Leading contract caterer Elior UK has announced new objectives to support its ‘Celebrating Equality’ initiative and speed up its progress around gender diversity.
By 2025, the UK Board has committed to ensuring its leadership team is more representative of gender diversity across the workforce.
Elior UK has set three key objectives:
1. Increase the number of female chefs at all levels within Elior UK to 49% by 2025 and 53% by 2030.
2. Increase the number of females in middle/senior management positions within the Head Office to 50% by 2025 and 55% by 2030.
3. Increase the number of females on the UK Leadership Team to 50% by 2025 and 62.5% by 2030.
This pledge comes at a time when research suggests more women in the workforce have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. A Mckinsey report, published last year, found globally women’s job losses due to Covid-19 are 1.8 times greater than men’s.
Justin Jonson, HR Director at Elior UK, said, “Whilst we recognise the value of diversity and have always tried to create a truly inclusive culture where people are valued for their contribution, we recognise we have more work to do.
'This is why we are making a commitment to speed up progress with regards to gender diversity and have created a comprehensive plan to make this happen.”
Elior UK is introducing a number of initiatives to support the career development of women at every level of the business. A new coaching and mentorship programme has been created to support employees throughout the organisation with a focus on identifying future female leaders.
Leni Savva, Chief Financial Officer and Gender Diversity Sponsor, said, “I am delighted to be part of the gender equality initiative to drive change and excited to be working with the team to introduce a new mentoring programme to support female colleagues.
'There is so much great work happening across the business, it is now about how we communicate this and making sure we provide the right level of support employees so that they can progress their careers.”
