Social sustainability

As we work towards our Beyond 100 strategy – where we have set ourselves the target of 30% diverse candidates in management by 2025 – enhancing diversity and inclusion within our workplace will help us to understand, develop, attract and embrace the future talents, ideas and customers who will help us achieve success with our next generation of Bentleys.

And as part of the wider Volkswagen family it’s also fundamentally important that each and everyone of us is a role model for integrity. We know these topics also matter to our colleagues and that as a global organisation we have a responsibility to drive positive change. That’s why all of our managers have now gone through our “Diversity Wins” training programme – which will be made available to all colleagues in 2022.

Bentley takes a zero tolerance stance on racism and any other form of prejudice or discrimination. We are proud to employ colleagues from 52 different nationalities and we support diversity and inclusion in all forms: irrespective of race, age, gender, background, sexual orientation, nationality or ethnicity, mental or physical disabilities, or beliefs.

We’re establishing a Colleague Diversity & Inclusion Network with a number of chapters to help drive our diversity and inclusion programmes forward.

Our initial focus is on LGBTQ+ topics, Women in Automotive and a BeUnited group focusing on BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) themes.

Any Colleagues who are interested in joining these groups or shaping other chapters to get in touch via be-inclusive@bentley.co.uk

We're supporting the development of the next generation of female talent, Bentley Motors has kicked off a bespoke mentoring programme for female students in the fields of technology, engineering, design and business.

Following the successful launch in the UAE last year, the programme is now being rolled out in the UK as part of Bentley’s strategy to encourage more women to consider the range of careers available in the automotive industry.

The launch event, named ‘Extraordinary Women’, brought together students from four UK partner universities; Crewe UTC and experts from within the business. Chaired by senior automotive journalist, Erin Baker and with the support of Bentley’s Member of the Board for Human Resources, Karen Lange, and Professor Georgina Harris from Arden University, the event consisted of three panel talks and the opportunity for the students to pitch a wide-range of questions about STEM careers, opportunities in automotive and how to bring more women into the industry to the panel.

Bentley has a long track record of training future talent through development programmes. In 2019, 93 new apprentices, graduates and undergraduates joined the company. Fifteen of those entered the Digital Apprenticeship scheme to support Bentley’s continued focus on digital transformation, to enhance products, services and experiences for customers. Bentley’s commitment to developing future talent has been recognised through a number of awards, most notably the Top Automotive Employer for School Leavers in 2019. Many Colleagues who began their careers as an apprentice have subsequently passed down their knowledge to the next generation of craftspeople at the Bentley factory, at Cheshire College (SW) and through partner training providers. The company also supports regional and national forums such as the Automotive Trailblazer Group, Automotive Council and North West Apprenticeship Ambassador Network. Bentley trainees also participate in a range of charity and CSR activities as part of their programmes, such as work with the Prince’s Trust TEAM programme, and Young Enterprise.

Bentley engages with schools and colleges in the community by offering more than 150 work experience placements each year, giving students the opportunity to gain insights into almost all areas of the business. The company also works in partnership with Cheshire College to offer Technical Industry Placements to adapt to the changing education landscape where work experience is important for employability. Bentley also hosts ‘Girls in Manufacturing’ and ‘Girls in Engineering’ days. These exclusively female events are held at Bentley’s flagship showroom, CW1 House in Crewe, where Bentley trainees share their experiences with students, providing an incentive to young women to join the current 750 female Colleagues working at Bentley. The company supports local primary school Leighton Academy to participate in the Engineering and Technology (IET) Formula Goblin project, which encourages primary school children to be active in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). Bentley trainees visit the school to help pupils build and race battery-powered cars. In 2018, the Leighton Academy team, supported by the Bentley trainees, finished third out of over 30 schools, while the car they built won the ‘Best Bodywork’ award.

Bentley is a founding member of the new Crewe University Technical College (UTC), which provides an exciting engineering and product design educational offering. Crewe Engineering and Design UTC is driven by a collaboration between Bentley and other business partners, the local Council and university. As an active partner to the school, Colleagues serve as members of the trust, governors and mentors, and provide input into the college curriculum. Following the completion of their studies, students have gone on to successfully apply for a place on the Bentley Apprenticeship scheme, which was recognised as the best in the country at the 2017 UK School Leavers awards. The UTC also achieved a ‘Good’ OFSTED rating in its first OFSTED inspection.

