VIDEO: Southern Vectis is this week celebrating after scooping a top accolade at the inaugural Isle of Wight Venus Awards, which recognise the area’s women business stars.
Singled out for its initiatives, designed to encourage gender diversity within the workplace, the bus operator was named winner in the Regional Employer of the Year category.
Southern Vectis managing director, Andrew Wickham said:
“We are thrilled to win this award against tough opposition. This is fantastic praise for the excellent team we have here. I’m delighted that their tremendous efforts have been recognised in the first of what I hope will be many successful Venus Awards here on the Isle of Wight.”
Southern Vectis has worked hard to increase the diversity of its employees. Its largest group of workers are drivers – of which 19% are women.
During the past 12 months, 31% of the firm’s new starters are female, compared to 18% just four years ago.
Andrew added:
“We started our official campaign to help us encourage more women to consider working with us – not only as drivers but as engineers too.
Article continues below this advertisement “Our recent ‘try it’ day specifically targeted women who might be considering a career change. It was our response to feedback that many find the size of buses daunting when considering the role. It was wonderful to see the turnaround, once they’d had the opportunity to see for themselves how easy our vehicles are to drive.
“We encourage our team to challenge negative behaviour, rather than accept it – and we’re proud to be leading the way in bringing more women into an industry that has for so many years been dominated by men.”
For more information about careers with Southern Vectis, visit www.islandbuses.info.
Photographed L-R: Southern Vectis’ Matt Kitchin, Susan Cullen and Andrew Wickham with Debbie Bates from awards sponsor Pertemps (Laura Holme/LH4 Photography)
