Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
Building a workplace where everyone can achieve their everything – with pride.
Everything that makes our colleagues themselves – makes us Asda. We want to create a truly inclusive culture, where everyone has the confidence to be themselves. Here’s how we’re doing it.
Be your everything
Foodies, hikers, fashion designers, cyclists, we’ve all got our own thing. And we love it. Hearing about the stuff you’re passionate about, the things that make you unique – that’s what makes us Asda. So we want to create a truly inclusive culture, where everyone has the confidence to be themselves. Where you can celebrate your everything.
That's why we've created our Inclusion Networks, often known as Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to help steer our efforts on this journey. They cover Accessibility, Ethnicity, LGBTQ+, Wellbeing, and Women in Asda.
You can find out more about all our Network groups here.
Where we’re at…
We’re so proud of where we’re at on our journey to create a culture that embraces and celebrates everyone, no matter who you are. But we know there’s always more work to do, and further steps we can take to make things better. So we’re always looking for them, and listening to our colleagues – to help us get things right.
Our strategy when it comes to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion covers these key pillars…
- Improve gender and ethnicity representation at leadership levels
- Drive awareness and build capability for advancing inclusion across all levels of our business.
- Embed Equity, Diversity and Inclusion through the entire colleague lifecycle, driving tangible business outcomes
- Listen, act and celebrate our colleagues every day
We know there’s so much more to learn, lots of room to improve, and even stronger networks we can create to stay committed and connected to championing difference. And these areas keep us focused on the heart of ED&I, and everything we’re trying to do here at Asda.
What we've achieved
As the first supermarket to partner with DFN Project SEARCH, a programme supporting young people with autism and/or learning disabilities into paid employment, we welcomed five interns to our Queensferry store in October 2023 and extended the partnership to a further 10 stores in September 2024, bringing the total number of interns at Asda to over 70. We’re excited to be bringing on board even more stores in 2025, and rolling out the programme to some of our depot sites to provide interns with exposure to a broader range of roles and opportunities.
GSM Adele Quinn was named Diversity & Inclusion Hero of the Year at the 2025 Retail Week Awards for her part in launching this innovative and life-changing programme at Asda and we were delighted to be selected as Host Business of the Year by DFN Project SEARCH in 2024.
Since launching in 2021, almost 900 colleagues have taken part in the Asda Intentional Allyship programme, our bespoke development programme for women and colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds, helping more colleagues from under-represented backgrounds progress into leadership roles.
In 2023, we shared our commitment to being a Menopause Friendly Employer through our partnership with Menopause Friendly and continue working towards Menopause Friendly Accredited Status. In 2024, we were shortlisted in two categories at the Menopause Friendly Awards in recognition of the progress we have already made.
We renewed our Disability Confident Level 2 status in 2024 as part of our ongoing commitment to supporting colleagues with disabilities.
…and where we’re going with it
The colleague voice is at the heart of making Asda a place where everyone can succeed. With that in mind, our Inclusion Networks are a place where all of our 150,000 colleagues can get involved in the conversations we’re having around inclusion.
The digital platform housing our Inclusion Networks keeps all our colleagues up to date with the latest inclusion news, from upcoming events to activities they can join. It's also a forum for colleagues to ask questions, share their thoughts and feedback, connect with other colleagues, and understand what support is available to them.
Our Networks are playing a huge part in keeping us moving forward on our ED&I journey. So we can create a workplace that’s inclusive, safe and supportive for all our colleagues, customers, and the communities we work with.
DFN Project SEARCH
Launching in the summer of 2023, Asda and Coleg Cambria, in partnership with DFN Project SEARCH, have worked closely with a group of young people with a learning disability or learning difficulty from the college to provide them with a full-time course of study based at the store with access to work based experiential learning every day as well as a specific employability curriculum.
The programme set out to teach these students work skills and building confidence so that they can gain employment once their education finishes with any employer.
We now have over 70 interns joining us in 10 stores and are looking forward to expanding the programme further in 2025 to support more young people with learning disabilities and/or autism into paid employment.
Fast With Me
During Ramadan 2025, our Asda Muslim Network hosted a Fast with Me event, giving non-Muslim colleagues the opportunity to experience fasting for a day, learn and understand the significance of Ramadan and fasting, and come together with Muslim colleagues for a day of reflection, unity and a delicious Iftar (breaking of the fast) meal.
It’s diverse, interesting, and really exciting because you just never know what’s going to happen each day.
Rosemary,
Pharmacist,
Morley
And supporting you through everything
We know an inclusive culture means caring about the wellbeing of our colleagues and their families. To do that, we’re working together to remove the stigma around mental health. So everyone can come into work knowing they’ll have the support they need to feel seen, and feel better. In October 2023, we launched our latest wellbeing and inclusion module especially developed for line managers, so our leaders have the tools they need to best support themselves and their teams. We were thrilled to be recognised for the fantastic impact this module has at the 2024 Business Disability Forum Awards, taking home the Mental Health & Wellbeing at Work Award.
Our Memberships
Find your everything
Everything that makes us different, makes us Asda – and we think that’s pretty amazing. Find out about what we’re doing to create a space where everyone can celebrate themselves, and others.