Many Bentley colleagues are active in charitable work in their free time. Bentley recognised this work and launched a Volunteering Leave initiative in 2022 to enable colleagues to take up to two days paid leave in order to allow them to give their time and skills in the community. The Volunteering Leave initiative enables colleagues to support communities and non-profit organisations as part of Bentley’s Beyond100 strategy and its Social Mission to ‘Advance Life Chances’. Examples of activities Bentley colleagues have pursued whilst volunteering include renovating gardens, offering HR skills sessions and much more. 

As part of trainee programmes at Bentley, all apprentices, undergraduate placement students and graduates are asked to take part in local volunteering projects within the community. Since 2016, Bentley trainees have supported the Prince’s Trust, which helps to deliver the TEAM programme in Crewe.

The Prince’s Trust helps young people aged 16-30 to get their lives on track by providing initiatives that aim to equip participants with valuable skills.

Bentley also encourages trainees to support Young Enterprise events in the North West of England, which promote business start-ups and innovation to help young people develop their entrepreneurial skills.

Bentley has supported the Wingate Special Children’s Trust financially, and with volunteers, to help create a sensory nature trail for children with complex care needs. The Trust welcomes 600 children and their carers for respite holidays. It receives no government funding and relies solely on the generosity of Bentley, other local businesses and individuals for sustenance.

Bentley is a founding member of the Cheshire Community Foundation, which provides funding for community projects that often struggle to secure financial backing. The charity manages both the Advancing Life Chances Crewe Fund and the Bentley Crisis Fund, which ensures that the Bentley's donations is effectively channelled into local projects.

To date, Bentley has donated nearly 1 million to the Cheshire Community Foundation. Projects such as the Wishing Well Project, based in Crewe, have been given financial support by the Advancing Life Chances Crewe Fund. The Wishing Well Project exists to improve participants’ health and wellbeing through activities such as one-to-one counselling and group counselling, helping socially isolated young people integrate into society.

Another initiative Bentley has set up is the Bentley Crisis Fund, which provides funding to local charities who support individuals in the Crewe area. The donation for the Crisis Fund comes from an innovative endowment fund set up through the Cheshire Community Foundation in 2023. The income generated from the endowment fund is used for grant making with five local charities. 

Bentley focuses its charitable activity locally, tackling issues impacting its colleagues and neighbours in Crewe and Cheshire. The company operates a Charities Committee that meets monthly to support both local and colleague funding requests.

As a major local employer, Bentley supports a number of local awards. These include the Company of the Year Award for the Northern Automotive Alliance, Young Business Person of the Year for Cheshire Business Awards, Contribution to the Community for South Cheshire Chamber of Commerce and Signal 1 & 2 radio stations’ Local Hero Award.

To ensure we target and support the most pressing social issues, we have conducted a social audit partnering with the Charities Aid Foundation. This strategy review has involved many stakeholders including our board, colleagues, local council, local and national partners and community groups. This has identified and synthesised a range of salient social issues and challenges both locally and nationally. The launch of our new Advancing Life Chances Strategy is a milestone that reaffirms and renews our commitment to community investment and corporate citizenship, recognising the opportunity to drive positive change in communities both locally and around the world.

In working to advance life chances, our priority is to support organisations working with vulnerable people, disadvantaged and under-represented communities. The programme’s areas of focus are below:

Access: Remove the barriers and improve access to services, education and employability.

Empowerment: Development of the life skills that enable people to be more self-confident, successful and thrive in life.

Quality of Life: Provide support to live a healthier life both physically and mentally.

Better Future: Safeguarding the environment, improving nature-deprived areas, drive improvement to “place” and boosting community spirit.

These four pillars bring the Advancing Life Chances strategy to life and guide our decision-making on the programmes and projects we support. Through these we aim to contribute to tackling the most pressing social issues affecting people and communities.