International Women’s Day 2022 – How SOCOTEC Employees are Breaking the Bias

Working at SOCOTEC, no two days are ever the same. My role is based in the Environmental Science division and I am responsible for bringing in new business, managing the estimating team, setting pricing levels and retaining/managing existing key contracts for environmental chemistry.

Another part of my job is to work very closely with other business units and divisions on strategic cross-divisional opportunities. On most days, I will have conversations with our customers, interpret technical documents and produce proposals or tenders, show customers around our labs, communicate with our operational and technical teams or learn from our technical experts. I may also be involved in industry events or conferences and working with our marketing team to prepare.

I have a background in science and education – science (particularly chemistry) is my thing! I’m also passionate about making a real difference in our environment to improve the legacy that we leave for future generations. Working in environmental chemistry and supporting our customers who have similar goals to monitor the environment and prevent pollution brings together a number of my interests and goals. The customer-focused, commercial element of my role suits me best, as I love meeting new people and learning constantly.

International Women’s Day is a day to celebrate female achievements and improve visibility and opportunities for women, especially in the workplace, where there still remains an absence of equity in many industries.

For me, the focus must be on equity over equality. Women do have different lives to men for a number of biological and social reasons, so they require different support in the workplace to allow them every opportunity of reaching the same outcomes.
 

If we are serious about breaking the bias and pushing past gender stereotypes, we need to make changes in everything we do, from PPE which fits women properly to policies which specifically support women’s issues.

I don’t like to give stereotypes any headspace – I work with and for men and women in SOCOTEC and feel valued as a member of the team, regardless of their gender or my own. I don’t try to take on ‘male’ characteristics to get ahead, as I see value in my ‘female’ characteristics and behaviours (listening, empathy, calmness, problem-solving and tenacity) to get the job done.

Your gender is definitely not a barrier to achieving your goals. In fact, your ‘female’ character attributes could well be the things which make you the best person for the job.

My day-to-day responsibilities are based around managing our environment and workplace, monitoring contracts and conducting regular routine monitoring valued at £1.6m per annum. I also liaise with our rail clients, looking after the majority of the UK train operating companies and train builders on all aspects of accounts and client management, including the provision of services, pricing and invoicing and delivery of reports.

My role is to ensure that the quality and deliverables exceed customer expectations, so I organise regular contract review meetings with customers, ensuring all outstanding actions are followed up and closed out. 

I occasionally still get my hands dirty to undertake site audits of the train wash plants and chemical approvals for use in the rail industry. Having initially started back when we were Scientifics and carrying out the field work that make up the bulk of environmental contracts, I tend to be the first point of contact for clients regarding adverse results in their reports that require further explanation.

After completing my biology degree, I wanted a break from science, so I took a year out temping. The job opportunity then arose at SOCOTEC’s Hexthorpe laboratory as part of the field team. It was probably fate, since both of my grandads worked at the plant which was on the site next to the Hexthorpe office.

Since then I got the train bug – possibly a little too much. The rail industry has many sectors, and at SOCOTEC, we offer a significant range of services that mean we can work across different areas within the rail environment. It is an industry whereby compliance and health and safety is essential and at SOCOTEC, we have a long history of knowledge in this area. There are also a mixture of personalities in the industry, and various problems that can arise, so it is never a dull sector to work in.

International Women’s Day is all about gender equality, which is so important and is unfortunately still an issue that is not fully addressed across the globe. To address this issue, we need to highlight the crucial roles that women play and the previous achievements of women worldwide. Hopefully, one day there may no longer be a need for a women’s day, as we will have completely broken away from the bias.

The number of women in the rail industry and within my role are increasing. One advantage I have is that I started out in the field and then went into an engineering company before returning to SOCOTEC. Therefore, I can offer a breadth of advice to our customers and hopefully this advice and guidance is listened to and acted upon. 

You simply never know the future roles that you may undertake. I didn’t picture my career as an account manager in a sales role when I first started. From my initial days at Scientifics to being back at SOCOTEC, the company has grown tenfold and allows considerable room for development.

My day-to-day responsibilities include reviewing submitted drawings, specifications and project information for compliance against the Building Regulations, communicating with clients and design teams to address queries. On complex projects, I provide pre-application advice on design and fire safety issues, producing compliance reports/trackers to outline requirements and undertaking consultation with fire authorities. I also undertake site inspections of key stages of the construction process and produce site reports.

I wanted to join the industry to contribute to the construction of buildings in a way that ensures that people are safe and that the buildings are accessible. I also really enjoy the mixture of being in the office and out on construction sites.

International Women’s Day is a chance to prompt discussions about perception, challenges and opportunities for women. There is lots to celebrate, but there’s still a long way to go.

To most, construction is still predominantly seen as a male industry, and people are often surprised when I tell them what I do for a living. Occasionally, on some smaller sites staff have been quite taken aback to see a female surveyor turn up in full PPE, but after a few moments they treat you like any other professional. I’ve been doing this for so long that people’s reactions still surprise me – it’s a career I enjoy and gender shouldn’t have any part to play in it.

Think about what you want to learn and where you want your career to go. There are lots of opportunities, but most of all, don’t be afraid to ask.

Here at SOCOTEC, I head up the Central Finance and Business Improvement teams. A typical day would be coaching and leading the team on specific issues, dealing with customers, supplier issues, reporting, cashflow and profit and loss responsibility, along with managing the project pipeline.

I fell into finance by accident. After taking a placement through an agency and with no previous experience, I was immediately hooked. I saw there were roles that men and females did, so I decided I wanted to be able to do them all. While I started out in finance, my passion for people and problem solving has always led me to finance transformation and process improvement type roles, all of which have given me the opportunity to make use of the skills I have learnt over the years.  

International Women’s Day is a day to remind us that with all we have done together, there is still more to do. It is an opportunity to share the spotlight of women doing amazing things in all industries. We must continue to acknowledge and honour the contributions of women so that young people growing up around the world see these examples of female role models, laying a path forward and a trail blazed for them to step into their greatness and an empowered future. This IWD, we move to break the bias one step and one day at a time.