Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
Building a workplace where everyone can achieve their everything – with pride.
That's more like it.
Everything that makes our colleagues themselves – makes us Asda. We want to create a truly inclusive culture, where everyone has the confidence to be themselves. Here’s how we’re doing it.
Be your everything
Foodies, hikers, fashion designers, cyclists, we’ve all got our own thing. And we love it. Hearing about the stuff you’re passionate about, the things that make you unique – that’s what makes us Asda. So we want to create a truly inclusive culture, where everyone has the confidence to be themselves. Where you can celebrate your everything.
That's why we've created our Inclusion Networks, often known as Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to help steer our efforts on this journey. They cover Accessibility, Ethnicity, LGBTQ+, Wellbeing, and Women in Asda.
You can find out more about all our Network groups here.
Where we’re at…
We’re so proud of where we’re at on our journey to create a culture that everyone can embrace and celebrate, no matter who you are. But we know there’s always more work to do, and further steps we can take to make things better. So we’re always looking for them, and listening to our colleagues – to help us get things right.
Our strategy when it comes to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion covers five main pillars…
- Improve gender and ethnicity representation at leadership levels
- Drive awareness through education and celebrate our colleagues
- Embed Equity, Diversity and Inclusion through the entire colleague lifecycle
- Deliver a consistent inclusive colleague and customer message
- Support the wellbeing of all our colleagues
We know there’s so much more to learn, lots of room to improve, and even stronger networks we can create to stay committed and connected to championing difference. And these areas keep us focused on the heart of ED&I, and everything we’re trying to do here at Asda.
What we've achieved
We were shortlisted for the Diversity Hero/Heroes Award at the Retail Week Awards in 2023.
We won the Mental Health and Wellbeing at Work category at the Business Disability Forum Awards in 2024 for our Support Colleague Mental Health learning module.
In 2023, we shared our commitment to being a Menopause Friendly Employer through our partnership with Menopause Friendly.
In partnership with DFN Project SEARCH, a programme supporting young people with autism and/or learning disabilities into paid employment, we welcomed five interns to our Queensferry store in October 2023. And we're looking forward to extending this partnership in 2024.
We renewed our Disability Confident Level 2 status in 2024 as part of our ongoing commitment to supporting colleagues with disabilities.
Since launching in 2021, almost 900 colleagues have taken part in the Asda Intentional Allyship programme, our bespoke development programme for women and colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds.
In 2023, 87% of our colleagues said they feel like they can be themselves at work everyday. And 81% said Asda provides opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds to succeed.
…and where we’re going with it
So, with those goals in mind, we were proud to launch our Inclusion Network in January 2024 – a brand new digital platform where all of our 150,000 colleagues can get involved in the conversations we’re having around inclusion.
It keeps all our colleagues up to date with the latest inclusion news, from upcoming events to activities they can join. It's also a forum for colleagues to ask questions, share their thoughts and feedback, connect with other colleagues, and understand what support is available to them.
The Network will play a huge part in keeping us moving forward on our ED&I journey. So we can create a workplace that’s inclusive, safe and supportive for all our colleagues, customers, and the communities we work with.
NextGenLeaders
Social mobility is one of the biggest challenges we’re facing as a society, and we want to do something about it. That’s why we’re proud to support the charity NextGenLeaders as they empower the youth of today to take action and create socially responsible projects that help positively impact local communities.
Asda School Engagement
Asda are keen to engage with local schools, sixth forms, and colleges and will support at events such as careers fairs, mock interviews, or personal development sessions. We also have varied engagement programmes that will create awareness of hidden careers as well as develop key employability skills and align with the Gatsby Benchmarks so young people are career ready.
DFN Project SEARCH
Launching in the summer of 2023, Asda and Coleg Cambria, in partnership with DFN Project SEARCH, have worked closely with a group of young people with a learning disability or learning difficulty from the college to provide them with a full-time course of study based at the store with access to work based experiential learning every day as well as a specific employability curriculum.
The programme set out to teach these students work skills and building confidence so that they can gain employment once their education finishes with any employer. Following a successful placement, Asda has now offered permanent positions to all five students within the Queensferry store.
We are aiming to expand the initiative later this year, with more stores and a larger intake.
Jyoti’s Story
As part of our activity for International Women’s Day in 2024, we were proud to share Jyoti’s story to becoming a General Store Manager. By sharing the experiences of Women in Asda through our Inclusion Networks and colleague communications, we aim to drive education around the barriers women continue to face in the workplace and encourage all our colleagues to be active allies in supporting the progression and inclusion of women in Asda.
And supporting you through everything
We know an inclusive culture means caring about the wellbeing of our colleagues and their families. To do that, we’re working together to remove the stigma around mental health. So everyone can come into work knowing they’ll have the support they need to feel seen, and feel better. In October 2023, we launched our latest wellbeing and inclusion module especially developed for line managers, so our leaders have the tools they need to best support themselves and their teams.
We’re taking steps towards this goal by helping our managers have meaningful conversations with their teams to support their colleagues’ mental health. And also getting involved in national campaigns such as Every Mind Matters and Time to Talk.
Our Memberships
Find your everything
Everything that makes us different, makes us Asda – and we think that’s pretty amazing. Find out about what we’re doing to create a space where everyone can celebrate themselves, and others.