Evri’s HR chief takes the wheel to champion female drivers

6th February 2024: Evri, the UK's biggest dedicated parcel delivery company, today announced its ambition to become the employer of choice for female drivers in the industry. While 30% of its couriers are women, the number of female HGV, LGV and van drivers remains around 3%, only slightly above the industry average.

Lyn Warren, Evri's Chief Human Resources Officer, is spearheading the company's efforts to close this gap. With over 20 years of experience in HR and retail, Lyn brings a wealth of expertise in building inclusive and engaging workplaces. She is leading by example, currently undergoing training to obtain her own CAT C licence, demonstrating Evri's commitment to inspiring other women to consider these fulfilling career paths.

Evri's announcement during National Apprenticeship Week, which takes place from 5th to 10th February 2024. The company will be using the week to highlight its commitment to apprenticeships and attract new talent into the logistics industry.

Evri will launch several initiatives to attract and retain female drivers, including:

·       A new recruitment and communications campaign to raise awareness and champion female drivers as well as providing more information on becoming a trainee driver, which will include experienced female drivers telling their stories.

·       Listening groups with existing female drivers to understand how Evri can make its workplace a more inclusive environment. Evri wants to ensure that when attracting new drivers, they are retained, and their experience is a positive one.

·       A mentoring programme with existing experienced female drivers to support new ones. It can be daunting starting a new career in any environment, and feedback from our existing female drivers has shown the value of having a mentor they can ask questions.

Driver roles at Evri are often day shifts and in most instances, return to their start point within the shift, meaning no sleeping in cabs. This has often been given as a blocker to women taking driver roles. Evri has dedicated Driving Academy facilities across the UK, including Wakefield and Hemel Hempstead where a pipeline of future LGV drivers are given the training required to achieve their CAT C or to progress to CAT C+E licence. Evri funds this training for both internal and newly recruited colleagues. Lyn Warren is mid-way through her training and hopes to pass this year.

Aspiring drivers can find out more and apply at: www.evri.com/driver-academy

Further information

In the past year, Evri has launched new policies in line with its ambition of creating a truly inclusive workplace, including its menopause and fertility guides, transitioning at work guide, and inclusive language handbook.

Evri's commitment to gender equality extends beyond HGV drivers. The company is also working to increase the representation of women in other traditionally male-dominated roles in our operation. Evri’s latest Gender Pay Gap report, published in 2024, shows that it has increased the number of women in leadership roles, has a mean gender pay gap of 2.5%, well below the UK’s mean gender pay gap at 8.3%, and a higher percentage of women than men achieved a bonus in 2023.

According to data published by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, the percentage of women taking a LGV CPC practical test increased from 4.6% in 2021-22 to 5.4% in 2022-23 up to 6.4% in 2023-24 so far. Evri hopes to see this increase at a faster rate. More than 200 apprentices and trainee drivers have gone through Evri’s driving academy in the last two years.