The RailStaff Awards 2024

Louise Ebrey

Said the following about Sharon Salmon:

“I feel compelled to nominate Sharon for leading Network Rail’s Cultural Fusion employee network (CFN) over the last 6 years. When I met Sharon she was passionate about issues and finding her feet as a leader.

I have watched her blossom and grow. Under her leadership CFN

- rejoined the BITC mentoring scheme, leading to an in-house mentoring scheme being developed

- launched weekly tea-breaks exploring topical issues and giving much needed support to members during covid and every week since. These have been modelled by race equality matters for other companies to use

- developed an ally pack and ally network

- held inspirational informative events for black history month, hijab week and many more

Without Sharon, I wouldn’t have had the same positive ally journey. She’s recently handed over to new co-leaders. No one I know deserves this more.

The detailed version:

Sharon chaired Cultural Fusion Network (CFN) – a staff network at Network Rail for BAME colleagues and allies, promoting diversity and inclusion. She openly advocates for CFN and uniting BAME colleagues on issues around under-representation and inequality. She is very engaging and inspires people using this skill to join the network, and to build both the credibility of the network and its reputation growing membership to over 1,000 members.

Sharon has worked hard to provide members with a diverse range of activities. She arranges for several guest speakers at events to provide inspirational life stories and these include:

- The chief executive of the from the Sickle Cell Society to give a presentation to the CFN members, raising awareness about sickle cell and in addition arranging a 10k run to raise moneys for the Sickle Cell Society

- A representative from Anthony Nolan, a blood cancer charity trust, to provide awareness of black and minority ethnic donors reluctance to donate blood cancers and to engage members to donate blood and to increase membership for Anthony Nolan

-Interviewing award winning actress Naomi Ackee about the barriers in breaking into the film and tv world as a black actress

For the Cultural Fusion Network members, Sharon arranged for a Weekly Tea Break session to start In May 2020, Sharon conceived the idea of a Weekly Tea Break session for the CFN member as a way of providing mental health support to colleagues during COVID. These sessions provide a safe space for members to speak openly and honestly about their experiences and pains and cover a wide range of topical and sensitive subjects that affect people from a BAME background. Topics covered include Black Lives Matter, Body Images, Wearing coverings and menopause. The tea-breaks are very popular and very engaging and are also recognized externally of Network Rail, with over 350 companies signing up to understand how to run them.

Sharon advocates for and works toward change on diversity and inclusion within Network Rail and is part of the Race Matters Strategy group for Network Rail, which influences diversity and inclusion polices for the business. She also supports the business to develop and build platforms that promote diversity such as the Black Futures Leaders Programme and encourages staff to benefit from cross-industry mentoring through the Business in The Community (BiTC) programme which is now part of a programme that is in its 3rd year. Sharon also works hard to provide other career development opportunities for members and collaboratively works with Network Rail HR to provide regular events such as the Career Festival week, providing colleagues access to speakers covering personal branding, cv writing, growth mindset etc and aimed to help colleagues with their growth aspirations.

Lorraine Martin OBE, former Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Network Rail said: “Sharon has grown immensely in her role as the chair of our employee network Cultural Fusion.  Her confidence and collaboration has seen the employee network make enormous strides particularly during the last 18 months.  Sharon’s response to the death of George Floyd saw the employee network facilitate challenging and positive exchanges about race equality in Network Rail and wider society.  The outcome - Cultural Fusion Tea breaks – have become renowned for their engaging topics and the high levels of engagement from different parts of the business.  They have set the standard for hosting sensitive, virtual conversations, for example on topics like “are my language skills hindering my progress”.  The Tea Breaks have profiled as a useful way of supporting diversity and inclusion, during the first ever race equality week in February 2021, in which over 2000 businesses participated. 

Sharon has been pivotal in Cultural Fusion reaching beyond colleagues in Network Rail, working with colleagues in the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), and our train operating companies and with related sectors,  BAE systems, Jacobs, come to mind.  And under Sharon’s leadership Cultural Fusion has developed an ally’s pack which helps colleagues who are not from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background, appreciate what they need to do to be inclusive and actively anti-racist.   The membership of Cultural Fusion has grown and is incredibly diverse where black, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues feel supported and white colleagues can learn about diverse experiences.  Sharon has been tireless in her leadership efforts and more than deserves to be recognised for her fantastic contributions to Network Rail and the wider railway industry”.

A big believer in giving back, she has coached women to grow in confidence and attain interview success for promotions within the railway, in disciplines like commercial management, data analysis and project engineering.  She has manned stalls at graduate fairs encouraging applications from women and BAME people alike. She has been part of the government scheme to coach people and is currently mentoring a Kick Start recruit as part of an NR initiative working with Department of Works and Pensions to help unemployed people develop skills and write CVs.

Always full of contagious energy and with an infectious laugh, she has shown resilience whilst managing her job and caring for elderly family through medical challenges. She always brings her best self out and her desire to drive change for future BAME employees means she works hard, and quite often in her own time and in an unsung capacity to deliver for the people she is serving – mainly because of her love for helping others and her leadership role in CFN is outside of her day-job. Thank you, Sharon!“

Jonathan Payne

Said the following about Sharon Salmon:

“Sharon has been an amazing force for diversity and inclusion throughout her time in the industry. Her work in our race network cultural fusion and outstanding leadership has made massive improvements and really helped my D&I team do more and gain increased understanding. The reasoned, and appropriate responses she led to black lives matter, the murder of George Floyd and the effects of covid on different communities was great and benefited all of us. She is good fun and always happy to explain things to help others learn from her lived experience.

