Women breaking barriers in trade

Sodexo Ireland CEO Margot Slattery is encouraging women to consider a trades apprenticeship, writes Celine Naughton

WHEN she started her career as an apprentice chef, Margot Slattery had no idea that one day she would become the head of the Irish division of a leading multi-national services company employing 4,000 people in 250 locations nationwide, with an annual turnover of €145m.

Having broken barriers throughout her thirtysomething-year career, last year the Limerick-born Country President of Sodexo Ireland was named one of the most powerful women in the country by the Women’s Executive Network. She’s also been hailed as the nation’s most inspirational openly gay business leader and a champion of diversity in the workplace.

Now the former chef is encouraging more girls to consider a trade apprenticeship as a recipe to success in business or any profession they care to dream about.

“Gender stereotyping begins at a young age,” she says. “I remember a couple of years ago watching a video of an exercise in which a pilot, a firefighter and a surgeon walked into a classroom. When the first two removed their helmets and the surgeon turned up in scrubs, the kids gasped in shock to see they were all women.

“Working to achieve equality and diversity in the workplace is like scaling a mountain. You do it bit by bit, creating a more tolerant and inclusive society with every foothold. We’ve come a long way in this country. When I first came out, around 2006, it was a different landscape. I struggled with being so public about it because I didn’t want my sexuality to be a big deal, but I was very lucky that the company was positive and supportive.”

While Margot freely admits to having also enjoyed her share of professional good fortune, she grants that her stellar career trajectory from kitchen to boardroom didn’t happen by chance. Having got her City and Guilds qualification after a five-year apprenticeship in the late 1980s, she cheffed abroad for a while before returning home and changing direction.

“I realised that although I loved the work, I didn’t see myself cooking at the age of 50 or 60,” she recalls. “Having seen my mother work as a hotel manager, I decided to go into the management side of the business.”

Margot got a junior management position in Gardner Merchants catering company, which was taken over a few years later by Sodexo. She worked during the day, studied at night in Cathal Brugha Street and qualified with a degree in Hotel and Catering Management. A few years ago, in her late 40s, she went back to college to study for a Masters, graduating with an MSc in Management Practice.

“I believe in lifelong learning and always continuing to develop,” she says. “Keep working your way forward. Never stop.

“I also passionately believe in the power of human potential. As a society, we have tended to value college education over apprenticeships but, in fact, as an alternative career path they are every bit as viable.

“Traditionally, the choice for girls going into trades was confined to areas like the culinary arts and nursing, but things are changing rapidly. Organisations have cottoned on to the merits of inclusivity. The ESB, along with bodies like Coillte and wind energy firms are leading the way in repositioning nontraditional apprenticeships as a viable career choice for females. They advertise nationwide for apprentices, male and female equally, and role-model people from previous intakes so that girls can see the incredible opportunities available to them.

“Ireland Skills Live, of which Sodexo is proud to be a sponsor, is a fantastic opportunity for businesses to showcase the array of apprenticeships they offer today. It’s also a great way for young people, parents and teachers, the hope-givers of generations, to see at first hand that where the choice of trades used to be small and narrow, now it’s as wide as it is long.

“The challenge for the future is to be open to a world of work that will require a very different mindset to traditional thinking. There are future jobs that haven’t yet been invented, which will be led by people who are adaptable, creative and good at problem-solving, all of which are key skills that are an integral part of apprenticeships.

“In Sodexo Ireland today, we provide 150 food and facilities management services to clients in business and industry, education, financial services and healthcare. We encourage girls to consider careers in any area of their choice and not to restrict themselves to the traditionally female-oriented ones.”