Gender diversity in the compressed air industry
According to the Women’s Engineering Society, only around 11% of the British engineering workforce is female, although women have played and continue to play a significant role in this field.
In the world of compressed air, we find ourselves in a similarly male-dominated industry. We know at Atlas Copco Compressors UK, a customer centre within the global engineering company Atlas Copco Group, that diversity brings new ideas to the table and drives innovative solutions for our customers’ challenges.
The Group has a target to achieve 30% representation of women in the organisation globally. Here in Compressors UK, currently 23% of our workforce are women. Whilst we actively support gender diversity and equality, the challenge, as is common in this industry, is a shortage of suitable talent, especially female service engineers.
If you are already an engineer, or are thinking of pursuing an apprenticeship or a career in a non-engineering discipline within a leading engineering company, you will undoubtedly have questions as to whether the working environment suits your developmental needs or offers a good work-life balance.
Allow some of our female employees to explain what attracted them to work for Atlas Copco Compressors, hear their personal examples of flexible working, and find out why many of them have stayed and progressed with the company for a long time, even after changing life events, such as motherhood or relocation.
One of my priorities in my role, is to help increase diversity in the field of compressor operations. I am a Diversity & Inclusion ambassador and promote our mission to attract the best talent and to have a good balance of role models in our organisation. I would like the industry to know that Atlas Copco believes in the power and potential of diverse teams, that we offer equal opportunities, that we invest in apprenticeship programmes and offer a strong framework for training and competence development of all of our employees.