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Race for Opportunity Awards 2011

New Chair for Race for Opportunity announced at annual awards dinner on the 4^th October 2011.

Adrian Joseph, Director of Search UK and Ireland for Google, is the new Chair of Race for Opportunity.

Adrian Joseph, Director of Search UK and Ireland for Google, will be taking on leadership of the campaign at the annual Race for Opportunity awards dinner. Adrian joined Google over three years ago with 15 years blue chip sales, marketing and supply chain experience. Prior to Google, he spent six years at Ford Motor Company, and was the main Board Director for Trafficmaster where he was responsible for Sales and Marketing. Adrian holds an Economics degree and an MBA from Manchester Business School.

Sandra Kerr National Campaign Director said:

“I want to thank Ruby McGregor-Smith, Chief Executive, MITIE Group Plc and outgoing Chair, Race for Opportunity for her leadership and support of Race for Opportunity during the last 3 years. We look forward to working with Adrian in the future”.

Race for Opportunity’s annual awards ceremony took place at the glittering Park Lane Hilton hotel on the 4^th October, with a range of employers receiving awards recognising the excellent work they have done in creating equal, diverse and inclusive workplaces.

Sandra Kerr, National Director of Race for Opportunity, said:

“People will always remain at the heart of any successful business and as the race to attract and retain the best talent intensifies we need to make sure that employers are attracting from the widest possible talent pool and that all employees feel engaged on an equal basis”.

Ruby McGregor-Smith said:

“The Race for Opportunity awards programme recognises excellent practice in organisations working to create equal, diverse and inclusive workplaces, with a particular emphasis on race. Many congratulations to the organisations that entered the programme and in particular to those that won or were highly commended”.

Please see our website for full details of shortlisted companies:

http://www.bitcdiversity.org.uk/awards/rfo_awards_2011/index.html

The winners of each of the awards are listed below:

Collaboration & Partnership Award

Winner- Deloitte

For a programme/ work aimed at addressing equality, diversity and inclusion with a focus on race, undertaken in collaboration with external stakeholders from the same and/or diverse sectors

Deloitte partnered with Elevation Networks in 2010. In under ten months they have run a major programme which saw Deloitte reach out to 30 African and Caribbean Societies on university campuses, making 700 black students aware of opportunities with Deloitte. A combination of events, social media, mentoring programme and a support network for Elevation Networks members applying for Deloitte posts has had a major impact in a short time.

Employee Network Award

Winner - Thomson Reuters

For organisations that have a Race Diversity Employee Network and can demonstrate how the network adds value to business, its positive impact on performance and innovation in the workplace and the important role it has played in the organisation’s Diversity and Inclusion agenda.

Thomson Reuters established TreuBEN with the aim of creating a greater sense of community within the company for underrepresented BAME staff. Focussed on talent development, industry, community and brand, they support BAME staff through profiling significant initiatives and providing guidance, advice and advocacy for those facing challenges.

The Widening the Talent Pool Award - Recruitment

Winner- Pearson

For a programme/ work or initiative which increased the diversity of the workforce, which can be actively linked to outreach, progression or development. It can include internal and external partnerships with school, charities and/or other organisations.

The Pearson Diversity Summer Internship Programme is the UK’s first publishing internship which actively sets out to tackle the barriers faced by candidates from visible ethnic minority backgrounds who wish to enter the publishing and media industry. The programme tackles barriers by providing a training allowance of £1,000 a month to facilitate participation, mentoring throughout the training programme, learning and development opportunities and encouragement to build networks and professional relationships.

Widening the Talent Pool - Progression

Winner - Ernst & Young

For a programme/work or initiative which increased the diversity of the workforce, which can be actively linked to outreach, progression or development. It can include internal and external partnerships with schools, charities and/or other organisations.

Ernst and Young launched their BME Leadership programme in 2009 to address a population that was not achieving its potential. Participant’s careers are transformed by the experiences received during the programme and 12 promotions have already taken place. Both BME and white partners have stepped forward to become role models and support the programme.

Supplier Chain Award

Winner - MITIE

For organisations from the private sector with good practice in supplier diversity to influence the supplier chain, providing at least one example of their work with a SME from the BAME community.

MITIE has carried out exceptional work embedding diversity in their supply chain. MITIE exceeded initial targets and has now identified/incorporated in excess of 150 diverse suppliers in its supply base with an economic impact of circa £3m. MITIE have aligned a number of diverse suppliers with some of their strategic clients and key suppliers to ensure development of business opportunities.

Mentoring Award

Winner - Google

For private and public sector organisations who have mentoring initiatives. This may include projects linked to schools, communities or employees. This can also relate to a leader within your organisation who has made an outstanding contribution through mentoring.

Google’s Top Black Talent programme is designed to give career development opportunities to Googler mentors and plug the information gap for students with no prior connection to Google. Google designed a robust process that identified black talent and provided support to maximise the chances of success for students n the hiring process technology companies. Working with black talent helped Google build a reputation as an employer of choice for BAME talent. The programme had major impact building the talent pipeline for Google and other technology companies.

Leadership Award

Winner- Transport for London

An award that could be granted to an individual or organisation. Stories that demonstrate how leadership, clear goals, action and evaluation help an organisation achieve exceptional progress.

Transport for London has a programme which harnesses their spending power to open up skills, training and employment opportunities through their supply chain. Over the last two years the programme has enabled over 500 BAME Londoners to secure jobs with TfL suppliers.

A special mention to those organisations who have been highly commended

Collaboration & Partnership

Lloyds Banking Group

Widening the Talent Pool - Recruitment

The Army

Supplier Chain Diversity

Transport for London (TfL)

Mentoring Award

ASDA Stores

Leadership Award

Goldman Sachs

Race for Opportunity thank Barclays for their sponsorship of the 2011 Awards.