Marked every March 8th, International Women’s Day (IWD) celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women worldwide. It’s a day where people come together to celebrate women’s achievements, rally for women’s equality, and fundraise for female-focused charities.
At JLA, we’re always proud spotlight the achievements of women right across our business. And this year, we’re delighted to feature in ITN’s report about the day.
A year of progress since IWD 2022
We’ve spent 12 months working to expand initiatives that support women in their career development at JLA, and to reduce our gender pay gap. In this time, over 70 women have been promoted or taken on more responsibility within their roles thanks to their hard work, with support from:
- The JLA Mentor Programme
- Women in Leadership Apprenticeships
- Women in Engineering Apprenticeships
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy and EDI partners
- The Menopause Support Network
This International Women’s Day 2023, we pledge to:
- Extend our mentor scheme to support people in the local community through charity partner Focus4Hope, so that new and existing JLA mentors can use volunteering time to support people in our local communities
- Support colleagues on maternity leave by introducing our new keep-in-touch day programme, which maintains a continuous link between new mums and the business and helps with the transition back to work when the time comes
- Extend the JLA Mentor Programme, which has so far seen over 70 mentors trained across the business, and countless mentees receive advice, guidance and support to achieve their objectives.
What else are we doing to improve at JLA?
Closing the Gender Pay Gap
We continue to report on our gender pay gap and have put in place reward strategies and outcomes that are aligned with our objective to reduce our gender pay gap. In April 2022, our gender pay gap was 22.9% down from 23.3% in April 2021; this downward trend is expected continue as our initiatives gain traction.
JLA Mentoring Programme
Through our company-wide Mentoring Programme, three colleagues are now working towards their Women in Leadership Level 3 apprenticeship, with two more starting later this year. The focus of the course is to impart knowledge, skills and behaviours that stimulate a growth mindset, while inspiring and supporting current female leaders to realise their potential, understand possible barriers, and instil confidence to make positive change.
Women in Engineering Apprenticeships
Across the UK, there’s a striking gender imbalance in engineering, with only 15% of engineering roles filled by women. Over the last two years, we’ve recruited and trained a number of female apprentices across installations, catering, fire and security and HVAC roles. In the coming years, we’ll continue to invest in training whilst working with the recruitment company Women in Engineering to bring more female engineers and apprentices into JLA.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
We’re creating working environments and cultures where every individual can feel safe, have a sense of belonging and feel empowered to achieve their full potential. To support this, we introduced a network of EDI partners in September, whose role is to support our leadership team in taking action to create an inclusive workplace. Their work led to the introduction of our Menopause Support Network.
Menopause Support Network
For too long, menopause has remained taboo – avoided in workplaces and misunderstood by many. But thanks to emerging research and open conversation, we’re now seeing how big the impacts can be. In October 2022, JLA launched a Menopause Support Network – a monthly meeting held and facilitated by Liv Douglas from our Learning & Development team. This session helps people going through menopause connect with others and gives their mangers a platform to educate themselves and be able to better support their team.
Similar blogs you may like
Enhancing laundry at Sidney Sussex College
