Greene King to support four groups to support its inclusion and diversity programmes

Bury St Edmunds brewers Greene King has announced it is partnering with four key organisations to support its inclusion and diversity programme.

The company is taking steps to help make its business a place which is fully inclusive for all its team members and can help all achieve their full potential.

Greene King will become members of four organisations which represent the key areas it is championing, this includes joining Stonewall’s Diversity Champions Programme for its LGBT+ community; Women in Hospitality to support women and developing their careers; becoming a signatory to Business in the Community’s Race at Work Charter and the Business Disability Forum.

To complement the business’ partnering programme, Greene King team members are making tracks with their own employee-led groups and includes the launch of Village Greene, its LGBT+ group which has recently been recognised at the Rainbow Honours Awards, and Team 47 women’s network. It is expected two further groups for race and disability will launch in the coming months.

Andrew Bush, group HR director at Greene King, said: “We welcome all walks of life through our pub doors every day and want to celebrate the diversity of our teams that are representative of the people we serve. We’re acting to build and nurture an inclusive culture and are pleased to join these four organisations to help us to do this.

“It is important we create a work place where people can be themselves, have a sense of belonging and feel valued for their individual skills and abilities. Just as we want our customers to feel at home in our pubs, we want our people to feel like they can be their true self at work.”

Greene King is also joining lesbian, gay, bi and trans equality charity Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme.

Jesse Ashman, client account manager at Stonewall, said: ‘LGBT-inclusive employers play a crucial role in changing society by using their power and influence to proudly support LGBT staff and customers. We are delighted that Greene King has joined the Stonewall Diversity Champions Programme to demonstrate its commitment to championing lesbian, gay, bi and trans equality in the workplace. We are excited to work with Greene King over the coming months to support its LGBT inclusion activities, to ensure that all LGBT people are accepted without exception.’

Greene King has said it is committed to give women at all levels the opportunities they need to grow their careers and to support this aim has signed up to Women in Hospitality.

Tea Colanianni, founder and chair of Women in Hospitality, said: “I am pleased to announce that Greene King has signed the Diversity in HTL Charter. With a rich 200-year heritage and over 38,000 employees, Greene King has shown that it is committed to embracing diversity in its many forms. It’s fantastic they will join us in collaborating with the wider HTL industry to make an even bigger impact.”

To support its team members with disabilities, visible or invisible, it has joined the Business Disability Forum.

Diane Lightfoot, CEO of Business Disability Forum, said: “Business Disability Forum is very pleased to welcome Greene King on board as a new member. We look forward to working with Greene King in this important step of its commitment to becoming a disability-smart organisation”.

Greene King is the first hospitality company to become a signatory to Business in the Community’s Race at Work Charter.

This will see: the appointment of an Executive Sponsor for Race; the capture of ethnicity data and publication of progress against this; a board-level commitment to zero tolerance of harassment and bullying; and all managers making it their responsibility to support equality in the workplace and the career progression of ethnic minorities.

Pictured above are Village Greene members, Scott Frankham, Dean Harrison, Muna and Aaron.

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