are welcome as part of our family.
We will make improvements and influence those who work with us, alongside us, or that we work in partnership with, to achieve our purpose.
Our ‘Without U there is NO US’ strategy is the bedrock of our commitment to ensuring EDIB is at the heart of our business.
With that in mind I would remind everyone that writing this strategy alone will not make it happen. Every colleague at Novus has a role to play in making this a success. Whether for themselves, a colleague, a customer, or supplier, I ask we all make a personal commitment to get involved at every opportunity.
To demonstrate my commitment, I will regularly review progress with the Novus Board and Seddon Family Shareholders to ensure that we can look back with confidence that we took the necessary steps that improved Novus for everyone and drew us closer to achieving our purpose.
Steve Davies Chief Executive Officer
2 Inclusion Strategy
Working together to build a stronger sense of inclusion
To create an Inclusion strategy that drives our purpose we sought feedback and ideas from a number of colleagues from across the business, through the following methods:
Feedback
All colleagues were invited to provide feedback anonymously through a survey and open questionnaire.
Management Meetings
A number of meetings with management teams to understand key challenges and required approach.
Focus Groups
Three focus groups attended by volunteer colleagues to explore ideas and identify key themes.
Colleague Meetings
Meetings with our colleague network groups to understand challenges to their ‘sense of belonging’.
Novus Board Meeting
A meeting with the Novus Board to identify commitments and purpose.
This strategy marks the start of a clear and comprehensive plan that will drive forward all elements of EDIB, whilst also recognising achievements to date.
Our achievements so far can be seen on the following pages. This strategy concludes with our actions and targets that will enable our commitments to be achieved.
3 Inclusion Strategy
Our internal challenges and areas of action:
By implementing this ‘Without U There is No Us’ strategy we will address the following challenges:
Our colleagues do not represent the diversity found in society
We do not have a robust process for capturing diversity related data
40% of colleagues do not positively feel a sense of belonging
We do not have consistent opportunities for colleagues to challenge decisions or to share their views / feedback
Development and education opportunities are not targeted or adjusted to support individual needs
Our overall success will be measured by the following targets in the identified areas.
>10%
decrease below 10%
Our colleagues’ belonging score is at least 80%
4 Inclusion Strategy
Female Ethnic Minority LGBTQ+ People with disabilities 20%* 2.22%* 0.39%* 5.22%** Today 2026 35% 10% 5% 7% *Information from HR system. **self-identified by colleagues through diversity survey.
Our median gender pay gap will
80%
Our Measures of Success Now vs 2026
The charts below show our targets for improvement in each of these areas.
5 Pre 2021 2021 2022 Inclusion Strategy Our Achievements so far Pre 2021 Setting a Vision and creating Values Building a legacy where people can live, work and thrive
Our Achievements so far
2021
Women in Novus (WiN) Network established Established as our first colleague networking group, the WiN network enables colleagues from across the company to come together to discuss the challenges that the women in our business face and focusses on implementing strategies to effectively overcome them.
Enhanced Family Friendly Policies & Inclusion Policy
Our Inclusion policy was launched. In addition a full review was also undertaken of all our People policies to remove bias. We enhanced our Family Friendly terms, supporting colleagues starting families with improved payment terms for maternity, paternity, surrogacy, and adoption leave.
Hybrid Working
As a business, we identified many key roles which could be undertaken in a form of hybrid-working, mixing in-office and at-home working. We consulted with our colleagues and developed new policies to support this type of working, where possible.
Competency Framework
Implemented business wide to create clarity around expectations in roles and a clear pathway for progression for every colleague.
Apprentice Recruitment
We successfully recruited 17 apprentices into a variety of disciplines in both our Operational and Central Support locations.
External Commitments
Signed the Inspiring Women in Construction Industry Pledge
Corporate Social Responsibility
Through our Build Back Better campaign we supported Mosaic LGBT+ Young Persons’ Trust, a Greater London charity offering a range of services to support members of the LGBT+ community and their families by completing improvement works to their community centre.
6 Inclusion Strategy
Pre 2021 2021 2022
Our Achievements so far
2022
Recruitment
All hiring managers were trained on inclusive hiring practices and potential barriers to applications were reduced by ensuring gender neutral language in our advertisements. In addition we have also included a statement on all job adverts to encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds. In 2022 we successfully recruited 19 apprentices into a variety of disciplines in both our Operational and Central Support locations.
