Race and ethnicity
"There is no place within our organisation for racism. It simply won’t be tolerated. We all start from different places and we all have our own experiences. It will take us all to continue to show care, courage and curiosity to meet people where they are, to embrace our differences and to recognise the different qualities we bring." Philippa Bounds, Chief Legal Officer
Through racial and ethnic representation across our workforce we aim to reflect the communities in which we work. Here are some of the things we’re doing at Shell, subject to local laws and context:
Executive sponsors driving progress
Recognising the importance of senior executive sponsorship to drive progress, our executive sponsor for race and ethnicity is Philippa Bounds, our Chief Legal Officer, who reports into our Chief Executive Officer.
An approach shaped by our people
Our ongoing conversations on race and equity, at all levels of the organisation, help us to continuously learn and refocus on the importance of feeling valued, respected and included, and the actions we must take.
- Our Global Council for Race consists of senior Shell leaders and aims to advance race and ethnic diversity in our workforce so that it better reflects communities in which we work and serve, and provides insight, guidance and challenge – it does not make individual employment decisions. The Council also includes an external advisor.
- The Council is supported by a global Employee Advisory Board with employees from different parts of the world and was set up to ensure our race and ethnicity action plans are shaped by the voices and experiences of colleagues at Shell, and was refreshed in 2025. The Advisory Board has played a critical role in holding up the mirror, raising awareness, and providing us with feedback on what works and what doesn’t.
- Employee Resource Groups: Our employee resource groups play an important advisory role, offering valuable insights that help inform our DE&I approach. In addition to all our other employee groups, we support 17 employee resource groups focussed on race and ethnicity inclusion – including those with a focus on African, Asian, Black, Caribbean, Hispanic, Indigenous, Middle East and Pacific groups. We value our employee resource groups and nurture their development as part of our overall efforts for employee engagement and maintaining an inclusive workplace.
To learn more about our DE&I strategy, read our Ambitions around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and our Pillars and Goals and Guiding Principles.
The power of staff stories
By creating safe spaces to share and listen to each other’s experiences, we can learn more about what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes, reflect on our own experiences in that context, and more importantly what each of us can do differently to make someone else’s experience better. By doing so, we can all contribute to a more equitable and inclusive world. Many Shell colleagues around the world continue to courageously share their inspiring stories, which has created a deeper level of empathy among staff to reflect on and become stronger active allies. Here are some of our inspiring stories that were captured on film:
Kimberly"I had a teacher that told me I [a black girl] would never be a lawyer. That I should have some other expectation.” Kimberly is an Executive Vice President General Counsel at Shell and has long been an advocate for increased diversity in the legal and energy sectors.
Walid"It doesn’t matter which personal background you represent, you’re either really diverse and inclusive, and you are celebrating those differences, or you’re not.” Walid is an Executive Vice President and champions allyship and the responsibility we all have to shape a more inclusive world."
Unique People, Powerful Together: Walid, Executive Vice President champions allyship and the responsibility we all have to shape a more inclusive world.
Read the transcript
Read the transcript
Title: UNIQUE PEOPLE. POWERFUL TOGETHER: WALID’S STORY
Duration: 3.24 minutes
Description:
Walid is speaking directly to us. Looking in the lens, he tells us his story – in his own words. Walid shares his experience of growing up in Lebanon during the civil war.
[Background music plays]
Calm, gentle music plays over the film.
[Visuals]
Walid sitting in an armchair, we see him from the side, reading a book.
[Text displays]
My name could get me killed.
Voiceover
When you are judged, or excluded or discriminated, it’s probably one of the most negative things that human beings can experience.
[Visuals]
Walid sitting in a chair in his living room, we see him from the front with his arms resting on his legs. We then see him from the side.
[Text displays]
WALID SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, SHELL
[Visuals]
Walid sitting in a chair in his living room, we see him from the front with his arms resting on his legs. We then see him from the side.
Voiceover
So, I was born in Venezuela, To Lebanese parents, and when I must have been 4 or 5, we moved to Lebanon, back home.
Um, Lebanon was going through a very violent civil war.
[Visuals]
A building in Lebanon with severe gun fire marks can be seen on the walls. There are no windows. It’s just a shell. It’s a dark picture.
Voiceover
It was a sectarian civil war, so erh, along religious fault lines.
[Visuals]
A bombed building in Lebanon. There is no roof, you can see through to the sky.
Voiceover
There were times when there was continuous shelling for days, street fighting,
[Visuals]
Walid is seen first from the side, then straight on, leaning forward, with his arms resting on his knees, his head is leaning forward.
