National Grid colleagues wearing PPE and bumping fists at Newtown Creek in NY

Our people

Build the net zero workforce

Highlights
Employee engagement index score
Diversity of Group Executive
Ethnic diversity of our management population
81%
53.8%
17.6%

Our journey so far

Our 31,416 employees across the UK and US are the driving force behind our business. We invest in attracting and retaining an inclusive and diverse workforce, building our capabilities through training and equipping our people with the necessary skills and knowledge to perform their roles to deliver the clean energy future. In return, we aim to ensure our colleagues receive fair and equitable pay, and that their health and wellbeing are always maintained.

This year, our Group Executive team has expanded, resulting in increased diversity. Additionally, we have exceeded our goals for gender and ethnicity diversity representation in management ahead of schedule. However, we acknowledge the need for further progress in diversifying our Board and achieving our 50% diversity target by 2025.

Throughout the year we have been recognised for numerous industry best practices for our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the following:

  • Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality
  • Top 25 Organisations driving Ethnicity Inclusion
  • Top 50 Employers for Social Mobility
  • Equality 100 Award by the Human Rights Campaign for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion
     

Our commitments and targets


Invest in our people and build the skills needed to deliver the clean energy future

  • Ensure all colleagues have access to engaging learning solutions to fulfil their potential and develop the skills and capabilities required for the net zero workforce
     

Reflect the communities we serve, intentionally increasing ethnic and female representation in our workforce

  • Aim for 35% female representation and 20% ethnicity in our management population by 2025 
  • Aim for 50% female representation and 40% ethnicity in our talent population by 2025 
  • Aim for 50% diversity of our Group Executive by 2025 including, but not limited to, a focus on gender and ethnicity 
  • Aim for 50% diversity of our Board by 2025
     

Create an inclusive culture, where it's safe to speak up and where our colleagues' voices are heard and understood 

  • Aim for our colleague engagement and ‘safe to say’ metrics to remain at or above the high performing norm (Korn Ferry benchmark) 
  • Our Group Executive and Board will conduct regular listening sessions with colleagues to shape decision-making in their best interests
     

Lead the industry on colleague health and wellbeing

  • Aim for our colleague wellbeing metrics to remain at or above the previous year
     

Ensure all colleagues receive fair and equitable pay

  • Committed to making sure pay is equitable for all colleagues and to ensure there's no bias, regardless of location in the UK or US, gender, ethnicity or disability
     
Woman Engineer on site wearing personal protective clothing

Women in energy

We’re making strong progress in our goal towards gender equality at National Grid, and recognise that we can play a part in helping to ensure that women are equally represented in the energy industry.

Meet some of the women who are working to shape the future of the energy system, from inspiring innovations in renewable energy to breaking down stereotypes in engineering.

Read more

Our areas of responsible business

We have identified the other key areas where we can really make a difference by ensuring responsibility is woven through everything we do.

Woman wearing hard hat and orange high-vis jacket looking at tablet in green field with pylons

Our environment

Deliver a clean energy future

Man and a woman wearing a high-vis vest looking at a tablet

Our customers and communities

Support a fair and affordable transition

Woman wearing hard hat and high-vis overall walking inside London Power Tunnels

Responsible Business fundamentals

Be a responsible business in our operations