The VGC Group
The Big Rail Diversity Challenge
The VGC Group provides people and delivers projects for the construction and rail industries. The market leader in our field, we have a workforce of over 1,400 people working on major infrastructure projects across the UK. VGC operates in all civil engineering environments including rail, road, utilities, nuclear and airports.
Our business is built on partnership and collaboration. As only the third company in the UK to be awarded the Ethical Labour Sourcing Standard, the VGC Group is proud of our commitment to equality, diversity, fairness, inclusion and respect.
By giving our people the training, support and opportunities to achieve their ambitions, we're stronger as a business. All staff are supported in life-long career development, and encouraged to continue to study in their chosen fields. We offer internships, apprenticeships and training programmes for school-leavers up to and including graduate level, and employment mentoring for ex-military personnel.
Our focus on local employment ensures a diverse workforce that is representative of local populations and supports project communities.
Our commitment to a safe working environment shows how highly we value all our staff as well as the partners we work with. VGC's health and safety culture is underpinned by our ground-breaking behavioural safety programme, Be Safe by Choice.
Doing the best possible quality work is part of our culture, described as outperformance. This means performing over and above our competitors and exceeding our clients expectations.
At VGC Group, we are working hard to increase the diversity of our workforce. We know that diverse teams outperform those which are less diverse, and we are committed to fairness, inclusion and respect in everything we do.
The industry skills shortage, exacerbated by Brexit and an ageing workforce, is no secret. And while women make up more than half the UK population, women make up just 13% of the total 3 million construction industry workforce. Women aren't being attracted into the industry for every female apprentice in construction there are 56 males.
So we have set up programmes to attract, recruit and retain talented women. VGC is a member of NAWIC, a supporter of Inspire Me, and a silver member of Women into Construction. We have signed the FIR Better for Everyone Commitment, and we are the first labour supply company in the UK to achieve the new Ethical Labour Sourcing Standard.
Taking part in the Big Rail Diversity Challenge is another way for us to promote gender equality across the industry, and help us to to increase women's participation in our workforce.
