Sonnedix goes for Gold: Solar Diversity Champion 2024
We sat down with Aditi Bhat, Talent Acquisition & DEI Manager, at Sonnedix, to chat about what winning the award means to the company, what initiatives were pivotal in this success, the importance of celebrating diversity in the solar sector, and much more!
We’re incredibly proud to be recognised as the Gold Solar Diversity Champion Award 2024 winner! This award highlights our dedication to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within Sonnedix, and the broader industry. Since 2020, we’ve been working on ambitious, long-term initiatives aimed at creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce. This recognition not only validates the progress we’ve made, but also inspires the team, and motivates us to push further, knowing that our DEI journey is ongoing, with much more to explore and improve upon.
One of the standout initiatives that contributed to this award is our internship programme. We designed it to provide career opportunities for people from underrepresented groups, and to give them access to meaningful roles in the solar and renewable energy sector, including women, young people, and individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Over the past five years, we’ve offered more than 50 paid internships, with 40% of participants transitioning into permanent positions. Even more notably, 56% of our interns have been women, reflecting our ongoing commitment to gender equity. This programme is central to our vision of inclusivity, and we’re committed to expanding its impact in the years to come.
Our internship programme is a long-term initiative, and we’re focused on continuing to widen our talent pool, while ensuring it remains diverse by considering how it can enhance social mobility. Moving forward, we plan to stay connected with past interns to track their progress and understand how their time with Sonnedix has impacted their career paths, and to find new ways to reach other under-represented groups. By learning from their experiences, we can refine our strategies and further strengthen our DEI efforts within the solar industry.
At Sonnedix, we’re committed to driving diversity and inclusion through centralised global programmes, and by tailoring initiatives to the unique needs of each country where we operate. For example, while our global initiatives like enhanced parental leave policies, hybrid work arrangements and strong culture reinforce DEI, we are also developing country-specific initiatives to address local challenges and opportunities.
To measure the impact of these initiatives, we’re focusing on both quantitative and qualitative metrics. We track outcomes such as career progression and retention rates for interns, while also gathering employee feedback to assess how our DEI efforts influence workplace culture and individual development. Our ‘Inclusion Scorecard’ has been a powerful tool to monitor and enhance our inclusivity. Additionally, since 2022, we’ve hosted a global ‘DEI Summit,’ an open-to-all virtual conference to foster greater DEI awareness across the industry. This year’s summit, which took place on 22 October, will focus on resilience—an essential skill for navigating today’s volatile world.
Looking ahead, we’re excited to expand our programmes by introducing short-term work placements. These placements will provide more flexible opportunities for individuals to gain experience in the solar industry, helping us reach an even wider and more diverse talent pool.
© Sonnedix
Celebrating diversity is crucial because it drives awareness, knowledge-sharing, and best practices across the sector. We’ve learned a great deal from fellow finalists and past winners of this award, which has allowed us to adopt and adapt new initiatives within our own organisation. We are also building our own library of case studies to inspire current and future interns and team members alike. By spotlighting these efforts, we hope to inspire other companies to embrace diversity, ultimately leading to a more equitable solar workforce.
Awards like this one are more than just recognition—they have a ripple effect and act as catalysts for industry-wide change. They inspire companies to innovate and integrate DEI into their core strategies. For us, providing green, affordable energy isn’t just about producing electrons; it’s about ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities we serve. DEI plays a key role in ensuring our organisation has a variety of perspectives that mirror our stakeholders and customers, ultimately helping us deliver better solutions.
DEI has always been central to our culture, and in 2020, we formalised this commitment with a dedicated DEI strategy and Manifesto, setting ambitious goals for 2030. We believe that success comes from planning and execution, with learning from others— sharing and connecting with organisations that have effective DEI initiatives can provide valuable insights. Building a network allows for the sharing of best practices and the creation of a robust, long-term DEI framework. Crucially, leadership support is essential. At Sonnedix, we are fortunate to have unwavering backing from our Chairman, CEO, and Senior Leadership team, ensuring DEI is embedded in everything we do. Transparency and data-driven approaches are also vital—by collecting data, we can develop more targeted, impactful initiatives. There is so much more we can achieve, we are looking forward to working with the wider sector to deliver diversity, equity and inclusion that will accelerate the energy transition.
Header image: © Sonnedix
