Industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has launched a new diversity and inclusion (D&I) survey.
The survey, which was compiled by OEUK’s D&I Working Group in partnership with Brook Graham, a global consultancy specializing in D&I, will gather feedback on data relating to age, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability and people’s social mobility. employees of the offshore energy workforce, OEUK highlighted in a statement posted on its site.
OEUK’s latest survey is accessible to people working in the UK offshore energy industry in organizations including operator, supply chain and manufacturer communities, the industry body noted. The survey will be anonymous and confidential, OEUK revealed, adding that it aims to capture the “holistic voice of the industry, using the data to decipher the meaningful actions that will have the most impact in driving positive change”.
“Embracing diversity helps attract and retain talented people,” said Alix Thom, head of skills and workforce engagement at OEUK, in a statement from the organisation.
“This means that inclusive and collaborative ways of working are key factors in supporting the expansion of the offshore energy sector towards clean energy. The aim of our 2023 survey is to assess the rate of progress and change in workforce perception since our initial D&I survey in 2021,” added Thom.
“It will help us identify opportunities to share good practices, while identifying areas for improvement. As we accelerate the move to low-carbon energy, we must find ways to unlock the full potential of our talent pool and access a diversity of thought,” continued Thom.
“This approach improves the quality of decision-making by bringing multiple perspectives to the table, empowering our problem-solving skills so that we can meet the challenge of achieving net zero by 2050,” said the OEUK manager.
The same 2023 D&I survey states that the results of the latest workforce survey “highly influenced” the actions of the industry D&I task force.
“Based on the lowest scores for promotion pathways and diversity in leadership, the group produced toolkits for employers in these two areas, which have also been shared outside the membership in OEUK and continue to be promoted,” the survey said.
“The high proportion of ‘prefer not to say’ responses to the LGBT identity and disability reports showed that there is much work to be done in these areas and the working group will look closely at this when the results are analysed.” added.
D&I Survey 2021
In the 2021 OGUK D&I survey, 57% of respondents rated their organization’s D&I culture as strong or very strong. Fourteen percent of respondents felt that the D&I culture in their organization was weak or felt that there was no D&I culture.
The survey showed that around 38 percent of respondents believed that their organization’s approach to D&I had improved in recent years, but also revealed that 47 percent thought it had only marginally improved or did not know . According to the survey, fifteen percent thought it had decreased to some extent.
The 2021 OGUK survey revealed that the UKCS D&I Index 2020 was 7.1, based on a 10-point scale. The survey highlighted that the D&I index score for the offshore workforce (6.6) was typically around eight percent lower than that of those working onshore (7.2).
The overall D&I survey by gender was 7.1, the D&I index score for ethnic minorities was 6.6, the D&I score for those who identified as disabled was of 6.3 and the D&I score for the LGBTQ+ community was 6.6.
In the survey, Deirdre Michie, OGUK’s chief executive at the time, said: “This is an excellent report which is vital for our industry and the people in it.”
“The report not only gives us a better understanding of where we currently stand, but sets a baseline from which all improvements in diversity, inclusion and equality can be made,” added Michie in this statement.
The OGUK D&I Working Group was established in 2019 to drive the diversity and inclusion agenda in the sector, catalyze action and share best practice, according to the 2021 survey. In February last year, OGUK (Oil & Gas UK) changed its name to OEUK.
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