By Simon Reilly, CEO of Aurora Utilities Limited
You can’t help but notice the flurry of content associated with International Women’s Day (IWD) hit LinkedIn every March. Whilst the topic of gender equality should be given consideration all year round, IWD is an important reminder that gender parity challenges still exist, and we are yet to create an industry free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination.
This is the first time that Aurora has marked IWD. Given our company launched into the UK energy market in July last year, it was simply not an option for us to do so in 2024. This year our whole team chose to get behind it; not just to celebrate women for their contributions in business and at home, but to do their bit to raise awareness of a key issue that remains; gender inequality.
As an IDNO operating in the UK’s energy and utilities sector, we feel it is our duty to understand the social impact of the sector we operate within. And if we can, glean learnings that will reinforce our commitment to being an equal opportunities employer, whilst helping to make the industry more equal.
The International Energy Agency warned that energy is one of the least gender diverse sectors of the global economy today, with only 20% of the sector’s employees being women. According to these stats, less than 15% of senior managers are women.
Despite promising progress across the UK over the last 50 to 60 years as women gained significant ground in the world of work, making a lasting positive impact; clearly there is still work to do.
Women remain underrepresented in the energy sector, and these stats suggest that they disappear from sight up the corporate hierarchy. This could be due to barriers such as gender-based discrimination, or even unconscious bias. Working in the energy and infrastructure sectors over the last few decades has opened my eyes to this challenge.
A McKinsey report, Women Matter, raised an interesting point which might shed some light on why women remain underrepresented at higher levels of the corporate ladder. The report cited one company’s performance indicator as “unfailing availability and total geographical mobility” as a leadership criterion.
McKinsey felt that as men typically took less paternity leave and typically had reduced domestic obligations, it made it easier for them to be available and geographically mobile. Thus, this criterion has a pro-male, pro-childless bias, and thus penalises women, particularly working mothers.
It’s been well documented; a lack of flexible working or family friendly policies, as well as a lack of female mentorship at higher levels, discourages the next generation of female talent from joining our exciting industry. All topics discussed in these thought-provoking roundtable discussions that feature female industry leaders from Aurora and our investor, I Squared.
That said, I believe that it is important that we create a culture whereby everyone, regardless of gender, is treated equally and is rewarded based on merit. The McKinsey report perhaps fails to take into account changes to modern society. These days it is common for both women and men to share childcare responsibilities, usually every case is different, so we need to factor that in instead of making sweeping judgments.
In addition to this, the need for flexible working may not be linked to childcare, we should consider the care of sick relatives or pets, our neurodiverse colleagues who may thrive in a work environment that they have greater control over, as well as an array of mental or physical health needs that may mean flexibility is essential. These are all gender-neutral considerations in modern work life.
This only emphasises the need for greater flexibility within the world of work to allow every person to be the best they can be in their role, something we try to offer where we can at Aurora.
Autonomy over your own work schedule and where you work has been proven to increase employee moral, reduce sick leave, and lead to greater staff retention. We can only hope that these policies open the door for more women to join the global energy workforce, contributing to a better gender balance at all levels of industry over time.
In addition to flexible working policies in place, Aurora has developed industry-leading, flexible training schemes devoid of discrimination, equal pay and promotion opportunities for all staff, and recruitment policies that remove implicit bias from the selection process.
Aurora is part of an Article 9 fund, which falls under The Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). This means that our growth strategy is directly linked to key sustainable, social and environmentally conscious decisions, with a strong focus on ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) factors. Building a fair, gender-balanced team will therefore always be high on our agenda.
Women make up 47% of our current workforce, with several technical roles and management positions held by women. We are working to build a culture where everyone can thrive regardless of gender, this means; taking on new challenges, celebrating everyone’s individual and team successes, and supporting our colleagues through their own personal development.
The women within our business are truly inspiring, not just acting as mentors to their female counterparts but to the men within the business and within the wider industry also. They are inspirational not just because of their gender but because of their critical thinking, their can-do attitude, their resilience and the innovative forward-thinking ideas that they bring to work every day.
By taking small steps to improve policies, encourage more women in industry to take on business critical projects, increase their visibility and celebrate their achievements; we little by little can break down the barriers that exist within our sector and change the energy landscape longer-term. In doing so, we can strive to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive future industry for generations to come.