Voiceover
And those days where the fighting was intense, we used to spend it in a shelter, in a bunker, praying that we lived to see the next day.
Voiceover
If you were stopped at the wrong checkpoint, or you know, if someone felt overzealous, or they belonged to a different group then what your identity card said, then you could be shot dead in your car.
[Visuals]
Camera angle changes between a front view and a side view.
Voiceover
Remembering those times, gets a bit emotional for me. Errh.
Umm, I think the impact of discrimination on a human being is not a simple thing.
[Visuals]
We see Walid’s hands, he is holding his hands and rubs his hands together.
Voiceover
The stigma of being from round the middle east, being Arab is something that I have experienced a lot.
So, in airports, while others would pass in front of me and immigration in a few minutes, sometimes I would spend hours explaining, who I am and why I was born in this country and why I had an Arabic name and Um, how I react to this, is with tolerance and patience. It’s one of the things we need to Um, embrace and cultivate, and strengthen, in the work environment, in society.
[Visuals]
Camera moves between the 2 angles. Walid talks with his arms outstretched.
Voiceover
You are really either inclusive across the board, universally or you’re not. And that’s quite important and there are certain aspects of this that are still, socially difficult in the part of the world that I come from.
Gender, LGBT, race, religion, it doesn’t matter which personal background you represent. You are either really diverse and inclusive, and you’re celebrating those difference, or you’re not.
Voiceover
The big part of what we do is, is to create that environment, that safe environment, where people feel respected, where people feel like they can bring their human side to the office and just be themselves. I don’t think that I could change the world, but if I can make a bit of a positive impact on at least a bit of it that’s around me then that’s what I will do.
[Visuals]
Camera pulls back to show a wide shot of Walid, sitting in his living room. We see the camera and the lighting.
[Background music plays]
Shell jingle closes.
[Text displays]
Shell: Unique People. Powerful together.
[Visuals]
A Shell CTA & pecten appears on screen.
Unique People, Powerful Together: Kimberly, Executive Vice President at Shell, shares her journey to becoming a senior lawyer.
Read the transcript
Read the transcript
D&I - UNIQUE PEOPLE. POWERFUL TOGETHER: KIMBERLY’S STORY
Synopsis:
Kimberly is speaking directly to us. Looking in the lens, she tells us her story – in her own words. Kimberly in her own home, talking directly to the camera speaking candidly. A second camera provides an alternative angle where needed.
10:00:00:00
There is calm, gentle music playing in the background
[PICs. KIMBERLY AS A CHILD]
10:00:04:24 – 10:00:11:16
TEXT ON SCREEN
[Little black girls can’t become lawyers]
We see Kimberly enter her kitchen. There is camera equipment and a boom mic. She sits at her breakfast bar. A member of the film crew claps, like a clapper board, in front of her.
[On screen text]
Why can’t little black girls become lawyers?
V/O
I don’t think that there are many little black girls who dreamed of becoming a lawyer.
TEXT ON SCREEN
KIMBERLY
GLOBAL LITIGATION, SHELL
10:00:11:16 - 10:00:14:24
We then see her sitting facing the camera.
TEXT ON SCREEN
KIMBERLY
GLOBAL LITIGATION, SHELL
A member of the camera crew does the action of a clapperboard in front of Kimberly.
10:00:18:00 – 10:00:23:01
V/O
All I ever talked about was being a lawyer.
Kimberly
I just kept saying it. And I would tell anybody who would listen.
10:00:23:01 – 10:00:35:03
[PICs. KIMBERLY AS A CHILD & KIMBERLY with her siblings]
10:00:35:03 – 10:00:49:09
Kimberly is sitting quite upright, facing the camera, looking relaxed and smiling as she speaks.
10:00:35:03 – 10:01:02:02
The Camera moves to a side angle and back to a front facing view point.
10:01:02:02 – 10:01:14:10
V/O
I grew up in a working-class family. So, there wasn’t a lot of money for, you know, fancy prep schools and private schools. I certainly learnt, very early on,
Kimberly
that I had to be twice as good as other people around me because of the colour of my skin.
Kimberly
In junior high school, I had a teacher tell me that I couldn’t be a lawyer, I would never be a lawyer, that I should have some other expectation.
Kimberly
You know, I don’t know why that teacher said that, but I feel certain that she didn’t say that to her white students.
10:01:19:23
The camera focuses on Kimberly’s hands, held together, resting on the counter.
10:01:25:01 - 10:01:56:10
We see Kimberly looking at the camera.
The camera moves to a side angle.
V/O
In high school, we had a teacher, and he announces a test.
Kimberly
So, I take the test and I score 100 on the test, which he found suspicious.
