Being awarded the Diversity Charter Mark is a proud moment for NI Water. The Charter is recognition of how we have worked to create a culture at NI Water where everyone can fulfil their full potential. We were particularly delighted with the judge’s recognition of our recent apprenticeship recruitment campaign. This resulted in the recruitment of four female water apprentices (13% of this year’s cohort) which helps increase female representation within our frontline workforce.
Listen to Rachel Moffitt, a former apprentice, talking about her experience as the first female apprentice at NI Water.
You can also listen to one of our current apprentices, Erin Tennyson regarding her experience as a female apprentice.
NI Water believe that creating and cultivating an Inclusive workforce enables us to attract, develop, inspire and reward top talent. And it creates an environment that unleashes innovation, allows our people to perform at their very best and underpins a culture in which everyone feels they have an equal opportunity to belong and build a career.
This commitment starts at the top with our chairman, chief executive officer and Board. And we expect leaders at all levels to help create and sustain a culture of equality where everyone can advance and thrive. Our areas of focus include gender, ethnicity, LGBTI, religion, persons with disabilities and cross-cultural diversity.
We strive to ensure that all our people are compensated fairly and equitably throughout their careers.
We work with LGBT+ partners such as the Rainbow Project in Belfast to help create a safe, inclusive place to work through support and ongoing campaigns like #nobystanders. NIW attends annual Pride events, raising awareness whilst promoting water efficiency
Our STEM network helps us to create balance for better. STEM is an acronym that stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
We partner with both Women in Science and Engineering and the Women’s Utilities Network to help us attract and retain female talent.
While the Water Industry has traditionally been male-dominated, women are increasingly joining the ranks of STEM professionals. On the surface, it might seem like there is good overall gender equity in the STEM job types. However, the NI Equality Commission reports that whilst women make up half of the STEM workforce, the number of women working in different STEM roles varies widely. Schools, universities, community programs, as well as the Utility Sector in Northern Ireland, are taking steps to promote opportunities for both genders within STEM education in the last several years.
“NI Water, are actively working along with Northern Ireland Electricity, schools and Universities to increase the number of women in the STEM program,” said Sara Venning CEO of NI Water, “We want to empower and promote the growth of women in STEM. In doing so, our STEM Ambassadors bring a lot of benefits to NIW and it has a positive impact on the lives of young people.”
NIW STEM Ambassadors make an impact by:
Supporting learning
Helping young people to understand the real-world applications of their STEM learning
Illuminating careers
Showcasing different careers, providing information on roles and pathways into industry while raising awareness of the skills that are important in the workplace.
Raising aspirations
Giving young people the opportunity to meet a wide range of inspiring role models, encouraging them as they think about their future.
Finally, Angela Knott, one of NI Water’s leading STEM ambassadors talks about her job and the impact her work as a STEM ambassador has made:
