What Diversity and Inclusion means to us

Our business and the service we provide to our customers is driven by our people. We simply couldn’t deliver what we do without the commitment and dedication of our staff.

Having a diverse range of employees is essential for us to grow as a business. We understand at c2c that our colleagues come from a variety of social, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Through this, they bring a wide range of views, opinions and experiences which allow us to identify and tackle any challenges/concerns/issues that may arise. In doing so, we gain an insight into how groups and individuals feel about certain topics. Which in turn will help us to continue striving to deliver a service that our customers and colleagues can be extremely proud of.

It is our mission to continue to develop a diverse workforce who bring a range of experiences and perspectives and promote a culture of inclusivity – where every employee feels able to bring their best self to work.

Our Aims

Through the introduction of our Diversity & Inclusion forum, represented by a diverse range of employees from across our business, we have set out 5 objectives that drive our overall purpose. These are:

  • We are committed to building an inclusive culture that is intolerant of discrimination, bullying and
    harassment
  • To role model an inclusive environment where every employee feels able to bring their best self to work and freely feel comfortable sharing their lived experiences
  • To continue building an inclusive workplace culture by tackling issues such as the underrepresentation of certain groups and stereotyping
  • To take positive action to develop and implement effective strategies and initiatives that ensure we
    achieve our D&I goals and objectives
  • To ensure that every individual at c2c feels represented and has a voice

Driving change

At c2c, we want to make sure everyone is on board and on the right track! We believe that educating ourselves and others is key to developing a greater level of awareness and understanding across our employee network.

That’s why we are:

  • Delivering diversity and inclusion training for all employees;
  • Celebrating diversity and inclusion within c2c throughout the year; inviting to staff to actively participate by sharing their knowledge and experiences;
  • Reviewing our policies and procedures relating to diversity and inclusion.

Laying new tracks for progress

We’re proud of our existing diversity at c2c and we have made significant progress over the last few years to become more reflective of the people and communities that we serve. However, we do recognise that there is still work to do for us to increase the representation of under-represented groups across our business.

We want to share and promote why we love working in our industry – so that we continue to encourage people from all walks of life to join us.

To continue to progress we aim to:

  • Raise awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion at c2c, both internally and externally
  • Increase the diversity of new entrants by implementing new strategies to attract individuals that are interested in working within the rail industry;
  • Set recruitment targets across roles within our business to challenge the status quo and to encourage greater diversity of recruitment – representative of our local demographics;
  • Promote our business and industry as a career choice to school/college/university leavers;
  • Continue to promote and encourage the development of our existing colleagues who want to progress in their career;
  • Explore and understand any potential barriers that may currently be in place preventing upwards social mobility of our under-represented colleagues;
  • Have a workforce that encourages diversity – supported by the activities of our Diversity and Inclusion forum and training delivered internally and by accredited suppliers
  • Keeping in line with social and environmental drivers that change working practices – offering flexibility and choice where possible;
  • Monitoring and reporting our progress to the c2c Board on a quarterly basis.