Breaking through

On the back of Royal Mail being named as a ‘Times Top 50 Employer for Women’ for the sixth consecutive year, we took the opportunity to speak with colleagues about their careers with us so far.

Traditionally, Fleet workshops have been male-dominated. But women are breaking through with new ideas that challenge the status quo and contribute to our diversity and commercial success.

Fleet workshop manager for Plymouth and Cornwall, Kate Wood, was our first woman to take on the role. There are now three female workshop managers, a female head of maintenance and a female area manager.

‘We’re going in the right direction,’ said Kate. ‘But there’s more work to be done, particularly in providing facilities such as separate women’s toilets and changing rooms and providing PPE (personal protective equipment) that is designed to be worn by women rather than men.’

While Kate found it difficult to gain acceptance at first, she has gone on to challenge colleagues to support new ways of working to improve the commercial success of the business. ‘When I started, only one of six workshops in my patch had female facilities and the culture in Fleet was very male dominated,’ she said.

‘That culture is changing over time, largely due to the work of our last two heads of maintenance and the different perspective a woman can bring.

‘We’re moving forward into a new world and it isn’t so unusual to see women in the workshop, particularly now we have external customers visiting, so it’s helping with our commercial attitude. It’s change that is necessary and is happening.’

Kate has enjoyed the challenge of helping improve Fleet workshop performance.

‘I love the job,’ she said. ‘The commercial work we are doing means our Fleet technicians are now working on different types of vehicles and this tests their technical abilities and skill. They love it.’