EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY
Cranswick recognises the potential benefits of bringing together a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences and is pursuing the development of a diverse workforce that is representative of all sections of society. Our Group Diversity Policy requires that all appointments, including recruitments and internal promotions, are based on merit, qualification and abilities, and are not influenced or affected by race, colour, nationality, religion or belief, gender, marital status or civil partnership, family status, pregnancy or maternity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, disability or age. The policy applies at all levels across the Group, including the Board and its Committees. Our recruitment practices are designed to eliminate bias and discrimination, which includes how and where we recruit colleagues and ensuring our recruitment materials and interview practices are inclusive.
The Committee considered the 2023 Parker Review’s recommendation that companies voluntarily establish a percentage target relating to ethnic diversity for senior management to be achieved by 2027. We recognise that our current senior management team and their immediate reports are not ethnically diverse, and we are therefore not in a position to set meaningful ethnic diversity targets based on our existing succession pipeline. Over the longer-term this is being addressed through our recruitment and graduate programme supplemented by external recruitment, however, this is not anticipated to have a significant impact on the senior management team within the reporting horizon anticipated by the Parker Review. The Group is taking steps to address this and to encourage an inclusive culture ensuring race equality is embedded into our vision, mission, values and business plan which will support the development of a more diverse senior management team.
During 2023, the Committee also considered UK Government guidance released relating to ethnicity pay gap reporting in relation to which the Committee also engaged with a number of shareholder action groups. The Group has historically collected data relating to its workforce by reference to nationality and therefore does not currently have sufficient relevant data to enable reliable ethnicity reporting to be undertaken. However, we are in the process of introducing new HR systems across the Group’s sites that will enable the capture of such data across the workforce, which it is anticipated will be largely completed during the next financial year, following which it is anticipated that ethnicity pay gap reporting will be undertaken. It will also enable us to identify any structural and cultural barriers that may contribute to maintaining any workplace inequalities, which will be combined with a greater focus on diversity in our staff surveys to gain a greater understanding of colleague’s opinions. The Group will also be introducing compulsory diversity, equality and inclusion training for all staff to underpin our commitment to increasing our diversity.
The gender breakdown of the Group’s workforce is set out on page 102. The proportion of females overall and in graduate and apprentice positions remained largely static over the last 12 months, with an exception of manager positions, where the distribution has improved year-on-year. We recognise we need to do more to ensure a better gender balance and are addressing this through the introduction of more flexible working practices, provision of enhanced maternity pay, standing by our commitments in our Gender Pay Gap report, working closely with external organisations providing support, development and mentoring opportunities to female colleagues and introducing initiatives to reduce female health inequalities.
Our sector has historically had low levels of ethnic and female participation in management in the geographic regions in which we operate. Whilst we have been actively taking steps to promote greater diversity including through our recruitment and our graduate programme, this represents a longer-term approach which will result in improvement over time as careers develop and our colleagues move into more senior management positions. We have also explained on page 54 of the Strategic Report various further measures we are undertaking to encourage diversity, which apply across the Group at all levels, including senior management.
Details of Board and executive management diversity are set out at the end of this report in accordance with Listing Rule requirements. The Listing Rules also require that companies explain where they do not meet the following targets:
- At least 40 per cent of the Board are women.
- At least one senior Board position (Chair, Chief Executive, Senior Independent Director, Chief Financial Officer) is a woman.
- At least one Board member is from an ethnic minority background.
Cranswick does not meet the target relating to women on the Board (where following Rachel Howarth’s appointment, 33 per cent of the Board will be women). Whilst we have made significant progress over recent years in relation to diversity on the Board and other senior positions across the Group, we recognise that there remains more to achieve.
The Nomination Committee considers that diversity can strengthen the Board and that it is important that the Board is not made up exclusively of like-minded individuals with similar backgrounds. Whilst management appointments will continue to be made on the basis of merit, without the adoption of specific diversity targets, the Group recognises the potential benefits of a more diverse management and has a policy of increasing diversity at all levels. The Board remains mindful of the need to promote wider forms of diversity when considering future appointments to the Board and Senior Management.
Successful delivery of the Group’s strategy and planned growth depends on the recruitment and retention of a motivated and skilled workforce in an increasingly competitive and mobile labour market. The Board recognises that broadening diversity to ensure that our workforce is more reflective of society maximises our available talent pool and the attractiveness of a career with the Group both at a senior level and more generally.
Our Gender Pay Gap report's can be found below:
