25 Nov 2022

Babcock win at Women in Defence Awards

Last night at the Women in Defence Awards 2022, Babcock was awarded the ‘Most Improved Charter Signatory’ to recognise and celebrate our achievements in improving gender balance.

This inaugural award was open to organisations who have signed the Women in Defence Charter and was judged by Denise Wilson, Chief Executive of the FTSE Women Leaders Review and Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, Chief of the Air Staff and Charter MOD Patron.

The annual awards, run by Women in Defence UK, is to recognise and celebrate incredible work, provide inspiration and promote the value of women in the sector.

Ruth Cairnie Charter Industry Patron and Chair of Babcock said: “The Most Improved Charter Signatory recognises progress across the defence enterprise to meet the Charter ambition of 30% female representation at all levels by 2030. Whilst we still have some way to go, the brilliant work underway in public and private sector organisations means that the dial is beginning to shift.”

Babcock was recognised for the increase in female representation at the Senior Leadership level from 16% to 21% in one year, due to focussed effort to promote talented women (and meet our 30% of females in the senior team by 2025 target). Global workforce diversity has improved from 19% female to 21% during 2021/22 (despite an overall headcount reduction) and central to the work we’re doing is the adoption of a strategic and evidence led approach to Inclusion & Diversity across three key pillars of focus:

  1. Insight and data to redefine ways of working
  2. Policies and programmes that drive engagement, representation and enable women to thrive
  3. Education and awareness raising to demonstrate the value of an inclusive and more diverse organisation

We have designed a Gender-balance Action Plan to close the ‘GAP’ in representation focusing on attraction, recruitment, progression, and retention of female talent which will be implemented in 2022/23.  We remain committed to working with internal and external stakeholders, including employee networks and leading organisations, to set targets, review policies, implement activities that inspire and support women and increase female representation, as well as closing the Gender Pay Gap (which is reducing year on year), growing the female talent pipeline, and enabling all employees to flourish and shape their own future within Babcock.