CCFE wants to attract employees from all backgrounds and aims to create a welcoming environment where they can achieve their best and contribute to our mission.
We are taking steps to recruit more women and people from other under-represented groups, addressing the historic lack of diversity in our industry. The Athena SWAN accreditation programme, which focuses on increasing the number of women in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine), provides us with industry standards to make the improvements needed to make CCFE a more equal workplace.
CCFE and its operator the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) began working towards Athena SWAN accreditation in 2013. We achieved the Bronze award in October 2015, and received a second Bronze award in May 2019.
Since 2015, UKAEA has used the Athena SWAN scheme as the springboard for a wider programme of changes to bring about a more inclusive workplace culture and practices. Uptake of flexible working practices has increased significantly, and there are a large team of Inclusion Ambassadors and support networks for new parents and LGBT+ staff.
Winning another Bronze Award is a sign of this progress – less than 60% of applications are successful – but we are committed to making further improvements. We are targeting a Silver Award within the next four years as we continue our efforts to become a more diverse and inclusive organisation.