Orbia (Wavin), one of our Strategic Partners, highlights how data collection helped their organisation to improve their policies supporting women in the workplace.
In 2021, we shared a ‘Women in Wavin’ Survey with all our female colleagues and asked for their thoughts and opinions on how it feels to be a woman in a male-dominated workplace. The aim of the survey was to understand how we could create a culture and environment where women were happy, treated as equals to their male counterparts and where they could reach their full potential. Or in short, what we could do better.
We have undertaken the survey every year since then and it became apparent that while our female colleagues generally feel respected and treated equally, they felt they would benefit from a support network. As a result of this, a Teams Chat Group was set up within which female colleagues share tips, magazine articles, vitamin recommendations, etc. and the conversation seemed to naturally veer towards all things Menopause related.
The Group became a safe space where women could reach out and receive support and the conversation slowly turned towards raising awareness amongst other colleagues and leaders within the business. This was further amplified in this year’s survey results with the lowest score generated in response to the question ‘the business effectively educates the whole workforce on female-related health issues such as the menopause.
It became clear that we needed to act. As a result, we have devised a Menopause Policy which will be communicated to all employees in October to coincide with World Menopause Day. In conjunction, we will also be delivering awareness training to all line managers who have direct people leadership responsibility. This will raise awareness by enabling them to identify which team members may need additional support, how to have that conversation and where further support is required, how to provide that. This is going to make a huge difference to our female colleagues who are peri or menopausal.
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