Survey seeks to boost womens’ careers in RACHP
UK: The IoR’s Women in RACHP Network is inviting the refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump sector to complete a survey to gauge attitudes towards women in the industry.
As the RACHP sector continues to struggle to bring more women into the industry and utilise female talent to its full potential, the Women in RACHP Network is undertaking research in this area in an aim to drive change. The network is encouraging everyone in the sector to take part in the online survey which is intended to benchmark the industry’s benefits and attitudes towards women and explore what should be done to close the gender gap.
It is clear that women are under-represented in engineering and the RACHP sector is no exception.
“Although there are no official figures in the UK the reality of the RACHP sector is comparable to that of the US where women represent only 1.2% of the HVACR workforce,” said committee member Astrid Prado, marketing manager at Star Refrigeration.
Maintaining that a reputation for the refrigeration and air conditioning being “man’s work” is failing to attract talented women at all levels, Prado said it continued to operate with work packages “developed decades ago for a largely male, full-time workforce” and was “failing to keep pace” with the expectations of the modern workforce.
“In order to drive change, we must redesign current workplace practices to accommodate the diversity of today’s workforce who want flexibility, equal opportunities, and better access to training and development.”
Prado added, “Although this is only a starting point, the outcome of the research will serve not only as a point of reference but as industry guidance for the future, to help us improve and ensure we offer an attractive package to women so that they are inspired to join and stay in the industry.”
The survey is open to both men and women working in all roles and from all pay grades and structures. All entrants completing the questions before December 1 will be added to a prize draw to win a Latitude travel charger set.
The Women in RACHP Network was set up by the Institute of Refrigeration as an educational and networking group to encourage diversity in the workforce and promote the role of women in refrigeration.
Take the survey here.
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