We employ c.3,800 permanent colleagues and c.300 temporary seasonal colleagues during our peak Christmas trading period. It is important to us that we create an inclusive environment for all of our colleagues regardless of gender, ethnicity, orientation, disability, social mobility and/or age.
Our colleagues are the heart of our business; we have a talented workforce filled with “people who do”. Our focus continues to be on retaining and nurturing this talent, and keeping our family of colleagues engaged.
Recognising the importance of diversity and inclusion, in March 2021, working together with over 50 other retailers, we pledged our commitment to the British Retail Consortium Better Jobs Diversity and Inclusion Charter to improve diversity and inclusion in the retail industry and help drive change.
The commitments include appointing a Diversity and Inclusion Executive, to improve recruitment, to remove bias, to support open career opportunity, to collect and contribute data on diversity, to create a respectful and inclusive work environment, and to make all line managers responsible for supporting equality in the workplace.
At the end of the financial period the percentage breakdown of male and female colleagues across the Group was as follows:
