Inclusive culture at Sodexo

Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. Whatever your background is, you belong.

Cultures and origins brings together everyone’s culture, heritage, and beliefs to raise awareness and work towards creating an inclusive workplace with equal opportunities for all.

Our focus on disability aims to build disability confidence and for Sodexo to contribute to closing the disability employment gap.

Our work on gender focuses on gender equity, including achieving UK and Ireland targets to increasing female representation at senior levels (to 43% by 2025) and having gender balanced teams (by 2025).

Generations promotes the advantages of inter-generational working, educates about the similarities and differences between age groups, and highlights issues specific to certain age groups - such as caring and pensions.

Sexual orientation and gender identity highlights issues specific to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT+) communities, as well as supporting interventions and utilising allies to promote inclusion for LGBT+ colleagues.

Sodexo Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

At Sodexo, we believe that having a diverse and equitable workforce where everyone feels included benefits everyone.

We have almost 30,000 employees in the UK and Ireland making a difference every day, in schools, universities, hospitals, prisons, major sporting venues – the list goes on! Whether it’s our colleagues, our clients, or the 1,000,000 we serve every day, people are at the centre of everything we do.

We recognise how important it is to have a workplace that is inclusive and welcoming for all so everyone can truly thrive and just be themselves. Our focus on DEI facilitates the building of diverse networks, knowledge sharing and personal growth. This is what makes us all successful and #SodexoProud.

We have several employee networks that support the work we do.

Employee networks

Culture and origins

The Origins network brings people together by raising awareness of different cultures, heritages and beliefs.

The Origins network holds sessions to celebrate different cultural and religious events throughout the year. They also support with education around important topics such as intersectionality, microaggressions and privilege.

Disability

Michael Taylor, Learning and Development Manager, working with students from one of our partners, Aurora Foxes.

Our DisAbility network celebrates everyone’s contribution and ability by encouraging inclusivity and harmony amongst our employees.

They help to raise awareness about disabilities and neurodiversity, through events, facilitating work placements, and initiatives such as a recent webinar on 3 December for International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

They aim to support Sodexo in their mission to give 100% of our workforce access to initiatives supporting the inclusion of people with disabilities by 2025.

Generations

Our GenERAtions network supports our employees at significant life stages and promotes the advantages of inter-generational working.

Whether you’re entering the world of work for the first time, starting a family, experiencing menopause or beginning to think about retirement, GenERAtions aims to support you.

They provide education about the similarities and differences between age groups, and how we can use these differences to work better together.

Sodexo Working Parents is a sub-group of GenERAtions, set up by parents for parents – they aim to support working parents and carers.

Gender

Sodexo #BreakTheBias for International Womens Day 2022

SoTogether is our gender equity network – they work to advocate for a gender balanced workplace which provides equity for all.

They help to promote the benefits of gender balance in the workplace through education, resources and ambassador programmes.

They also facilitate our SheWorks initiative for UK and Ireland which provides job shadowing opportunities and CV writing workshops for women.

SoTogether FM is a subgroup of SoTogether which aims at supporting people in the Facilities Management industry.

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Manchester Pride Parade 2022

The PRIDE network enables lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBTQ+) colleagues to achieve their full potential through creating a positive, supportive and inclusive working environment.

PRIDE support a variety of initiatives and campaigns including LGBTQ+ history month and organising our participation in annual Pride parades.

They help us listen to our employees and to resolve issues specific to the LGBTQ+ communities and show others how to be an active ally.