Reducing barriers to women working in engineering
pitt&sherry provides engineering and environmental consulting, advisory and project management services throughout Australia and abroad.
pitt&sherry are focused on incorporating equity, diversity and inclusion into their attraction, recruitment, and business practices to support and retain women. As they work in traditionally male-dominated industry, pitt&sherry are using the Workforce Australia - Career Revive program to identify opportunities in their business that can reduce the barriers of employing and retaining women.
The pitt&sherry human resources (HR) team are focussed on updating their policies and processes to support broader strategic initiatives, including:
- updating the parental leave policy to meet industry best practice, including entitlements and return-to-work incentives
- refreshing policies and information on flexible working arrangements
- developing a ‘Return to work’ pack that clearly outlines:
- the process for employees who return from parental leave
- how managers can support the returner
- other supports that are available in the organisation.
Employees and managers at pitt&sherry are directly involved in the development of HR policies. Early feedback suggests the updated policies are no longer ‘one-size-fits-all’ as the policies do not reflect the diverse needs of employees.
The HR team also participated in Career Revive capability workshops to improve actions focused on diversity and inclusion.
The HR team has taken on board information from the workshops, and from other participating businesses, to implement improved workforce strategies. They are exploring learning and development opportunities, such as:
- micro-credentials, to build and maintain skills in their workforce
- determining if there are alternative entry pathways for employees beyond the current recruitment process, including partnerships with vocational education institutions.
With the help of Career Revive, pitt&sherry’s HR team have enhanced their policies and processes whereby attracting more women into the workplace and retaining more staff returning from leave.
