Developing skills at diversity challenge
STEFANIE FOSTER reports from a fun event featuring games to break down frontiers in the rail industry
Rail industry staff are frequently associated by the public with checking tickets, driving trains, maintaining track and building new stations. It’s not often that we hear them being praised for space hopper racing, competitive Zumba classes and how long they can stay on a mechanical rodeo bull!
No, we are not in a parallel universe - back in June, that’s exactly what 450 railway men and women from across the country were doing when they participated in the Big Rail Diversity Challenge, and the reason for them doing so is an important one…
Statistics vary on the percentage of women working in the industry - from 8% to 11% (and up to 16.4% in Women in Rail’s own survey). But whichever is the most accurate figure, it is still well below half of all those working in rail.
There are plenty of reasons to address this
imbalance, and they have nothing to do with political correctness or ‘doing what’s right’.
After all, 51% of the UK population is female, and they form 46% of the active workforce. Women are also responsible for 70% of household purchasing decisions and hold nearly half of the UK’s wealth.
If that’s not enough of a reason to improve the gender balance in rail’s workforce, there is also a robust business case for gender diversity - companies with women on their boards outperform those with only men.
Furthermore, ‘it is a truth universally acknowledged’ that we cannot address the crippling skills shortage facing the industry in the coming years if we rely on the current male/female ratio.
The idea of the Big Rail Diversity Challenge is to raise awareness of the business benefits of a diverse workforce.
Railway companies enter a team of ten individuals with a 50/ 50 split of men and women. A series of mental and physical challenges are set, and teams are awarded points based on their score, team effort, collaborative working and communication. Those that are the most close-knit teams and who achieve the best results are then awarded a prize at the end of the day.
This was the second year that the event had been staged, this time at the Peterborough Arena in Cambridgeshire.
And building on the success of the previous event, it was a sell-out with a 50% increase in attendance, highlighting the support the industry has for the initiative. A total of 45
We have wonderful people in the rail industry and this event has shown once more that women and men can work effectively together. Adeline Ginn, Founder, Women in Rail
teams entered from across all kinds of industry disciplines (see table, page 73).
Jointly staged by Women in Rail and Nimble Media, the event raised funds to support the work of Women in Rail ( WiR) to improve diversity and provide opportunities for women working in the rail industry.
And you only had to listen to what some of the participants said to see that it was a worthwhile experience:
“What a fabulous event!” said Railway Benefit Fund Fundraising Manager Faye Jacques.
“Such a unique opportunity for teams to have so much fun away from formalised environments. Everyone is on a level in their sports kit and team shirts, no suits or uniforms. The room was full of laughter and team spirit.”
Lead Finance Business Partner for Virgin Trains East Coast, Sharon Noble said: “What an absolutely fantastic time the Virgin Trains Team had. The event was amazing.”
Adeline Ginn, founder of WiR, said: “This year’s Big Rail Diversity Challenge was a great success. Over 450 rail colleagues took part and
each tackled the challenges with great spirit, good attitudes and fantastic teamwork.
“We have wonderful people in the rail industry and this event has shown once more that women and men can work effectively together.”
If there’s anything that will encourage business leaders to voluntarily think about the diversity of their company, it’s a memorable day like this one. It just goes to show that not all serious messages have to be presented in a serious way to be effective. Here’s to doing it all again next year!