It’s International Women’s Day today and we at Rolton Group are celebrating the fantastic achievements and excellent professional developments made by the outstanding ladies in our teams.
International Women’s Day is a day dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of women around the world as well as a time for highlighting areas where action is needed, to encourage people from all walks of life to take actions to help advance gender equality wherever possible. According to predictions made by the World Economic Forum, the economic gender gap isn’t anticipated to close entirely until 2186 – almost a staggering 170 years from now.
The Women’s Engineering Society also shares troubling statistics, declaring that only approximately 9% of the engineering workforce is female, with only 6% of all registered engineers and technicians (i.e. CEng, IEng, EngTech) in the UK being women – the lowest percentage of female engineering professionals in Europe.
There is clearly much work to be done to address the lack of gender diversity in the field of engineering within the UK and as a business and employer operating within the stereotypically male engineering industry, Rolton Group actively promotes a diverse workforce as an equal opportunities employer, with numerous measures in place to cater for the personal and professional development needs of all.
Penny Knighton, Personal Assistant and HR Manager for Rolton Group, said: “Having a diverse team made up of both talented men and women is absolutely right. No one should miss out on any opportunity based on their gender and at Rolton Group we are passionate advocates of gender equality throughout the business. When it comes to recruitment, we are always pleased to see diverse candidate shortlists for our roles and will question any shortlists made up entirely of one sex. We also offer equal pay and progression opportunities for all of our people, further promoting equality within our team.”
Fran Barnett, Assistant Administrator for Rolton Group, said: “As a working mum with two young children, I am very proud to work at Rolton Group and extremely thankful for an employer that appreciates that there’s more to life than just working! When returning to work after having children, being able to agree to work part time on days that suit me to ensure I can enjoy time with my family, while also earning a living, has been a Godsend – as has working with a team that fully supports personal choices and properly respects a work-life balance.”
Accredited as Investors in People every consecutive year since 2000, Rolton Group proudly support the personal and professional development of staff at all levels of the business, while also offering a host of graduate positions and more recently, modern apprenticeships and a work placement opportunity within the marketing team.
Laura Barker, Undergraduate Electrical Engineer for Rolton Group, said: “Before starting my training towards becoming a fully qualified electrical engineer, I had been working with Rolton Group as the Technical Administrator for the Peterborough office. After working with the MEP team for three years, I’d been thinking about expanding my knowledge into electrical engineering, so was really pleased when my line manager suggested the opportunity of going back to college on a day release basis.
“My course is going well and I’ve learnt a lot about the electrical engineering discipline already. I’m grateful for the course sponsorship and support that I’ve received from my colleagues at Rolton Group in order to make this happen, I can’t wait to see what my career with Rolton Group holds for the future!”
We at Rolton Group see education as an opportunity of paramount importance for all and support many budding engineers and team members in a variety of ways, including through providing apprenticeships and sponsoring studies. One such example of this is our graduate civil and structural engineer Grace Wright; a talented young engineer that initially started working with Rolton Group in 2015 via placements during her summer and Christmas breaks from University. Grace was sponsored by Rolton Group to complete her degree and will become a full time member of the team when she graduates this year. When settled into the swing of full time work, she plans to go on to study for a master’s degree in Civil and Structural Engineering – a qualification that will also been sponsored by Rolton Group.
Yvonne Nowak, recently promoted Project Engineer for Rolton Group, said: “I am very pleased to have been promoted to my new position following the completion of my graduate programme with Rolton Group. I’m excited to become more independent and autonomous in my day-to-day work and am also looking forward to learning new skills and more about how my role contributes to the industry.”
Jenny Baker, Business Development Executive for Rolton Group, said: “Rolton Group is the first company I’ve come across (and certainly that I’ve worked for) that provides truly tailored and persistent professional development support. I have regular access to an independent professional development expert (on top of the more typically seen annual appraisals with the person they report to), to discuss personal and professional goals and more crucially, possible ways to achieve them.
“Paired with Rolton Group’s open ethos encouraging anyone considering further education or professional memberships to share these thoughts with senior managers who support employees in any way they can, nothing feels out of reach and support of every kind is never far away.”
Peter Rolton, Chairman for Rolton Group, said: “We are proud to support all of our staff members equally, regardless of gender. Diversity is important because it allows problems to be approached and solved in a variety of ways and the results of research often indicate that workplaces are more effective and generally more productive places with a balance of genders throughout all levels of business operations. This is why we make every effort to support and offer opportunities equally to men and women.”
We are delighted to announce that Darcy Edwards, Executive Officer to the Chairman at Rolton, has joined BEFA as a Young Leader. The appointment builds on Peter Rolton’s position on BEFA’s Strategic Advisory Board, giving Rolton a unique opportunity to contribute at two critical levels: through established industry leadership and through the experience, priorities, and fresh ideas of the next generation.
We are delighted to welcome Krzysztof Mielnik to the Rolton team as senior consultant for vertical transportation (VT).
Krzysztof’s appointment marks the next step in the rapid growth of our recently launched independent Vertical Transportation consultancy. Led by industry expert Tim Piggott, our dedicated VT team provides comprehensive expertise across the entire lifecycle of advanced lift technology from design and construction to commissioning, handover, and ongoing operational support.
Rolton is pleased to have contributed to the newly launched industry report, ‘Built Environment Strategic Workforce Planning for 2030’.
The comprehensive publication stems from the latest INSPIRE event hosted by the Built Environment Futures Assembly (BEFA). This powerful leadership forum was established by the University of the Built Environment (UBE) to break down professional silos, spark collaboration, and drive excellence across engineering, construction, and real estate.