Diversity, safety and well-being in the rental industry – outcome of the ERA Sustainability Committee workshop

If you are a rental company or a rental association and would like to be represented in the ERA Sustainability Committee or in the OSH Working Group, please contact the ERA team at On 8 June, during the ERA Convention, the Sustainability Committee held a workshop on diversity, safety and well-being in the rental industry.

The workshop addressed two questions:

• • How can the rental industry capitalise on sustainability to attract talent?‎
  • What are the most important challenges in the area of diversity, safety and well-being in the ‎rental ‎industry and how to overcome them?‎

How the rental industry can capitalise on sustainability to attract talent

The rental sector should focus on a better explanation of the contribution of rental to the circular economy and should not be shy in competing for people with other industries and sectors. It is important to have a clear safety-first culture in the company and rental companies should show how they contribute to ‘goods’ such as healthcare, new ‎homes, utilities and services, transport, etc. Company leaders also need to underpin the core messages and ethos. They must lead by example. ‎

The most important challenges in the area of diversity, safety and well-being in the ‎rental ‎industry

The importance of referrals in building a diverse and committed workforce (‘refer a friend’) and widening the employment pool was discussed. Rental companies need to make an effort to understand expectations regarding work-life balance and to better sell the rental sector and its contribution to the economy and society. Sharing good practices is very helpful, particularly on social media. The topic of safety was also addressed: attitude and tolerance of risk will vary with age, etc., so business safety ‎policies need to be rigorous and the message must be adapted for diverse populations.

‎“Health & Safety” is an important business element for the rental industry – and one ‎of the core areas of ERA’s strategic plan is ‎to improve the attractiveness of rental as an employer – so the ERA Board decided to create a new Working Group dedicated to OSH (Occupational Health & Safety). This group of rental experts met for the first time on 11 September in Brussels for their kick-off meeting.

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If you are a rental company or a rental association and would like to be represented in the ERA Sustainability Committee or in the OSH Working Group, please contact the ERA team at [email protected].