Bechtel, one of the world’s leading engineering and construction companies, has won one of the top diversity awards in the U.K. The U.S.-based company was presented with the WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) Employer Award by Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, at a ceremony in London last week, fending off stiff competition. The award recognizes Bechtel’s systematic approach to tackling diversity and inclusion on multiple levels within its organization.
“Bechtel now employs more than twice the number of women engineers than the UK average,” said Ailie MacAdam, regional manager for infrastructure, Europe and Africa, at Bechtel. “Almost 40% of Bechtel’s engineers on the Crossrail project in London are women, and, more importantly, we have agreed what success looks like when it comes to diversity of our teams going forward,”
“Bechtel was recognized for the way it has embedded its business case and its targets for change throughout the organization,” said Sarah Shaw, communications director, WISE. “We hope that by winning this award Bechtel will inspire its industry peers to achieve similar success.”
In 2013, Bechtel launched Women@Bechtel, a global collaborative forum for both men and women to share perspectives and experiences as well as learn about tools for success. The group has carried out a Six Sigma data analysis of all its gender data and led a number of strategic initiatives to share learning and good practice; to retain and develop women; and to sponsor female talent and increase the transparency of opportunities for career growth.
Recent events have included speed mentoring; the ‘10 lunch’ initiative, in which senior managers have lunch with small groups of employees to share ideas and concerns; and a ‘Family Matters’ event to tackle the challenges of women returning to work.
With a family heritage of more than 100 years, San Francisco-based Bechtel is guided by firmly-held values that encourage an inclusive culture based on diverse backgrounds, experience, and views. The WISE ‘Employer of the Year’ Award follows previous diversity awards won by Bechtel, including ‘Best Diversity Company’, awarded by Engineering & Information Technology magazine in 2011 for the third consecutive year.
