Diversity benefits scholarships
The work put into strengthening diversity in the engineering industry is paying off for the New Zealand Aluminium Smelter, near Invercargill.
Getting more females into the industry has been an operational focus for the Tiwai smelter for several years, and the smelter has partnered with Southland Girls’ High School to provide opportunities.
Yesterday, a celebration was held for six high school students who were the recipients of the NZAS tertiary scholarship. Imogen Wyatt, Hannah Chatfield, Ed Langlands, Xavier Meurier, Timothy Smith and Jack Steel each received $2000 to kick-start their university studies.
They have also been offered a summer placement at the smelter.
Both Imogen and Hannah participated in the Girls’ High and NZAS partnership in September.
The initiative won the Community Initiative of the Year award at the Deloitte Energy Excellence awards in September.
Traditionally NZAS hands out two or three scholarships but during the past two years has given out six.
Commercial and support services manager Paula Checketts said opening the fourth potline and other changes in the industry had allowed the smelter to continue offering six scholarships.
There had been a real change around the smelter, where the search for more diversity had meant for a different approach to recruiting, she said. ‘‘We put out an ad, which pictured a female. We want you for your attributes, not your brute strength or your Heavy Traffic license.’’
Checketts said it was still a matter of hiring the best people for the role no matter their gender.
This year, there was a 62 per cent increase in women employed at the Tiwai smelter, and one out of three engineering graduates starting at the smelter next year will be female.
Chief executive Stewart Hamilton said a different recruitment approach had bolstered the number of people gaining qualifications.
Putting an emphasis on building a diverse and successful workforce had been paying off for the industry as a whole, he said.
‘‘The next stage will be to try and retain that diversity, and look at how we can improve it in our leadership as well.’’