Embracing employee communities is a core aspect of Cadent's Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I) strategy. Creating an equitable and inclusive workplace is a huge part of the culture at Cadent, ensuring all individuals are valued, enabling them to thrive at work and perform at their full potential.

We sat down with Liz Brand, Asset Investment Manager and Co-founder and Chair of Fertility Matters at Cadent, and Sam Hubert, Customer Centre Team Leader and part of Cadent's Men’s Engagement Network, to explore how their internal networks have successfully collaborated with HR and Health and Wellbeing teams to improve employee health and wellbeing across the entire business. Watch the full interview here.

The Cadent challenge: Providing comprehensive healthcare support for a diverse, field-based workforce

In her role as Co-chair of Fertility Matters at Cadent, Liz recognised Fertility and Family-forming as a hugely under-supported health and wellbeing issue at Cadent, which was leading to increased absence and disengagement. Employees were navigating major lifecycle hurdles, like fertility treatment and reproductive healthcare, alone. Many were unsure where to turn for clinical advice and worried about speaking up to their manager. Medical insurance did not cover fertility treatment, and their Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) was not able to provide specialist support, as the Advisors did not have the experience or knowledge to provide expert advice relating to fertility, family-forming and hormonal health.  

"They’re not set up to deal with that," says Liz. "They don’t have the relevant information to be able to offer a full response."

After looking into it, the Health and Wellbeing team recognised the lack of support was not isolated to fertility-related issues. Menopause, men’s and women’s reproductive health, and maternity were all impacting engagement, retention and employee wellbeing across the board.

With a workforce of over 5,000 employees, including heavily male, field-based engineering colleagues out on the ground, Cadent recognised that traditional support frameworks and their PMI were failing to address specific, deeply personal health challenges. Employees were experiencing emotional and psychological burdens in silence.

The solution: Inclusive health and wellbeing support, for all employees, in one place

Cadent’s journey towards a comprehensive benefit solution began within their employee networks but quickly became a health and wellbeing initiative. Cadent introduced health and wellbeing support for Fertility and Family-forming, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Menopause and Maternity care with Fertifa.  

Every single Cadent employee now has access to:  

• Direct support from our in-house clinical team
• Unlimited calls, messages and chats with a dedicated Clinical Advisor
• Advanced diagnostics and personalised treatment pathways
• Educational resources and guidance via the Fertifa app

By introducing Fertifa, Cadent brought concrete clinical support to their employees, addressing overlapping health needs, including women's health, menopause, and men's reproductive health, fertility and family-forming.  

"When we have [benefits] like this, it also attracts the best candidates to come and work for the company," Sam says. "There’s loads of different factors in it from a business point of view as to why all of this is important."

Since launching with Fertifa

• 35% of Cadent patients have had a call with a Fertifa Doctor or Nurse
• 70% of Cadent employees have made use of the Fertifa app library
• 11% of Fertifa’s clinical appointments with Cadent have related to Men’s Health
• 100% of Cadent Gas users rate Fertifa 4 or 5 stars

The strategic foundation of Cadent's ERGs

At Cadent, there are 7 Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), or “Communities” as they are known internally. These ERGs have been built over the years to address the needs of, and offer a supportive environment to, every single Cadent employee. The communities encompass LGBTQ+ individuals, those with disabilities, serving members of the armed forces, reservists, veterans and their families, ethnic and religious diversity, women, fertility, and the Men's Engagement Network.  

“As a line manager myself, I always try to encourage my team to get involved in Communities by attending sessions they’re interested in on their lunchtime or breaks.” - Sam.

To translate community insights identified by ERGs into real change, the ERGs collaborate formally with HR and senior leadership. Rather than operating in silos, the network leads have a shared "Chairs' Chat" to discuss overlapping issues, such as exploring parents' initiatives across the women’s, men’s and LGBTQ+ networks. Proposals and initiatives are then funnelled directly from the Chairs’ Chat to Cadent's ED&I steering group, who are responsible for driving ED&I initiatives throughout the organisation. This direct line of communication with the ED&I team ensures that employee insights are continually aligned with company policy, benefits, and strategic direction.

A partnership for the future

Recognising the need for cultural change, the organisation gave internal champions the space to step up, helping the HR function implement benefits that employees actually want, need and are relevant to them.  

Using this approach, linking authentic employee advocacy with Fertifa’s specialised clinical platform, Cadent has seamlessly woven healthcare into its core identity. Moving forward, the company continues to break down stigma, setting an inspiring example of how modern businesses can listen to and care for their people.