Social Value
Making a difference in the communities we serve.
Inspiring people from all walks of life to consider a career in the railway industry is essential.
It’s about supporting the communities we serve, supporting under-represented people, supporting local charities which make a difference to so many people, and inspiring the generation of tomorrow to build them into future leaders and engineers.
SWGR has a clear social value strategy in place to do all that, and we’re always looking at how we can do more.
Inspiring tomorrow’s leaders & engineers
With 120,000 people needed in the railway industry over the next ten years, we have a job to do to attract our colleagues of tomorrow. We work with educational institutions across the UK to speak to younger people at primary and secondary levels, and give them real frontline experience with training provided.
Supporting our colleagues and the community
We have a duty to support charities making a difference to the communities we serve, while also creating partnerships with organisations that can provide vital support, especially from a mental wellbeing perspective.
As well as a Silver Award business of the Armed Forces Covenant and encouraging those from military backgrounds to consider a rail career, we also support the Royal British Legion. We are working with military organisations in order to drive the transition of colleague with transferable skills to use them on the railways.
From a mental wellbeing perspective, we’ve partnered with Mates in Mind to provide support to all colleagues, supply chain partners and our customers.
Shoulder to shoulder with the Armed Forces
We recognise the power of working with the Armed Forces and using transferable skills to develop careers in the railway from ex-Armed Forces personnel.
That’s why we are Silver Award Status for the Armed Forces Covenant, and work with organisations to provide roles within an industry short of skilled colleagues.
- Silver Status Company for the Armed Forces Covenant
Working hand-in-hand with the local supply chain
Wherever we are working in the UK, the SWGR team works to ensure that we are providing local jobs for local people – whether that’s employing them ourselves or working with SMEs to provide them with specialist roles within the works.
As a SME ourselves, we understand the challenges businesses face and, as a company working with organisations like Network Rail with SME action plans in place, we want to support our customers to make sure those action plans are realised.
Beyond working with SMEs, we also give them access to our NSAR Gold-accredited training facility, so we’re helping to develop people while we supply them with work.
- 100% of contracts involve local supply chain partners
Inclusivity in everything we do
Working with under-represented groups and communities in rail is essential in improving the diversity of our workforce. It encourages better ways of thinking and working for the betterment of the industry.
SWGR works towards equality in all divisions of its business, with clear career progression paths so everyone knows what is available.
We have programmes to encourage women and those from BAME communities to consider a career in rail, both in the office and on the frontline, and set out clear development opportunities to inspire them to consider a career in what has been a male-dominated industry for years.
- 40% of office-based colleagues are women
Inspiring young people
We’re working with primary schools across the UK, in every region we serve, to teach the children about railway safety, as well as giving them a little bit of insight into what we do.
Working closely with the school, SWGR uses this to fit in to the curriculum and give children some inspiration as to why they might like to work on the railways when they grow up.
For Year 6 children, we encourage them to be rail safety ambassadors, in which they speak to younger Year groups about how to be safe around railway lines – helping them to improve their presentation skills ahead of secondary school.
- 15 primary school railway safety ambassadors created