Our people

As a values-driven, people-orientated, progressive organisation, we believe that by creating an environment in which everyone feels valued as an individual and is motivated to give their best, we create stronger, more well-balanced teams.

Policies and management

We focus on strong leadership, proactive and inclusive resourcing, talent development and effective reward and recognition.

Our Resourcing Policy sets out a framework for the recruitment and selection of employees with the right values, behaviours, mix of skills and experience to support business activities. It is underpinned by our Leadership Framework outlines what leadership looks like to us and the capabilities that it comprises, and our Code of Conduct which defines the behaviours we expect and the ethical standards we adhere to.

We celebrate difference and promote inclusivity believing that diversity of thought, approaches and experiences enrich our culture as a business, as set out in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy.

Above all, our policies encourage behaving with integrity, and in an honest and fair way.

We make all of our people aware of our policies on joining, within contracts of employment, inductions and new starter packs, and make the policies available through our BMS and intranet. Any new or updated policies are communicated through news alerts. We also mandate training on key themes such as diversity, discrimination, modern slavery, GDPR, anti-bribery and corruption and cyber security.

Employee engagement such as that through surveys and our Employee Forum provide an effective communication channel between our people and the Board, strengthening voice at Board level and ensuring their feedback shapes the way we work.

Ensuring compliance

Our people can raise issues of non-compliance with their line manager or Human Resources (HR). We also have an independent whistleblowing line, which allows individuals to report concerns anonymously. An authority and approvals matrix gives HR and senior management sight of offers of employment and other areas requiring approvals, such as expenses claims. HR input into disciplinary, grievance or redundancy situations ensures that managers follow the appropriate policies. Completion of mandatory training modules is monitored weekly and followed up where needed.

Key initiatives

Inclusion and diversity
Creating an environment in which everyone feels valued  as an individual and is motivated to give their best  results in stronger, better balanced teams. We believe that having an inclusive culture is key, since inclusivity leads to diversity. Diversity for us means valuing difference and reaping the benefits of alternative  viewpoints, ways of thinking, experiences and  backgrounds. Our investment in agile working has supported our ability to be flexible for those who have a requirement or preference to work from home, whether  for family/care reasons or because of a disability,
so we can recruit from a more diverse pool of candidates. 

Gender balance
Our gender diversity is shown in the table to the right. We aim for gender balance at all levels across the Group, recognising that it will take ongoing work to achieve this. However it is encouraging that the gender mix in our business generally has been more balanced in our incoming talent pool in the graduate population in recent years. 

Be Well
Workplace wellbeing allows us to accommodate the unique needs of different employees. Our approach to improving wellbeing is based on five key areas: take notice; be healthy; give back; stay connected and keep learning. Through our partnership with Mates in Mind, we place a significant emphasis on mental health issues, and remain committed to helping all our people receive the support they need to stay as happy and as healthy as they can be at work.

Embedding culture
Embedding and reinforcing our culture is a continuous process. We have regular communications about our Code of Conduct and our values. The Code and our values are also a key part of our corporate induction process, which is led by a member of the Executive Board and explains what our values mean and how to live by them.

Succession planning
Each business unit is responsible for its own succession planning. We then aggregate those plans, giving us good visibility of our key talent across the Group. The  Nomination Committee and Executive Board review our succession plans on a regular cycle.

Recruitment
We continue to bring new talent into the Group including apprentices, graduates and trainees. Each of these routes is important to us and we want to be an organisation where everyone has an equal chance of success.

Learning and development
Our people understand through our career pathways how they need to develop themselves in order to support their progression. This is complemented by a wide range of training modules, accessible through the Group's GT Academy, our online portal of content to aid personal
and professional development. 

Agile Working
Our Agile Working programme has long given our teams flexibility in when, where and how they work, allowing them to take advantage of practices such as remote working, job shares, compressed hours, sabbaticals and return to work programmes. This offers different amounts of structure, regularity and flexibility to suit individual needs.

By empowering our staff to choose the way they work, we are creating a more inclusive culture and improving our ability to attract and retain the best people from more diverse talent pools.

Working with schools, colleges and universities
We work extensively with schools, universities and in particular, further education colleges across Scotland, promoting careers in construction and providing learning opportunities to young people. As a signed member of the 5% Club we are committed to having 5% of our workforce in ‘earn and learn’ positions such as trainees, apprentices and graduates.