COVID-19
We are doing everything we can to ensure we have continuity of business, while heeding the very latest Government advice. We monitor this daily and adapt our procedures and messaging immediately to any changes that are required. We would like to express our sympathies to everyone who has been affected and continues to be affected by the COVID-19 virus.

We would also like to show our support to our teams and key workers who are working tirelessly across the country.

For more about how Willmott Dixon group are responding to the everyday changes of Covid-19 please click here.
-01 Oct. 2021

NATIONAL INCLUSION WEEK 2021

Celebrating National Inclusion Week 2021.

National Inclusion Week is a campaign run by Inclusive Employers each year. This week we have been celebrating by running activities to encourage open conversations to happen about inclusion in the workplace.

This year’s theme is unity, this was a focus throughout our activities to bring people together to share their ideas and thoughts on how we can improve inclusion.

We value the importance of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Willmott Dixon Interiors and how beneficial it is to individuals and the business for our people to feel included and have a sense of belonging.

 

Inclusive Toolbox Talk

We held an inclusive toolbox talk internally where members of our EDI team (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) shared information and their thoughts around inclusion.

The session provided insights on the Equality Act 2010, what victimisation and harassment looks like and what we can do ourselves to improve inclusion.

The main focus of the session was on creating a sense of belonging and safety. In particular, helping everyone to become aware of what unacceptable ‘banter’ on site might look like and how to safely and constructively call this out.

The session wrapped up with a reminder on our Dignity in the workplace principles and referenced how we can all anchor ourselves in our Willmott Dixon Interiors COR behaviours.

  • Courage – to call out behaviours that feel inappropriate
  • Open – to listen and learn
  • Respect – for everyone

“Really helpful reminder, the sort of thing that should be delivered in some way 6 monthly, thank you!” – Feedback from the sessions

100% of the attendees that provided feedback thought this talk opened the conversation on inclusion more and found it insightful, and there were specific calls to roll this out more widely with our Supply Chain.

 

The session was led by Phil Lawrence, Design Manager and Anna Koukoullis, Head of Social Value.

 

 

Mixed Working

We also gave our people the opportunity to volunteer to ‘mix’ working with someone else in the business who they wouldn’t normally interact with.

The aim of this was for the volunteers to spend time with someone else in the business and understand what they do and their challenge, to provide more unity and understanding of each other.

 

Agile Working

A live webinar was hosted by our EDI team internally to discuss the benefits of agile working, and how we can encourage agile working on our sites. This promoted inclusion by working to suit every individual’s needs whilst also improving health and wellbeing.

Andy Pritchard, Head of Supply Chain at Willmott Dixon, presented on how his sites have been successful in achieving agile working to suit everyone’s needs. He was joined by Design Manager Phil Lawrence who shared resources to help implement agile working.

The presentation highlighted the dangers and health implications of working too much with worrying statistics on the increased likelihood of heart disease and stroke. This really brought home the severity of over working and how agile working can literally lengthen someone’s life chance.

The session was useful for our people to see the value of working in an agile way and opened the conversation to encourage this further on our sites. Top tips leaving the sessions included:

  • Implementing rotas on all sites with a 45-hour cap
  • Small projects to work on a bespoke plans
  • Engaging consultants, customers, and supply chain on the journey
  • Leaving by example – leaders on site making a stand to implement and actively demonstrate leaderships by leaving sites, setting the trend with their teams

100% of those that provided feedback felt this talk helped to increase the awareness of the benefits of agile working. The talk received positive feedback and is another step in the right direction for championing agile working on site.

During the week we have highlighted important inclusion topics and have opened the conversation for more to be done amongst our people.

 

We encourage you to watch the resources below to provide more insight into the importance of inclusion.

Resources:

Heineken ‘Worlds Apart’: https://youtu.be/dKggA9k8DKw

Inclusion Starts with I: https://youtu.be/2g88Ju6nkcg

Time Wise: Making construction a great place to work, through flexible working

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