Sytner Group has launched a group-wide Diversity Forum initiative to encourage and promote equal career opportunities within the business.

The Forum will meet six times a year to actively pursue the aim of attracting a more diverse range of job role candidates and deliver on its commitment to colleagues of “Developing Talent and Building Careers”.

Chaired by Sytner chief executive, Darren Edwards (pictured), it consists of "colleague representatives from across the group’s divisions", according to a statement issued by Sytner.

Edwards said: “When we recruit we want to attract a rich mix of the best possible candidates regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability or age.

"The Diversity Forum will help us formalise ways of doing this consistently for every vacancy across the group.”

The Diversity Forum’s inaugural meeting was tasked with identifying barriers to recruitment and career progression.

As a result the group is already assessing ways of providing more flexible working practices and centralising recruitment to ensure a more consistent approach, it said.

Sytner Group’s director of HR, Melvin Rogers, said: “Our ambition is to have a more diverse workforce across all roles including management and senior management.

"To achieve this aim we need to provide a more family-friendly approach to working and identify where we can become more flexible in terms of work practices.

“The work of the Diversity Forum will help us formalise ways of recruiting in an inclusive manner which will be consistent across the business and will consolidate our position as a highly desirable employer offering career opportunities and progression for all colleagues."