IWD2019

Royal Mail celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD) on Friday 8 March with an event in London.

In keeping with the IWD 2019 theme of #BalanceforBetter, female colleagues were asked to ‘bring a male buddy’ to the event. Attendees listened to a mix of internal and external speakers and were asked to make a pledge of what they will do to improve gender diversity within their teams.

The event started with a video message from chief financial officer, Stuart Simpson, highlighting our commitment to placing gender equality, and diversity and inclusion at the heart of our business.

Sally Ashford, chief HR officer emphasised how “we are a people business” and as such, we require teams with different skillsets where everyone’s ideas are welcome. Sally ended her speech with an inspirational quote from Hollywood actress, Sandra Bullock: ‘Always choose people that are better than you. Always choose people that challenge you and are smarter than you. Always be the student.’

Guest speaker, chief constable Giles York from Sussex Police gave a passionate speech expressing the importance of achieving a diverse workforce. Giles is the force lead for diversity and emphasised how important it is as a business to hold the ‘difficult conversations’ that people often shy away from. He stressed that ‘it is only by creating discomfort that we can promote change’. He also added that it is sometimes more powerful when men speak out about female inequalities, highlighting the #HeforShe campaign as an example.

Service delivery director - South, Ricky McAulay, outlined the key achievements Royal Mail has made to become more gender-balanced, but emphasised how there is still much work to do. After discussing the three key areas of focus: Confidence, Making Connections and Motivation, Ricky suggested that Royal Mail should promote the message that ‘It is ok to be not ok’ challenging everyone to make a commitment to sponsor a female colleague with their development.

Finally, a panel featuring Sally, Ricky and external panellists, Kate Farrow (Everywoman) and Patricia Chinyoka (BITC) discussed what Royal Mail can do to improve gender diversity. The panellists also promoted the benefits of the Everywoman network and highlighted other organisations’ best practices in regard to achieving a more gender-balanced workforce.