To celebrate International Women’s Day this year, myself and colleagues across the business have been thinking about what it means to us at Henry Boot. At the end of this article is a short film we have created sharing the stories and experiences of some of my brilliant female colleagues across the Group
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is Choose to Challenge and it is a theme that feels particularly relevant to our business and the sector we represent this year.
All of us have faced huge challenges and issues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and it has been disheartening to read of the negative impacts the pandemic has caused to the movement for gender equality in the workplace. I believe that the real challenge for us all, both over the year ahead as we build back from Covid-19 but also over the longer term, will be to maintain our collective resilience and to ensure that our support for, and commitment to, equality in the workplace is not dimmed but is in fact galvanised and approached with fresh energy and momentum.
'I am proud to work alongside some amazing female colleagues at Henry Boot.'
We also have to challenge our own businesses to do better. I am proud to work alongside some amazing female colleagues at Henry Boot. We have a range of hugely talented women in our business who work in roles from Apprentices to Area Managers and Paralegals to Planners. We also have some inspiring female leaders in our business and myself and my colleague Amy Stanbridge, our General Counsel and Company Secretary, were both pleased to have joined the Group’s Executive Committee earlier this year.
But we have more to do. Events over the past year have shown us that now is a time for action and for businesses to work hard to engage with and support the communities and environments we work in and alongside to make sure that our commercial operations create lasting social value. It is also essential that our communities see themselves represented in business. The built environment sector has traditionally struggled to achieve significant diversity and inclusion, and now is the time for us all to challenge ourselves to put that right. We are working hard to tackle this challenge and later this year will be sharing some of our actions to increase gender diversity and representation within our business.
So whilst we have some truly incredible women who work for Henry Boot that we want to celebrate on International Women’s Day (and every other day for that matter!) the truth is we want more. More amazing women to join our business and lend their skills, innovation and passion to drive us forward to long term success. More women filling a wide range of roles across our Group. More women who see our business and the built environment sector as the right fit for them. It is an ambition we look forward to working hard to fulfilling.
- Rachel White, Head of HR
