Taking action on diversity and inclusion: Bestway
No longer a ‘nice to do’ but an essential way to do business, we caught up with businesses taking action, starting with Bestway Wholesale
Named ‘Diverse Employer of the Year’ earlier this year at the GG2 Leadership and Diversity Awards, it’s no surprise that Bestway Wholesale prides itself on the steps it takes to champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, create an inclusive working environment and diversify its talent pool.
“Bestway is an Asian-founded family business that has created an ethnically diverse workforce and inclusive and meritocratic culture which supports its team members to thrive,” said Dawood Pervez, managing director, Bestway Wholesale.
“The Bestway team brings together a diverse range of ethnicities, nationalities and cultures to create one big family,” he says, a statement echoed by the Bestway company value: ‘We are one family’.
When asked about its diversity and inclusion, Pervez shared the business’s figures which reflect a truly diverse workforce of different nationalities and ages: “36% of our workforce are aged 50+; 19% are aged 55–65, and a wonderful 173 employees are aged 70 and over,” he says.
For Bestway, just some of the key actions have focused on issues such as the gender pay gap. Pervez says: “With wholesale traditionally a male-dominated industry, we continue to close the gender pay gap, with no gap for hourly-paid staff and we are making strong progress in salaried positions. Following the acquisition of Costcutter in 2021, the median pay gap improved by 18.5% within a year.
“We are passionate about identifying and supporting more women into senior roles. There is also a higher percentage (35%) of women in salaried positions and we are aiming to increase the number of women on our Talent Development Programme to 50% this year. Women also account for 36% of line manager roles which is growing annually, while nearly a third of new starters in 2023 (6% up on 2022) were women.”
Bestway is also committed to supporting early careers through apprenticeships, with many apprentices going on to enjoy careers within the Bestway Group.
DEVELOPING TALENT
There are a number of ways in which employees are supported to progress, including internally delivered management training courses and on-the-job training.
“A very high percentage of team members who started on the shop floor with no formal qualifications are now in senior roles, including 80% of operations managers and the entire Bestway Wholesale regional operations team. Around 60% of our general managers are home-grown talent too,” says Pervez.
“We offer talent development programmes for our hourly-paid staff working in depots so that they can get the training they need to prepare them for a managerial role. There is also the opportunity to receive further training to apply for depot general manager, area manager and operations director roles.”
Progression is also supported by Bestway’s Leadership Behaviours Framework which focuses on leadership behaviours at each operational level. “We believe anyone can be a leader at Bestway,” says Pervez.
CELEBRATIONS
In addition, the wholesaler invests £250,000 in its annual performance awards which celebrate achievements, and its leadership excellence event. It has also invested in a new platform which offers support and discounts.
In particular, Pervez is proud of the “open and inclusive culture” within the business. “Feedback and ideas are welcomed and valued from all colleagues,” he says. “Strong relationships with team leaders and managers see this happening organically on a daily basis, but for some teams we have introduced ‘let’s talk’ colleague forums, which are rolling out now.
“Colleagues also have the chance to sit down directly with me and there is an ‘ Ask Dawood’ mailbox for colleagues to ask questions and make suggestions.”
Bestway Wholesale Dawood Pervez Diversity and Inclusion Diversity in Wholesale
