Our people

Attracting, developing and retaining the right talent is pivotal to the delivery of our strategy.

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 Performance Indicators
Early careers as a % of total employees
Early careers as a % of total employees Chart
Women as a % of total employees
Women as a % of total employees Chart
Employee advocacy
Employee advocacy Chart

Performance

Employee advocacy

Employee advocacy is a powerful indicator of how engaged employees are, measuring how likely they are to recommend our business.

In our 2023 employee survey, we achieved an employee advocacy score of 86% compared to a sector average of 71%. Our employee engagement score, which is made up of a number of factors including motivation, commitment to our vision and pride in the company, was also above the sector average at 74%.

We had a response rate of 75%, which provides a representative view from employees, and confirms to our business that we are on the right path.

Early careers as a % of total employees

Early careers roles (apprentices, trainees and graduates) remain a key area of focus for both recruitment and retention as these roles help us to grow our own talent, shape our leaders and influence the diversity of our future workforce.

  • We grew our early careers roles to 6.3% of our workforce, from 6.1% in 2022.
  • We were voted the number one place for graduates to work, and number two for apprentices, in TheJobCrowd’s list of Top Construction and Civil Engineering Companies. In addition, Galliford Try ranked 22nd for graduates and 24th for apprentices across all sectors, out of more than 600 UK companies.
  • In November 2022, we received our second Gold Award through The 5% Club’s Employer Audit Scheme for early careers in recognition of the continued development of our early careers ‘earn and learn’ programmes.

Women as a % of total employees

Attracting more women into our business is key to accessing the skills we need and promoting a more diverse culture.

  • For the reported year, the proportion of females across Galliford Try was 21.6% compared to 21.2% last year.
  • We were awarded Bronze for embedding inclusive practices across our organisation by The Clear Company, which runs a globally recognised standard for inclusion, for demonstrating a cultural shift in recruitment and retention practices.
  • We launched a Menopause Policy and signed the Menopause Workplace Pledge to reduce the risk of menopause being a barrier for women as they navigate health with career  progression. Our approach includes training for managers and colleagues.
  • We established an inclusion team to drive activity across EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion).

Gender Pay Reporting

Gender pay is different to equal pay where men and women are paid the same for the same work. The historic underrepresentation of women in the industry means that our industry has fewer females than others, and that fewer females rise to senior positions. This is why we target early careers as a way of improving the diversity of our business, as well as the gender pay gap.

  • Since 2020, we have reduced our mean gender pay gap from 28.8% to 24.1% and median gender pay gap from 32.2% to 27.6%.
  • The proportion of males and females across our business remained stable,with 21.6% of our employees being female.
  • There is a strong negative gender pay gap in our early careers population, meaning there are more females in higher paid positions than males, which will enable us to tackle the pay gap as this group progresses into more senior roles.

Culture

Developing and maintaining the right culture is a fundamental strength of our business and so we continue to place a focus on it, leading from the top. During the year, we restructured our inductions for new starters, so that from the very start of their career with us, they learn what our business represents and what we prioritise. Our inductions are comprehensive and comprise three sessions, the first of which is led by a member of the Executive Board. They cover our business, culture, health and safety, our business processes, strategy and technical approach.

We refreshed our Code of Conduct which sets out what doing the right thing means to us by outlining our strong ethical standards and providing a framework to ensure we behave in a way that reflects our purpose, vision and values including our environmental, social and governance responsibilities. This included encouraging our teams to speak up about any potential non-compliance with our policies to line managers, senior management, our HR or Legal teams or through our independent, anonymous whistleblowing facility.

Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

Attracting, developing and retaining talent is a cornerstone of our people strategy. Over the last 18 months, we have ramped up activities through significant investment in our EVP. This comprised a campaign called ‘Grow Together’ which showcases the unique set of benefits – including compensation, work-life balance, stability, location and culture - that our people receive in return for the skills, capabilities and experience they bring to our company.

The EVP programme has delivered support to our hiring managers in selling our proposition as a business to potential employees, including videos and interactive toolkits that showcase our business. It also includes our first social media advertising campaign designed specifically to attract untapped talent pools into our business.

Promoting an inclusive environment

In July 2022, we signed up to The Clear Company’s Clear Assured scheme to assess the areas of our business that influence diversity including recruitment processes, commitment to flexible working and inclusive working environments. Having achieved Bronze standard in January 2023, we continue to work with The Clear Company to develop our approach to EDI to identify and remove barriers from recruitment and retention practices which have the potential to exclude underrepresented groups including disabled, ethnic and LGBTQ+ candidates across the employee lifecycle. This exercise is focused on areas where we have the opportunity to make the most significant impact including more focused EDI education and awareness and has included the appointment of an inclusion lead to head up our inclusion team.

We continue to use our EDI series to put a spotlight on different communities across the UK through blogs and interviews. The series aims to break down barriers by educating people about the experiences of individuals, sharing commonalities and celebrating differences. It has included experiences of being gay in the construction industry, profiling women as role models, using Black History Month to challenge negative stereotypes, and giving insights into religious and cultural festivals.

We continue to promote our agile working practices, which are attractive to people with different needs and support inclusion, offering flexibility to suit individual needs including staggered start and finish times, job shares, compressed hours, sabbaticals and return to work programmes as well as remote working.

Skills and development

Our business is committed to supporting employees at all levels to fulfil their potential. All employees are encouraged to participate in our Performance and Development Review process, which takes place once a year, and is supported by ongoing development discussions and training. Our approach takes the shape of Career Paths, which provide a range of options to support employees to develop the skills they need to build their career with us at their own pace. Career paths are designed to support succession planning and link to our Leadership Framework which defines the capabilities and behaviours that are important to us. Complementing this is our GT Academy, an online platform of learning and development tools and resources, and our Lunch & Learns, which are short, impactful webinars open to everyone, covering topics from personal skills development to business-specific subjects all hosted by subject matter experts.

We delivered a total of 13,528 training days during the year (2022: 10,588), equivalent to 3.6 days per employee (2022: 3.3).

Vikki Skene Website Background
We employ skilled, talented and professional people who reflect our values. We prioritise their retention, ensuring we develop them, provide the tools they need, and protect their health, safety and wellbeing. Vikki Skene HR Director, Galliford Try

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