We’re one of the world’s largest consumer co-operatives, owned by millions of members. We’re the UK’s fifth biggest food retailer with more than 2,500 local, convenience and medium-sized stores. We’re also: the UK’s number 1 funeral services provider a major general insurer a growing legal services business As well as having clear financial and operational objectives and employing nearly 70,000 people, we’re a recognised leader for our social goals and community-led programmes. We exist to meet members’ needs and stand up for the things they believe in. So, the more successful we are, the more we can give back to you and your local community. That’s why we’re different.
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion
We believe that a fair and inclusive world is one where people respect and celebrate their differences, and everyone has the chance to succeed. After all that’s the kind of world we want to live in, and it’s why we embrace the talents, beliefs, backgrounds and abilities of all our colleagues. Find out more about what we're doing to support our commitment.
Working for a fairer world
We are building an Inclusive Culture where everyone feels a sense of belonging and is given a fair and equal chance to fulfil their potential. Diversity and inclusion are fundamental to how we do business at the Co-op. This means we do our best to put inclusive practices in place for our colleagues. At the Co-op, we want everyone working here to feel a true sense of belonging, where new ideas are welcomed from everyone, and innovation thrives. To succeed in creating a fairer world, we need to become actively anti-racist in how we think and what we do. 2023 sees us continuing to focus our work around diversity and inclusion, and support all our colleagues to grow and fulfil their potential.
We’ve set out a series of commitments to tackling racial inequality and inclusion head on. Read about our latest progress in achieving a fairer world using the link below.
Creating an equal colleague experience
We have put steps in place to allow our colleagues to feel comfortable at work and strive to their full potential in our people process, enabling all our colleagues to fulfil their potential. A development programme has been launched specifically to help our BAME colleagues to progress. We have also started to scope our approach to how we support colleagues with disabilities and ensure they can easily access reasonable adjustments.
Creating a diverse workforce
We ensure our recruitment and talent pipeline is more diverse, representing the communities we serve. Our approach includes partnering with organisations that can help us to reach more diverse talent outside of our existing channels. We currently have partnerships in place with Princes Trust, Catch 22 and Black Young Professionals.
The Co-op Career Development Hub helps job seekers tackle the most common career obstacles. As a mobile first platform it allows users to access these tools on any device, making it accessible for people without PCs or laptops at home.
Consciously creating an inclusive culture
We actively understand and celebrate difference, as well as tackling non-inclusive behaviours such as bullying, harassment and discrimination. We have studied how our colleagues’ lived experiences is impacted by identity and will use these to create more meaningful interventions.
We also educate colleagues in areas of diversity such as gender, LGBTQ+, disability and neuro diversity through events and learning sessions in National Inclusion Week, International Womens’ Day, Pride and International Day of Disability. We empower our Colleague Networks to educate and inspire from store level and beyond.
Inclusive leadership
We enable leaders to lead diverse teams and create an environment in which diversity thrives.
From coaching members of the Exec to become more inclusive leaders, to delivering bespoke inclusivity leadership training, we have tailored our training programmes to suit colleagues at all stages of their leadership journey.
All leaders and colleagues have a core priority goal which centres around making a positive impact in their role, through creating an inclusive culture and supporting our Co-op Vision. This includes the requirement for our Leaders to be anti-discrimination advocates, by ensuring that their own behaviours, and those of others, treat people with respect regardless of their identity.
