BENTLEY MOTORS EMBEDS DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION AT THE HEART OF THE ORGANISATION

• Business restructure strengthens focus on Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) with cross-functional organisation placed at the heart of the company
• Three-strong D&I team created as part of new Communications and D&I function with dual reporting to both Chairman and CEO, Adrian Hallmark, and Dr. Karen Lange, Board Member for Human Resources
• Five colleague diversity networks now in place with nearly 500 members include over 10 per cent of the workforce
• Wayne Bruce becomes Chief Communications and D&I Officer adding D&I strategy to existing internal and external communications remit
• Anne Hoerner, Head of D&I, moves from Human Resources to Communications working alongside Stefanie Lackner, Head of Sustainability and D&I Communications
• Beyond100 business strategy includes aim for Bentley to become the most diverse luxury car company with colleagues as individual as its cars
• Announcement comes ahead of two company-wide Belonging@Bentley events including a colleague product drive activity and production stop focused on inclusion

(Crewe, 3 April 2023) Bentley Motors today announces it is putting Diversity and Inclusion strategy at the very core of the business with a new and expanded team with a direct reporting line into the CEO. Moving from the sole responsibility of Human Resources, D&I will sit within the cross-functional Communications department, falling under the joint leadership of Adrian Hallmark, Chairman and CEO, and Dr. Karen Lange, Board Member for Human Resources.

The restructure aims to speed the rollout of Bentley’s five pillar D&I strategy which is focused on outreach, recruitment, succession planning, culture and development.  Key to this strategy is the establishment of colleague diversity networks to help Bentley embed an understanding of diversity and inclusion within its workplace and support the understanding, development, and attraction of the future talent, creativity, ideas, and customers who will help it achieve success in the next generation of products.

The networks now number five across different aspects of diversity with nearly 500 colleagues equalling more than 10 per cent of the workforce actively participating. Recognising the importance of diverse experiences and perspectives to drive creativity and innovation, Bentley has also set a target of increasing diversity in management to 30 per cent in 2025 and is establishing a roadmap to help it achieve this.

As part of the restructure, Wayne Bruce becomes Chief Communications and D&I Officer, adding Bentley’s D&I strategy to his area of responsibility. Bruce will report to both Adrian Hallmark and Karen Lange.         

Anne Hoerner, Head of D&I, moves from the Humans Resources department, to work with Wayne Bruce within the Communications team, helping to implement and embed the D&I strategy across the organisation. Stefanie Lackner, Head of Sustainability Communications, continues to lead D&I communications inside, and outside of the business and becomes the third member of the D&I team. 

Commenting on the strategic change, Adrian Hallmark, Chairman and CEO, said:

“We know that diversity drives success and by bringing a greater range of experience, creativity as well as inclusion, allows co-operation to play in business strategy, innovation and decision-making. We firmly believe that it is a fundamental part of the business and therefore should be a core function that touches every single area of the organisation.

“Our ethos is that a rich and inclusive culture, where everyone is supported to achieve their full potential, is what will help to drive our business forward, and so working closely with this newly formed team, we are confident of achieving our aim of becoming the most diverse luxury car manufacturer in the world.”

The ‘Beyond100’ strategy announced in 2020 sets out how Bentley will become a trailblazer in sustainable luxury mobility. Bentley was the first company in its sector to state its aim to become end-to-end carbon neutral in 2030; the first to introduce plug-in electric luxury cars; the only luxury car factory in the world to be certified carbon neutral for the fourth year in a row; and the first to secure net zero plastic to nature certification.

But Beyond100 is more than sustainability. Bentley also wants to become the most diverse luxury car company, with colleagues as extraordinary and eclectic as its customers and the cars they commission which can be ordered in over 40 billion different configurations.

Bentley takes a zero-tolerance stance on any form of prejudice or discrimination. But it is also proud to employ colleagues from 52 different nationalities and works to support diversity and inclusivity in all forms: irrespective of race, age, gender, background, sexual orientation, nationality, or ethnicity, mental or physical disabilities, or beliefs.

Bentley’s mission is simple. It wants its business to reflect its global customer base and, most importantly of all, ensure that all colleagues work in an environment where they feel safe to bring their true self to work. This goes hand-in-hand with an ethos that only a rich and inclusive culture, where everyone is supported to achieve their full potential, regardless of their background, is what will help to steer Bentley forward for the next one hundred years.

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