Rolls-Royce pledges equality for women executives
AERO engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce has said it is committed to developing a diverse workforce with equal opportunities for all its workers.
The firm said the policy was governed through its Global Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, membership of which includes main board directors and senior executives.
Speaking in response to the Davies report: Women on Boards, chairman Sir Simon Robertson said: “We are committed to improving diversity at all levels of leadership in Rolls-Royce and to making appointments based on merit at the most senior levels of our organisation.
“The Nominations Committee considers diversity, including gender diversity, when reviewing the composition of the board of directors.
“We recognise the importance of gender diversity in the boardroom and the valuable contribution that women make in achieving the right mix of skills, knowledge and experience that enables us to maximise our corporate potential.”
He said the firm continued to take all opportunities to increase boardroom diversity and would seek to make demonstrable progress towards this goal by 2015.
“We participate in the FTSE 100 Cross Company Mentoring Programme, the objective of which is for the chairmen and chief executives to provide advice and guidance to senior females with the aim of attaining a non-executive director role and/or an executive director role,” added Sir Simon.
He said senior female Rolls-Royce executives participated in this programme.
Sir Simon said there were challenges with compliance, such as the demographic profile of those participating in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects.
However, he said the firm would try and overcome this.
“We continue to work actively with schools and universities to encourage diversity, including gender diversity, amongst those taking STEM subjects and we are taking a number of steps to ensure that females have every opportunity to maximise their potential in our organisation,” he said.
