Join Wates as our Inclusion and Employee Engagement Manager, where you'll play a pivotal role in shaping a culture where everyone can thrive, using insight, influence and innovation to drive inclusion, engagement and colleague experience across the business.

Key Responsibilities

Determining how the inclusion, engagement and culture strategy should be brought to life across the business — forming and evidencing a point of view on the approach we should take, and converting it into a defined portfolio of programmes, initiatives and services with clear priorities and sequencing.
Diagnosing what is genuinely driving colleague experience — interrogating people data, colleague insight, external practice and the direction of travel on employment matters — and turning that analysis into sharp, well-argued recommendations on where effort will change outcomes, with inclusion and diversity as the strongest thread.
Designing and building the suite of services the divisions draw on, so that solutions are created once, centrally and to a high standard, then deployed repeatedly and adapted locally — including the tools, frameworks, guidance and measurement that sit behind them.
Operating as an internal consultant to the divisions: scoping their needs, agreeing what good looks like, advising on the right approach for their context, and staying with the work until it is adopted and delivering.
Advising and influencing senior stakeholders — translating inclusion, engagement and culture thinking into recommendations that land with very different audiences and bringing constructive challenge where the evidence points somewhere uncomfortable.
Holding an informed overview of our people policies — anticipating where legislation, regulation and our own culture require them to change, judging what that means for us, and shaping those policies that define what it means to be at Wates so they read as authentically ours rather than generic.

Who We Are Looking For…

A thinker as well as a deliverer. Someone who can be handed an open question (e.g. what approach should we take to engagement, why is progression stalling for a particular group, is this policy still fit for who we are) and come back with a clear, evidenced position and a practical plan to act on it.
Consultative capability: a track record of working with internal or external clients on the full lifecycle of a programme: scoping the brief, shaping the solution, managing the relationship, and moving people to act where you have influence rather than authority.
Demonstrable, advanced project and programme management experience:
- Proven ability to manage multiple complex projects and programmes simultaneously, delivering results independently and on time in fast-paced environments.
- Experience of scoping and launching projects from scratch, tracking, measuring and delivering on KPIs.
The breadth to connect inclusion, engagement and people policy rather than treat them as separate agendas. Deep employment law expertise is not expected; the curiosity and diligence to hold an informed overview, and the judgement to know when to bring in specialists, is.
Experience in leveraging AI tools to optimise work and drive efficiencies.
A passion for inclusion and diversity, and a demonstrated commitment to advancing an inclusive, high-performing, values-led culture.

Desirable

CIPD qualification or equivalent.
Experience in construction, the built environment, or another sector with well-documented representation challenges.
Experience of external inclusion frameworks, accreditations and benchmarking.
Awareness of current UK employment legislation and how it translates into policy.

Given the nature of this position, you will need to undergo a Basic Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) at offer stage. Applicants with criminal convictions will be assessed individually, and we assure you that we do not discriminate based on an applicant's criminal record or the details of any disclosed offenses. Additionally, certain roles may be subject to additional pre-employment checks.

To learn more about the checks included in this process, please click on the following link: National Security Vetting

Our Commitments

Wates is proud to be an employer where anyone can thrive, and we welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds. We encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every requirement, as we value transferable skills and assess all applications fairly.

We don't discriminate based on a criminal record; all applications are reviewed on an individual basis against the requirements of the role. Some roles may require additional checks, due to the nature of the work. As a Disability Confident Leader, we offer an interview to applicants with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for the role and opt in to the Disability Confident scheme. Reasonable adjustments are available, please contact us at recruitment@wates.co.uk

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Inclusion and Employee Engagement Manager