Celebrating and promoting diversity across our workforce, every day of the year, in every country in which we operate, is fundamental to the way we run our business and to our long-standing commitment to equal opportunity.
Today, on International Women’s Day, we come together to celebrate and thank the women working across our operations whose contribution is integral to EnerMech’s success.
This year’s theme is “Inspire Inclusion” and here we shine a spotlight on just a few of these talented individuals whose skills and talent bring so much to us as a company and who are such excellent advocates for this year’s theme.
“The role and the contribution which women make to sectors such as ours, which have historically been recognized as male dominated, is celebrated through global events such as International Women’s Day and we are very pleased to be supporting this once more,” said Phil Ogden, chief HR officer.
“EnerMech has always been proactive in promoting the benefits of a diverse workforce, recognizing and applauding the richness, benefits, and advantages that this brings to our operations around the world, to our colleagues and to our clients.
“We are committed to providing equal chances to all, enabling our colleagues to build sustainable and satisfying career paths within EnerMech. We see this as crucial in not only retaining our talented personnel but in ensuring that our people have opportunities for their own personal development.”
Leigh Haynes, Australia
Leigh Haynes, our regional HR manager in Australia has been with the company for just over three years, initially as industrial relations manager before being promoted to her current role in December 2022.
In that time Leigh, who says her job satisfaction comes from achieving her goals and delivering a service that supports our operations, has enjoyed several career highlights.
As part of the Indigenous and Local Community Committee, she was involved in the coordination and execution of several initiatives and events which celebrate and support diversity inclusion; completed a mentoring programme with the National Association of Women in Operations (NAWO); and has been involved in the successful implementation of our Employee Relations Strategy.
“Being given the opportunity to take on the regional HR manager role has been a significant opportunity for me. It has consolidated my experience, and being able to develop a team of strong individuals is important. The regional director for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region having faith in me, providing me with the opportunity and recognizing my abilities is important to me,” said Leigh.
“HR is such a broad and ever developing area and I would highly recommend it to others. I’d suggest that anyone who studies HR at university enters HR as a generalist to learn as much as possible, so they can identify the areas that interest them as they progress through their career.”
Julie Thorpe, New Zealand
Julie Thorpe, our financial controller in New Zealand moved over to become part of the EnerMech team following the acquisition of Stork Technical Services NZ in 2022.
Julie and her team are now responsible for all the financial functions of the New Zealand arm of the organisation. She’s also finance business partner to the EnerMech NZ management team and the liaison with Australia for regional reporting.
Julie said the main achievement to date from her time at EnerMech, was also her greatest challenge – implementing the transition from Stork financial systems to EnerMech financial systems. Having successfully achieved that, she values the opportunities that are now available to her since joining EnerMech.
“I enjoy continuous improvement and I am finding the leadership training provided by EnerMech interesting,” she said. “Finance is a good career choice and I’d recommend it to other women. The initial studies to qualify for a role such as this is available through extra mural learning. Having done that, it’s a role that offers the flexibility to work from home for part of the time.”
Nurshafiqah Binte Abdul Rahman, Singapore
Nurshafiqah Binte Abdul Rahman has worked as a workshop coordinator in Singapore for 18 months and says she gets a great deal of satisfaction through her work.
“I enjoy planning,” she said, “When tasks are delivered on schedule, especially when it’s urgent, it gives me the satisfaction that I have done a good job.
“What I love about EnerMech is that they send me on courses that I’m interested in. Last year, I enrolled in and passed a forklift course. The next two courses I’m attending will be on first aid and flange management.”
She said she would recommend her job to other women.
“Every day I learn new and different skills. For example, my colleagues have taught me a lot of aspects related to engineering.”
The best advice she’s ever had from another woman?
“Women may not be as physically strong as men, but a woman is just as capable as a man of doing jobs that are typically considered to be male jobs.”
Laura Moir, Europe
Laura Moir, Operations Manager – Training, UK, first joined EnerMech in 2012, working for four years in business development, before leaving to manage her own business. She returned to EnerMech in January 2022 in her current role.
In her position, which has a strong focus on safety, Laura said she gets the greatest job satisfaction from ensuring the safety of both clients and colleagues.
“I like to think that I contribute considerably to that through the work I do,” she said. “There are no safety shortcuts, and our courses are delivered by a hand-picked team that, like me, care greatly about our staff and clients and their long-term safety and success.
“I love what I do. I get excited about new opportunities and challenges at work and genuinely care about the success of our team, individually and as a whole. I have always felt valued in both my roles at EnerMech. I have a great manager who trusts me to use my own initiative, try new things and make time for my own personal development.
“It’s long been identified that a more diverse and inclusive workforce is a key priority for our industry,” said Laura. “I saw this quote recently and love it: ‘Women bring different leadership skills and backgrounds. It’s not a diversity of gender, it’s about the diversity of thought’.”
Anna DeRose USA
Anna DeRose joined EnerMech as technical manager – semiconductors six months ago and works across various locations in the US. When she entered the construction sector as a labourer 25 years ago, she said things were quite different and there weren’t many women working in construction.
“Times are now changing and being a woman in construction is becoming more common,” she said, “but when I first started in this field, I found myself working twice as hard to be given the same consideration as my male counterparts.
“My response was to always go the extra mile to make sure my work was above average and to build my reputation on this.”
It’s an approach and commitment which paid off. After completing her apprenticeship as a journeyman in plumbing, gas fitting and pipe fitting and gaining her welding certification on site, she has continued to add to her qualifications and accreditations.
With those, she has steadily climbed the career ladder to hold a variety of different roles including construction coordinator, general operations manager, superintendent, quality assurance supervisor and senior project manager.
She is now committed to supporting other women in their construction journey, in a large part through her involvement with Women in Construction (WIC), an independent not-for-profit organisation that promotes gender equality in construction, and through her volunteering projects.
“As a licenced plumber/welder I regularly get asked to give presentations and demonstrations at events,” said Anna. “I also volunteer and out teach programmes with K-12 students. It’s very hands on, the kids love it and I get a buzz from inspiring and mentoring.
“I have been in construction for 25 years and while there have been challenges, the good has always outweighed the bad. I have always been an advocate for WIC and will always be an advocate for any woman who wants to make the move into construction. The opportunities afforded to me and my family by being in this field are unmatched.”