Sodexo names new head of diversity and inclusion

Catering and facilities management company Sodexo UK & Ireland has appointed Raj Jones as its permanent Head of Diversity & Inclusion.

Sodexo has a revenue of €22b and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. The UK & Ireland office is based in London. 

Sodexo is an employer that sees the value of inclusion   

Jones started her career with Sodexo in 2007, taking on a role in Learning & Development for the Justice part of the business before moving to a secondment with the central Diversity & Inclusion team.

After five years, she took up a role at London’s South Bank University as a member of their Diversity & Inclusion team before returning to Sodexo a year later as part of its Diversity & Inclusion team.

In 2019, she was promoted to Diversity & Inclusion Manager and has led the function since spring 2020 on an interim basis.

In addition, Jones was appointed to the race and equality in HTL Committee in 2020.

“I am really pleased to be appointed Sodexo UK and Ireland’s permanent Head of Diversity & Inclusion, having led the function on an interim basis since last year”, said Jones. “Sodexo is an employer that really sees the value of inclusion in the workplace and has a strong desire, and commitment, to achieving sustainable positive culture change.”

There is more that unites people than divides 

“Raj is an experienced, passionate, and skilled Diversity & Inclusion practitioner”, said Sarah Perry, Sodexo’s HR Director UK & Ireland. “She works closely with our global colleagues and is a member of the global Cultures and Origins, Generations and Pride workstreams. She is a strong advocate for grassroots involvement with a firm belief there is more that unites people than divides. I look forward to working with Raj and her team in supporting the agenda for Diversity & Inclusion and wish her every success in this next step of her Sodexo journey.”

Committed to positioning diversity and inclusion as one of its key priorities, in 2019 Sodexo publicly pledged, through Business in the Community’s Race to Work charter and through the INvolve/EMpower ethnicity pay gap mandate framework, to publish its ethnicity pay gap. 

Sodexo became the first company in the hospitality and FM industry to do this when the report went live in May 2021.