Employee Voice
Colleagues told us twice whether they felt like they had a sense of belonging at Novus. The result was targeted and reviewed by the Board.
Data
We reviewed our colleague diversity data, understanding their differences based on information we had available to us and also by providing colleagues with the opportunity to share their differences through an anonymous questionnaire.
Gender Pay Gap
Our Gender Pay gap reduced to 17.8% mean and 12% median (April 2022 report).
Communication
We celebrated National Inclusion Week internally with an identified activity for each day, encouraging colleagues to get involved.
Colleague Network Groups
Four new Board Sponsored colleague network groups were launched based on colleague feedback. The groups are Disability, Carers, LGBTQ+ and Race focussed.
Learning and Development
We launched three new development programmes for our leaders. We ended 2022 by inviting all colleagues to further develop their EDI knowledge by undertaking eLearning.
External Commitments
Race - We signed the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter. Menopause - We implemented a menopause policy and signed the Menopause Workplace Pledge.
7 Inclusion Strategy
2021 2021 2022
Pre
1.
Everyone is included and will feel able to be themselves
Purpose
Nobody ever goes home after a working day and feels that they have been discriminated against or treated unfairly
Our Focussed Commitments
2.
We will actively champion diversity, inclusion and belonging
3.
We will enhance education and development opportunities that support everyone
8 Inclusion Strategy
1. Everyone is included and will feel able to be themselves
Our people will be empowered to take an active role in creating and shaping how it feels to work at Novus. Colleagues’ opinions, ideas and feedback will be actively listened to.
We will actively seek opportunities that show we care about each other and prioritise people through leading people-oriented policies and procedures, which are flexible and inclusive.
Everyone will be able to feel they can belong at Novus. Our people will be ambassadors of diversity and inclusion and we will support our colleagues to break down barriers and increase awareness.
We will create feedback channels that encourage our people to communicate with the business regularly. Our leaders will champion colleague voice and act upon feedback.
All colleague network groups will be Board sponsored and employee led to enable action and steer change to support minority group sense of belonging.
Our People policies will be reviewed annually to ensure they remain people oriented and industry leading.
Measures of Success:
80%
Our colleagues’ belonging score is at least 80%
Each business unit has a colleague engagement plan that prioritises inclusion
9 Inclusion Strategy
2. We will actively champion diversity, inclusion and belonging
The decisions we make will always be fair, and we will hold ourselves and our colleagues to account for our actions. This will include our recruitment decisions, which will always be transparent and ensure the right person joins our team.
How we give back to the communities we work in will be evident in every piece of work we complete. We will pride ourselves in our external memberships and pledge our support publicly to EDIB initiatives to promote positive change. We will continuously seek other opportunities to make a difference beyond the workplace, whether through charities or partnerships.
We will work within our industry to drive better inclusive practice through working together with our stakeholders. We will publish our intersectional data alongside action plans to encourage representation. We will work with our partners to ensure EDIB is a priority throughout all our interventions.
We will work in partnership with specialist organisations to support us to better represent people differences internally and will ensure that candidates can see themselves in the role they are applying for.
Our reward and recognition is fair and enables us to attract people to work for us.
Our colleagues are clear on their personal responsibilities for all inclusion related metrics.
Measures of Success:
Achieve Business in the Community’s Responsible Business Benchmarking Accreditation
The % of people applying for roles from minority groups increase year on year
10 Inclusion Strategy
3. We will enhance education and development opportunities that support everyone
Empowering our colleagues to continuously develop will require a comprehensive approach to learning and development that recognises differences. Ensure self-directed learning alongside tailored programmes of development accompanied by the provision of time, space, and resources to support all.
Colleagues will be able to see a career at Novus and will be given opportunities to access practical as well as developmental skills and education to support them both inside and outside of work.
Colleagues from minority groups will have access to mentors to support their development and to better build awareness of potential barriers.
Education opportunities will exist for all colleagues to support an increased understanding towards others differences.
All recruiting managers will be trained on inclusive recruitment methods, and we will ensure our recruitment practices will be open to all.
Measures of Success:
Year on Year increase in minority backgrounds colleagues accessing development opportunities
5%
5% increase in inclusion related training hours for all colleagues
11 Inclusion Strategy
PROUD OF OUR PROMISE
If you have any questions relating to this document or wish to know more, please do not hesitate to reach out to our People team
Email: HR@novussolutions.co.uk
