Celebrating a year of our Employee Networks to support our diversity and inclusion plans

Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) is something we take extremely seriously at Stagecoach. We know that diverse teams are more effective, and we pride ourselves on having an inclusive family-like culture with a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve. That’s why I was so pleased when we introduced our six new employee networks in August last year. The aim of these groups is to help us create a more inclusive workplace, with each employee network made up of a mix of employees from different parts of our business to promote the causes and educate others on the importance of diversity.   

Our employee networks each have online discussion forums, plan regular events with communications going out to the business either monthly or quarterly and have champions and allies allowing our people to be as involved as they want or equally be an ally to the group without being involved in the day to day the running of the networks. Our network leads each meet monthly to update each other on their progress, successes and lessons learned.  

Not only have the networks had to start from scratch, building their member numbers, creating their own aims and objectives and creating a ripple of change throughout the business, they have all had real successes in the last year with new initiatives, developed by our people that are being rolled out internally and in our communities.  

Here’s some of the amazing things our networks have achieved over the past 12 months: 

Women@Stagecoach has made great progress so far, with networking events along with podcasts on diversity and inclusion. One of their major successes has been working with the business to develop a new policy that will enable all women going through a miscarriage to have an additional three days paid leave– we know how traumatic this can be and this is an important way we can support our colleagues. The women’s network has also helped to drive forward updates to  family friendly policies such as maternity, paternity and adoption leave to give those starting a family improved benefits. They’ve done this all whilst giving employees a voice and helping with two-way communication within our business so that we can better understand how our people think and feel.  

Our Veterans network has equally achieved a lot this year, the main success being a positive business case to give free travel to military and ex-military on Remembrance Day and Armed Forces Weekend, allowing those who have served our country to travel to the Remembrance services for free on our buses across the UK. We also proudly received a bronze employer award from the Armed Forces Covenant this year, showing our support as an Armed Forces employer. The benefits of these successes can be seen from network members feeling they are part of the military family again with an open forum to discuss what they have all been through, as well as demonstrating our support to the community with our Poppy branded buses running up and down the country.  

Lee Docherty, Minister for Defence, People and Veterans and Johnny Mercer, Cabinet Member and MP for Veterans have both praised the work of the network, with the leads each receiving a letter and video call to congratulate them on their efforts.  

Our Parents network has some exciting plans for the coming months, such as sharing helpful tips for internet safety as schools return. Over October half term, they plan to share a Parents Network cookbook to help bring some inspiration to mealtimes. Later in the year the network aims to raise awareness on bullying and how to support a child who is being bullied.  

Our largest employee network group is the LGBT+ network who has been visiting Pride events up and down the country this year with our 12 branded Pride buses, raising awareness of our progress towards full inclusivity. The network has a strong community feel with an active online networking group where people can ask for help and support, for either themselves, their colleagues, or friend and family members who might be struggling to be their true selves in sexuality and gender identity.  

The carers network and multi-cultural networks are working hard to increase their membership through frequent internal communications, raising awareness of both groups and the difficulties they face whilst aiming to challenge the status quo and get our people thinking about the benefits diversity and inclusion brings. Our carers network also have big plans for the year ahead and are working towards Carer Confident Accreditation and the Carer Friendly Employee Award schemes. 

The networks have made great progress so far and it is testament to the hard work and determination of our people to create an inclusive company that welcomes talented individuals, helping them to develop and to be the best they can be, whoever they are and wherever they’re from. 

However, we know that there is still work to do and as part of our wider business strategy, we are targeting 40% of females in leadership roles and ensuring that 25% of the wider workforce is made up of ethnic minorities by 2026. These targets will help to make sure that we continue this positive journey and play our part in helping to transform diversity in the transport sector.