Leng Montgomery has been appointed as UK Diversity & Inclusion Manager at Cushman & Wakefield, a new role for the firm as it seeks it further embed inclusive action and values into its business culture.
Montgomery, who joins the firm from Sainsbury’s, has significant experience advising public and private sector companies on LGBT inclusion strategies and best practice, in addition to extensive BAME, Disability and Gender work. An active LGBT advocate and TEDx speaker, he was nominated as a Corporate Rising Star in the British LGBT Awards 2018.
Montgomery’s responsibilities will include structuring and coordinating activities for Inspire, Cushman & Wakefield’s UK Diversity & Inclusion programme dedicated to respecting differences and nurturing strengths across its UK workforce. Launched two years ago, the Inspire programme operates across six pillars: Gender; LGBT; Mental & Physical Health; Work/Life Solutions; Socio-Economic; and Ethnicity & Culture.
The newly appointed Inspire Chair and UK Executive Committee sponsor at Cushman & Wakefield, Karen Clements, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Leng to the firm. As an LGBT and trans advocate and broader D&I specialist, he will be driving forward a business focused diversity and inclusion plan to support our Inspire initiatives. He will also spend part of his time working with our Early Careers team on our school outreach programme, helping spread the word about a potential career in real estate to young people from a wide variety of backgrounds.”
Leng Montgomery, Diversity & Inclusion Manager at Cushman & Wakefield, said: “I am so proud to be part of an organisation that is taking steps to build a more inclusive culture. Inspire is already a very active and well-engaged programme and I look forward to developing its agenda even further, helping to ensure Cushman & Wakefield, and the property sector at large, continues its upward trajectory and enjoys the benefits of a more inclusive and diverse workplace.”
One example of Inspire in action is Cushman & Wakefield’s +1 work experience initiative, whereby for every person who secures work experience through a personal or professional connection, it is ‘matched’ with a placement of equal length for an individual with no such connections. This initiative aims to improve access to work experience beyond traditional routes, by helping people from a wider range of backgrounds gain their first exposure to the industry.
Inspire also worked in partnership with Human Resources and UK Executive Committee to create a UK Agile & Flexible Working Policy supporting colleagues to feel empowered to make effective decisions about where, when and how they perform their work, irrespective of grade, role and location.
In March, with the support of Inspire, Cushman & Wakefield launched CushParents, an inclusive and inspiring new support network for parents, expectant parents, carers and colleagues who are considering becoming working parents/carers at some stage, and enhanced its family-friendly policies, to include a two week ramping-back-up-time for colleagues returning from maternity, shared parental, adoption or surrogacy leave and an additional three days leave per year for all colleagues to care for dependents.