The Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) have launched a Diversity and Inclusion Charter to help embed a change in culture in the highways and transportation industry.

CIHT is working with its Corporate Partners to continue to make, and strengthen, the case for diversity and inclusion and signing the Charter signals a commitment to this.

So far, 30 organisations have signed up and many more are in the process of doing so.

CIHT Chief Executive, Sue Percy, said:
“As an Institution that is committed to valuing and respecting the diversity of individuals we are very pleased to be launching the Diversity and Inclusion Charter. We are a committed supporter of National Women in Engineering Day and this great initiative is the perfect opportunity to launch our own charter. Through this and other initiatives we will continue to encourage and support people of all ages and backgrounds to join both CIHT and the engineering profession.”  

In October 2015 CIHT launched Routes to Diversity & Inclusion, the first toolkit designed specifically for and with the Highways and Transportation sector to help employers recruit, retain and develop a diverse workforce.

CIHT is delighted that use of the toolkit featured as a recommendation in the Department for Transport’s recently published Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy: Building Sustainable skills – Moving Britain Ahead.  

However, CIHT considers the toolkit to be just the first step towards improving the diversity and inclusion culture in highways and transportation to enable the industry to reap the proven business benefits of workplace diversity. Signing up to CIHT’s Charter is a positive next step towards that goal.

The Charter states:
The signatories to this Charter believe that a commitment to diversity and inclusion is essential to reflect the communities we serve.  It makes business sense because it helps us to attract and retain the best talent, it enables us to understand and meet clients’ needs more effectively and so provide a better quality service.

Accordingly, we will:
• Strive to achieve best practice in our recruitment, retention and career progression practices as employers.
• Support the development of good diversity and inclusion practice by collecting and sharing examples of practical activities that contribute to progress with CIHT and other signatories.
• Assign responsibility for meeting our Charter Commitments to a named, senior level individual.
• Work together to develop and adopt future protocols and practice that support the implementation of the aims of this Charter.
• Recognise, respect, capitalise and celebrate contributions from different people to strengthen team performance.
• Display the CIHT diversity and inclusion logo to publically demonstrate our commitment to this agenda.

If your company wishes to find out how they could sign up to the carter and pledge their support for this great initiative please contact Sue Stevens, Director of Education and Membership: sue.stevens@ciht.org.uk

Organisations signed-up to the Charter
AECOM
Arup
Atkins
Balfour Beatty
Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd
Colas
Connect Plus Services
EasyBuild (Construction Software) Ltd
Gattica Associated Limited
Gladson UK Limited
H W Martin (Traffic Management) Ltd
Hydrock
Interserve Construction Limited
MAC Surfacing Limited
Matchtech
Morgan Sindall
Mott Macdonald
Mouchel
Oander Limited
Odyssey Markides
Project Centre
Ringway
Ringway Jacobs Ltd
Skanska 
TAG Construction Ltd
VINCI Construction UK Ltd
Tripod Crest Ltd
VolkerHighways
WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff
Yotta