Equality, diversity & inclusion

At Royal HaskoningDHV, we are a diverse organisation, united by a curious mindset and we welcome a unique perspective ensuring it is valued by others. We believe diversity is key in our success, as we always want to grasp the full picture to come up with the best solutions and create new and fresh ideas. To facilitate an open-minded culture wherein people get inspired by each other to unlock their full potential. Having diversity of thought and bringing different perspectives to the table is important in creating an accomplished, successful, and sustainable business.

We are committed to providing an enriching working environment for all, which allows individual skills, strengths, and perspectives to be heard, used, and amplified, regardless of gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, physical ability, or nationality.

Overall, we are improving awareness and encourage open conversations around various equality, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) topics by putting ED&I as a standing agenda item in all company-wide, management team and team meetings. Our directors and managers regularly address important issues in their communication with the business throughout the year and welcome direct feedback from colleagues on issues of concern or areas of improvement. Executive sponsors and allies drive impact throughout our business, striving towards progress and change to ensure inclusivity towards all employees. 

The Speak Up Awareness Day we held in November 2021 supported our drive for a collaborative, equal environment where everyone feels comfortable bringing their true selves to work. We are happy of the progress we have made in 2021 with two finalists in the European Women in Construction & Engineering Awards. Stefanie Stubbé, consultant water and finance international, winning the Cobouw Young Talent Award. Our Human Resources Management Director Meike Salvadó listed in the Next Leadership 50 by Dutch business magazine MT/Sprout. And our branch in Vietnam being recognised as one of the Best Companies to Work for in Asia at HR Asia's prestigious annual awards.

• We have become partners with the Diverse Sustainability Initiative (DSI) to help transform and promote diversity within our industry. We renewed our membership and commitment to Women in Engineering and Science’s (WISE) purpose: growing the number of women and young girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
• We have appointed female leaders in director positions because of their qualities and as a result have strong female role models in positions where they can effect change and inspire colleagues.
• We have delivered unconscious bias training to teams and especially to managers and recruiters to create awareness of everyone’s unconscious bias.
• We have launched employee networks for disability, LGBTQ+ and diverse ethnic backgrounds to guide best practice and understanding of every individual’s lived experience.
• We have committed to have equal representation in longlists of recruitment, succession and development programmes. We aspire to having diverse selection teams and interview panels.
• We are also committed to decreasing the gender pay gap. For the UK the reporting of the gender pay gap is available in our UK Gender Pay Gap Report which reflects our progress. 
• We ran internal and external campaigns, often around special days like International Women’s Day, to share what we are doing and to inspire others.
• We signed the G20 Empower Women pledge to accelerate women’s advancement to leadership positions.
• In the United Kingdom we launched our first mentorship programme for female employees, striving to develop women to access more senior positions and thus close the gender pay gap.
• In Vietnam we launched a coaching programme focusing on softer skills, tailormade to our Vietnamese senior female colleagues. This follows the commitment by our managing director in Vietnam to support the Women’s Empowerment Principles in 2020. The seven principles, developed by the UN Global Compact and UN Women, promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in businesses and communities.

In 2022, we are launching further programmes in other countries where needed. We continue to encourage more women into engineering through initiatives such as recruitment campaigns and career encouragement.