We have a long way to go in Network Rail and the industry but with people like Sharon involved I'm more convinced than ever we will get to where we want to be and an inclusive industry.“

Lily Kitchen

Said the following about Sharon Salmon:

“Sharon Salmon is a dedicated colleague and currently leads the Cultural Fusion Network for black, Asian and minority ethnic employees and their allies at Network Rail. The network has been an outstanding support to the HR Diversity and Inclusion team. Under Sharon’s leadership, the network’s leadership team have supported the diversity and inclusion team immensely by helping get messages out to their membership about the changes we are making to help Network Rail become a more diverse and inclusive organisation, and how the members can contribute to these changes. Sharon is an inspirational, driven and empathetic leader and has truly gone above and beyond in growing the employee network and caring for its members during an incredibly challenging year. Sharon has also supported the diversity and inclusion team with the Race Matters project steering group, helping to keep the group focussed on issues that matter to the Cultural Fusion members. Sharon works relentlessly to support the network and Network Rail’s aim to become a more open, diverse, and inclusive organisation. She does most of this work in her own time, outside of her day job as a Supplier Manager. As the Race Matters project manager I really appreciate her work.“

Rebecca Akintoye

Said the following about Sharon Salmon:

“Sharon Salmon has worked for Network Rail for 18 years and has a strong passion for diversity and inclusion. She felt frustrated with not being able to achieve her potential as a black woman and wanted to help people having the same experiences by giving them access to senior line management, development and networking opportunities, promotions and restoring people’s confidence and belief in themselves. She joined Cultural Fusion Network (CFN), the Network Rail (NR) BAME Employee Network, and 8 years ago when the Network was created. By volunteering as a Communications and Marketing Lead, she was driven by the need to be a driving force for her BAME colleagues and help bring issues such as under-representation and inequality to the fore. Over the years, she took up roles within CFN such external liaison lead as well as becoming deputy chair, and held 2 roles concurrently, whilst holding down her day job. She co-chaired for 3 years and became Chair for the CFN in 2019. Since becoming Chair, she has contributed and influenced Network Rail HR policies and the wider rail industry policies on diversity & inclusion and recruitment through instituting programs such as the Cross Mentoring Programme in 2018 run by BITC where she promoted this opportunity to colleagues at different levels. Sharon is also part of the Race Matters Strategy group for Network Rail, through which she helps to influence diversity and inclusion polices for the business.

For the Cultural Fusion Network members, Sharon started a Weekly Tea Break session in May 2020. These were started initially to provide support to colleagues during COVID and people being isolated in their homes; to provide a safe space for members to speak openly, honestly, and often movingly about their experiences and pains. These sessions have since grown to cover topics that matter to members. Sharon has coordinated and facilitated some of these sessions where subjects such as Black Lives Matter, career progression, lack of opportunities at work and culture appropriation have been discussed. The Tea Breaks have become very popular, reaching thousands of colleagues, and providing support through what has been for many, a difficult year.

Of Sharon’s activity with CFN, Pauline Holroyd, Group HR Director at Network Rail says: “Cultural Fusion has been a great initiative bringing people together to share ideas, experiences and shape strategy. Sharon has been our tireless facilitator, connecting diverse people and in doing so has really driven forward our diversity and inclusion agenda”. Sharon works hard to ensure sessions run smoothly and are engaging, making sure that the right topics, speakers and events in place for the members and ensuring team members are in attendance to provide support for speakers and that attendees are fully engaged. She has coordinated events such as the Black History Week, and engaged speakers such as Ansel Wong CBE Board Director for Nottingham Hill Carnival, and founder of Black History month in the UK, to speak free of charge to the Cultural Fusion members.

Anit Chandarana, Chief of Staff, Network Rail says: “The last 18 months have been challenging for all of us. Some people, though, made it their mission to help others through. And Sharon is one of those people. She saw a clear need to create a space where members of the network could get together and enjoy the company of others at a time when so many of us were feeling isolated and alone. The simple, yet so effective solution was the tea break. This is but one example of Sharon’s commitment to the network.”

One of Sharon’s biggest strengths is collaboration, and she has utilised this to promote and share diversity awareness within the wider Network Rail, and externally. Among other things, Sharon has:

• Written and provided several presentations on diversity and inclusion to the Network Rail teams based in Saudi Arabia, Canada and Australia, promoting awareness around the challenges and issues facing colleagues.

• Given cross-industry presentations providing insights into the CFN network, showcasing NR as an employer of choice and leading the way in inclusive conversations.

• Highlighted, as part of a collaborative event with ARUP Engineering, the under-representation of black minorities taking up engineering fields and highlighted role models and plans to help increase awareness and promote opportunities.

• Supported colleagues’ developments through arranging targeted career development days, including cross-industry career development days in conjunction with Atos, and cross-industry mentoring as part of the Business in the Community (BiTC).

• As part of the CFN Black History month events, she held an inspirational interview with award winning actress Naomi Ackee.

• Represented Network Rail at external events like the Rail Inclusion Conferences and the Diversity and Inclusion conferences.

Working tirelessly and selflessly, with most of these activities being carried out in her own time for the greater good, she is an unsung hero all and is very much deserving of recognition.“