SSE just missed out on a top award at this year’s WISE Awards – but the HR team behind the nomination said the experience has left them inspired.
The annual WISE Awards celebrate the work of individuals and organisations who are leading the way for women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
SSE was shortlisted for its work in boosting the numbers of females taking up STEM training in 2015.
The team had been shortlisted for the Campaign Award, which was won by the Women’s Engineering Society, the organisation behind National Women in Engineering Day.
The small team of Kerryanne Ashburn, HR Resourcing Manager, and Laura Chetta, HR Resource Consultant, dedicated this year’s recruiting drive to increasing gender diversity within SSE.
They travelled to London last week to attend the ceremony where the guest speaker was HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne.
Kerryanne said: “Around 47 per cent of the energy workforce is due to retire within the next ten years so it’s crucial that we can fill that skills gap. The challenge is to recruit more females into a historically male-dominated industry.
“I was given the opportunity of joining a special reception with Princess Anne where I was able to tell her about the work SSE is doing.
“It was an honour to be shortlisted in our first year and although we were a little disappointed, the Women in Engineering Society was very deserving of the win.”
SSE is in the first year of its diversity and inclusion campaign and has set a number of stretching targets.
They have run a number of Employability programmes which includes a partnership with Barnardo’s and a 10 week work experience programme which has provided routes into work for young people who would not otherwise have chosen an Engineering career.
The Graduate Engineering Programme highlighted the particular success of this year’s campaign. In 2014, less than one per cent of offers were made to females; this increased to 23.5 per cent in 2015.
IMAGE: Kerryanne was able to talk to Princess Anne about SSE recruitment campaign