It's time for everyone to speak up and force change

The awful news of Sarah Everard's murder hit people at Centrica particularly hard as one of our colleagues was tragically attacked and murdered 14 years ago in disturbingly similar circumstances. Sadly, it seems like nothing much has changed since then.

Over a month has passed since this horrific murder. For me, like many others I’m sure, my immediate reaction was of sadness for such a young life lost so tragically, and of concern for loved ones.  I suggested to my 23-year-old daughter that she should think about taking self-defence classes. Quick as a flash, she said, “why don’t we focus on teaching men not to attack women?".  I found that quite profound, and it showed just how much we all need to understand things from other points of view.

Since then I’ve listened to the national discussion about the dangers women face due to men's behaviour and I’ve had lots of conversations with family, friends and colleagues.  It’s been difficult, but important, to hear people talk about their personal experiences of harassment and abuse. Colleagues have also shared statistics that show increasing levels of violence and domestic abuse, which has exacerbated during the pandemic. These conservations have also triggered colleagues from underrepresented groups to speak candidly about the increasing levels of risk they face from bigots. Many have spoken about the impact that abuse can have on physical and mental health.

 In my role as CEO, I want to play my part in bringing about the change that we need to see in society. It starts with listening, being an active ally to all underrepresented groups and raising awareness of the importance of inclusion, safety and wellbeing. Educating colleagues on our values and being very clear on what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behaviour is, I believe, key to driving cultural change.

 Anyone can be put in a vulnerable position, which is why we are introducing new safeguarding and domestic abuse guidelines to support colleagues and customers. We've also taken steps through our 'Abusive Customer Policy and Standards' to reinforce a zero-tolerance approach to abuse, including when our colleagues are helping customers. Abuse is never acceptable, and we will continue to take steps to support our colleagues and vulnerable customers.

 I believe that, to see real change, it isn't enough to not be racist, misogynistic or sexist. We need to be anti-racist, anti-misogynistic and anti-sexist. We need to see things from other people’s point of view. We need to call out bad behaviour when we see it. We need to have the courage to make difficult decisions, to have the hard conversations. We all need to use whatever platform we have to be vocal and make the changes we so desperately need to see. 

 We’re working hard to create inclusive teams and better ways of doing business to improve our culture and support our colleagues and our customers. In turn, I hope we can contribute to the wider change we all want to see in society.