And, you know, I was left feeling like, I mean, I was basically accused of cheating because the class was full of students who did not look like me. The next time there was a test, I was asked to take the test in the hallway.
Where does that leave somebody like me?
I just remember at the time, feeling very alienated.
10:01:56:10 – 10:02:07:08
We see Kimberly looking up, remembering the experience with sadness.
10:02:07:08 – 10:02:34:20
Kimberly is smiling at the camera.
The camera switches between the 2 angles.
V/O
How do we remove the perceptions, the stereo types, unconscious bias, all of the things that we’re now beginning to talk about,
Kimberly
So that when a young African-American girl tells a teacher that she wants to be the President of the United States or a justice on the US supreme court or an astronaut that the teacher embraces it, excites her, empowers her, and energizes her to achieve that goal.
10:02:34:20 - 10:02:49:16
We once again see Kimberly’s hands.
10:02:49:16 – 10:03:16.11
10:03:21:02
We end on an image of Kimberly, smiling into the camera.
V/O
If you had asked me 28 years ago
Kimberly
When I graduated from Law School, if I thought I would end up here, the answer would have been an emphatic no.
Kimberly
I have about 90 members of my team, sitting in 9 different countries and we look after the groups disputes worldwide. But it also gives me an opportunity to be what I hope is a good example of what black people can achieve, what black women can achieve, and I think that’s very important.
Suggested end strapline.
Shell Sound of Shell jingle closes.
SHELL:
UNIQUE PEOPLE. POWERFUL TOGETHER
Shell CTA and Pecten
A Shell CTA & pectin appears on screen.
A role for everyone
Shell employees and contractors are required to complete training courses that reinforce expected behaviours for a respectful, inclusive workplace, and build our stance against discrimination and harassment, including bullying and sexual harassment. Whilst it’s only one part of building an inclusive culture, it is an essential one when combined with our other actions to drive meaningful change. And to help turn theory into action, we have asked everyone at Shell to bring the lens of ‘care, courage and curiosity’ in their interactions with each other, to achieve genuine change in who we are, and how we show up – everyday. We continue to focus on building inclusive leaders and individual accountability for creating an inclusive culture.
Voluntary Self-Identification (Self-ID)
By better understanding who we are, we can work towards where we want to be. We have collected race and ethnicity data in the UK on a voluntary basis for several years. We have rolled out Self-ID for employees in other countries in our HR system, which includes an option to voluntarily declare race and ethnicity where relevant and legal. This will allow us to monitor progress against our DE&I aspirations.
Leadership programmes, mentoring and sponsorship
Across the world, we recognise that certain groups can experience additional challenges or potential barriers to access education, development or training opportunities. Our leadership programmes embed the importance of inclusive leadership, care and empathy to upcoming leaders. We also offer various mentoring and sponsorship programmes, which includes reverse mentoring with members of our leadership teams around the world. We’ll keep exploring ways to overcome the potential barriers that our people may face.
Flexible Working
We seek to build a sense of community and collaboration within Shell's sites where employees feel welcome and valued. By enabling people to balance their work and personal lives, we can help them perform at their best.
Pay, benefits and well-being
Pay is an important part of working life. Our Fair Pay Principles are designed to manage pay at Shell and help us ensure that employees are valued, respected and recognised for the work they do. Shell's pay is designed to be market competitive and free from bias. The basis for paying fairly is equal pay for equal work, taking into account factors such as performance and experience. Through regular benchmarking, Shell's compensation is typically higher than the minimum wage level observed locally, including in countries without legislation on minimum wage. Pay adjustment at Shell is linked to performance and we share this information with employees to help them understand how their pay adjustments are made. We continue to engage employees transparently and openly about our pay policies to help build understanding, trust and confidence in our approach. Shell provides a range of benefits, such as global minimum standards for life, accident and disability cover, as well as maternity and parental leave, except in certain cases where we are precluded from offering this. Our benefits packages are tailored to each country to meet the requirements of local laws and regulations.
Our goal is to empower our employees to feel their best and perform at their best. Care for people is a key desired behaviour within our performance culture. We do this by promoting mindsets and behaviours that support good health, and protecting our people from illness by mitigating known risk factors. We use evidence-based tools and provide access to timely support and care for those who are injured, ill or struggling.
Interventions to promote mental, physical and social well-being are delivered via a mix of measures. For example, through the design of our workspaces, through local benefit offerings such as gyms and health checks, and through our country-based employee networks, group activities and events. Our programmes and global campaigns, such as that for World Mental Health Day, help develop individual and team well-being skill sets to create healthy and psychologically safe working environments and nurture a culture of care.
Read more about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Shell
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