UK framework for action on racial injustice
UK head of country Peter Mather and UK HR director Simon Ashley sent this note on 20 August 2020 to bp’s UK employees about the new diversity and inclusion (D&I) plan
There is no place for racial injustice in society. Here in the UK, we take pride in the contribution bp makes to society, and in the diversity of our people who enable us to make that contribution.
Let us be very clear: We do not tolerate any form of racial injustice, or discrimination of any kind in our organization. Not now, and not within our reinvented bp.
We have listened to colleagues in the UK and around the world and have identified three areas for our focused action against racial injustice:
We now want to share with you our UK action plan in line with our global commitment to eradicating racial injustice. Here are some of the specific commitments set out in our UK plan:
Transparency
- As part of a global comprehensive diversity and inclusion (D&I) report, report progress internally and externally against the new UK ethnic minority ambition, supporting a data-driven approach to progress and increasing visibility and accountability (April 2021).
- Externally report on our UK ethnicity pay gap on an annual basis from early 2022 at the latest, using 2021 data. The intent is to publish regardless of any UK government requirement to do so.
- To enable these commitments, we will continue our focus on ensuring we have access to robust ethnicity data for our people, which is gathered via voluntary self-identification in Workday (October 2020).
Accountability
- Establish a UK ethnic minority ambition, outlining aspirational goals for ethnic minority representation across our UK business by 2025 as follows. These goals are consistent with our global commitment to fairness and bp’s Code of Conduct (August 2020). The goals are as follows:
- From 10.2% to 15% representation at senior leadership and above
- From 17.5% to 25% across levels up to and including first level leaders
- A 20% or greater uplift in Black representation across all levels.
- Appoint a UK-specific race and ethnicity champion to ensure we take concerted action to achieve our ethnicity ambitions and to deliver on our UK action plan (by 31 October 2020).
- Embed expectations and goals for D&I delivery into entity operating plans and annual performance review process for all employees, including a link to compensation (January 2021).
- Launch a mandatory D&I programme across the UK team with a specific focus on anti-racism and inclusion, coupled with a comprehensive education and engagement plan (launched by January 2021).
- Establish supplier diversity and inclusive supply chain objectives into procurement processes to establish clear accountabilities, and encourage the establishment of a UK ethnic minority ambition for our suppliers (from January 2021).
Talent
- Provide focused development and progression interventions to support career progress for UK Black employees and other underrepresented ethnic minorities (from January 2021).
- Increase the ethnic diversity of our talent pools and candidate slates by extending Rules of the Road to ethnicity in the UK (from March 2021).
- Increase our focus on growing Black and other underrepresented ethnic minority talent via internships and partnerships with racially diverse UK institutions (from January 2021).
- Increase funding of UK organizations working to strengthen the STEM education pipeline – focusing specifically on Black talent and other underrepresented minorities (from January 2021).
These are initial commitments. We are working on the details of this action plan to enable sustained and systematic change. As we progress we will continue to be guided by meritocracy, inclusivity and fairness. We will ensure our processes and decisions uphold those principles.
We must do more than improve our company; we have an obligation to improve society as well. As such, we will increase our external advocacy efforts in support of racial equity and building the diversity of our talent pipeline.
Change starts with each of us. There are steps that we can all take now to end racial injustice. Our new UK-focused ‘ally to advocate’ guide can help you shape your personal action plans to support these efforts, including links to a wealth of resources.
We know that actions, big and small, are what will make the difference. Working with you, we are dedicated to making this happen. Our ambition is to reinvent our UK team to be a model of equality, transparency and justice.
