Almost a quarter of HBPW’s workforce was born outside the UK, with at least three individuals from Wales and Northern Ireland.
And, at a time when societal pressure is keen to encourage more diverse teams, management can claim to be doing more than most to redress the diversity balance.
“We may not be perfect,” says Partner Jon Livesey, “but you would go a long way to find such diversity in a company where there are just 33 staff, eight of whom were born outside the United Kingdom.
Malawi
“It would be nice to see more female engineers – we currently have just one – however, that will change over time as more come through the ranks of what has traditionally been a male dominated profession.”
Countries represented in HBPW’s workforce include Greece, Russia, Sri Lanka, Malawi, Egypt, Malaysia, Poland, Wales, Ireland and, of course, England.
According to research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) studies have shown that non-diverse workplaces can be happier and display more co-operation among employees, but despite this, do not match up to the performance of more diverse teams.
Northern Ireland
MIT economist Sara Ellison, said: “….higher levels of social capital are not important enough to cause those offices to perform better. Employees might be happier….more comfortable….but they seem to perform less well.”
“HBPW is an exceptionally busy firm and, quite frankly, we don’t have time for discrimination!” added Jon Livesey. “We get some of the best applicants and if they are competent that is enough, irrespective of sex, race, religion or language.”
Recently mechanical engineer Yassmin Abdel-Magied, founder of Youth Without Borders, has been championing diversity in the work place, especially in the engineering sector.
She told New Civil Engineer magazine that when people had similar backgrounds and training, they looked to each other to confirm what they already thought. That, she contested, led to bad outcomes.
Malaysia
“Yassmin Abdel-Magied has a point,” added Jon. “Here, and I can only speak for HBPW, there really are a range of diverse views and, culturally speaking, certain cultures say what they are thinking in a way that people from the UK often flower language for fear of hurting someone’s feelings and that can lead to ambiguity or misinterpretation.
“That diversity of culture undoubtedly enhances the working environment and makes for a healthier set of decisions based on honesty, directness and different perspectives,” he added.