WSP achievement wins Inclusive Employer of the Year award

Congratulations to prime employer for women, WSP, that wins the 'Inclusive Employer of the Year' category at the prestigious Association for Consultancy & Engineering (ACE) awards.

Ten exciting award categories celebrate outstanding people, teams and projects from the world of consultancy, engineering and the built environment.

As Inclusive Employer of the Year, WSP impressed the judges with their recently introduced UK Diversity & Inclusion strategy and operational actions to support both short and longer term views around inclusivity. WSP demonstrated strong evidence of the strategy and plan being brought to life through powerful testimonials which highlighted an array of diversity areas. The company had a “lived and breathed” culture where staff appear to be in the driving seat as change makers, said the judges.

Led personally by Chief Executive Mark Naysmith, WSP's strategy builds on work already underway to foster a culture at WSP where differences of all kinds are celebrated and valued, whether that’s gender, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation or age.

“Our new strategy sits at the very heart of ensuring WSP is a place where all of our people feel respected, valued and accepted. It is only through this understanding that we achieve our full potential and bring our true self to work”, says Mark Naysmith, UK & MEIA Regional Chief Executive Officer.

“I’m very proud to have led on the development of our new strategy alongside such a fantastic team. There has been incredible support from across the business for what we are hoping to achieve and I’m confident our strategy will build on the great progress already made to make WSP an inclusive and accepting place for our people to belong”, says Jane Grant, UK Director of Learning, Development, Diversity & Inclusion.

WSP has set progressive workforce diversity targets through consultation with several external sources, which are being tracked and reported on between 2021-24 to ensure they are delivering on what it said it would.

Celebrating the achievements of industry

Congratulating the winners, ACE’s interim CEO Laurence Brett, said: “The last 18 months have been especially testing for everyone, but it didn’t stop us receiving some fantastic and truly inspiring entries that showed all the ingenuity our sector is famed for. We are delighted to celebrate the achievements of the industry and the ten worthy winners announced today.

“Returning after a long delay owing to the pandemic, the awards were successfully delivered online for the first time in its history. ACE is looking forward to building on this online success and, circumstances permitting, returning to a more traditional awards ceremony in the future.”