Our aim is to be an employer of choice for all

How we plan to make a difference

Our initiatives predominantly sit within our recruitment practices, our learning and development opportunities and our apprenticeship and graduate initiatives. Our belief is that a youngster’s future interests, both male and female, is partly driven by parental input, educational provisions and their first experiences of the world of work. We believe it is our corporate responsibility to address any unconscious gender bias, when promoting future job opportunities, especially within sciences, engineering and technically biased roles. We are actively working with both schools and parents to ensure Polypipe are seen as a potential employer of choice for both males and females alike.

Building the future pipeline

We undertake a number of school initiatives, as well as exhibit at careers fairs, to speak with parents and teachers about the opportunities at Polypipe and we also attend a number of STEM focused events to encourage all students into the world of work, especially within technically biased roles. We partner with a number of relevant supporting bodies such as the BPF and EEF to drive initiatives which enable change. We also offer our knowledge and experiences as directors and governors within schools and on a Multi Academy Trust, along with Sector Skills Councils, to develop pipeline initiatives fit for the future.

Our people, our policy

When we take a view of our internal practices every employee has an opportunity to apply for promotional roles and access career development opportunities within Polypipe. However it is clear it will take time for our gender split to change. We are pleased that over recent years we have had more female employees stepping into more senior roles but without encouragement this could potentially be a slow transition. This is where we intend to promote our apprenticeship programmes and planned graduate schemes to present ourselves more favourably to students of both genders.