Clearing a path and increasing diversity

Women account for 18 per cent of the workforce, just more than half the industry target of 33 per cent by 2030, with a ‘stretch target’ of 40 per cent.

The project will interview people working at all levels in the offshore wind industry in East Anglia, as well as experts in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) education, in the next five months.

It will focus on factors that affect their recruitment, progress, and retention in a bid to create a balanced workforce in a dynamic rapidly-paced industry.

After the interviews, the study’s second phase starts in October, to run for a year, focusing on how and why programmes, policies and initiatives fail or work.

Dr Jade Stalker, lecturer in organisational behaviour at Norwich Business School and the project’s lead at UEA, said the study – part of the Offshore Wind Sector Deal – would focus on ethnicity, nationality, age, sexuality, disability, class, culture and religion.

“These types of factors interact with each other to create advantages and disadvantages in various situations.

“We aim to shed light on a topic that has been thoroughly investigated, yet still a pressing issue throughout the energy sector,” she said.

“Together with a cross examination of the best practice and improvement practice cases, the end goal is to create something practical for the industry. We firmly believe opportunities exist for the offshore wind sector to lead gender balance across the energy divisions.”

The study will culminate in a report setting out recommendations on how to address the gender imbalance in the sector and build a new framework to foster diversity.

Melanie Onn, RenewableUK’s deputy chief executive, leading OWIC’s People & Skills workstream, said: “Boosting diversity throughout the offshore wind sector is vital if we want to attract as wide a range of talented people as possible to enable us to scale up fast to tackle climate change and increase the UK’s energy security.

“Understanding the challenges and concerns of women in this ground-breaking study will help us to remove barriers and find solutions. We’re particularly keen to see more women taking up engineering and technical roles, as they’re currently under-represented in these fields.”

‘If you are right for the role gender should never be a topic for discussion’

“All six senior managers above me, up to the CEO, are female. It’s inspiring for girls and young women,” says Vattenfall’s Norfolk Zone senior stakeholder and community engagement manager, Denise Hone.

Recognised for promoting women into higher roles, 57 per cent of senior leadership positions at offshore wind developer Vattenfall are held by women, including all those senior managers and directors between Denise and chief executive Anna Borg.

“If you are right for the role, your gender should never be a topic of discussion. Within Vattenfall there is a clear demonstration of empowerment and that women are in very senior positions.”

Since 2017, the number of women in senior roles at the Swedish company has almost doubled, and the company is aiming for higher still.

Denise, 38, is Vattenfall’s senior manager in Norfolk, working with communities, schools, colleges, businesses and organisations as it develops its Norfolk Vanguard and Norfolk Boreas wind farms – known as the Norfolk Zone – 45 miles off the Norfolk coast, which will generate green electricity for nearly four million homes.

After 15 years’ working in sales and marketing roles in engineering, construction, manufacturing and training for the energy industry, Denise, from Lowestoft, is especially proud to work for a company that supports women from less advantaged backgrounds to thrive through its Catalyse Change CIC learning and mentoring programme.

Denise, also vice chair of East Wind, the East of England Offshore Wind Cluster, hopes Vattenfall’s commitment to appoint more women in managerial positions, and her work in Norfolk, will inspire young women to see career paths, as well as other organisations.

“Women, and myself as a mother bring so much to a company, not only are we excellent at being multiskilled and organised, we show great empathy and compassion, which I believe is important in business.”

In the next 10 years, Denise believes women will be working across the offshore wind industry in all disciplines, roles and environments.

“We need to see more woman in managerial positions, engineering and pioneering roles. And not just in this industry.

“I hope to continue the work I have only just started with Vattenfall, whilst supporting and inspiring other women to come and work in this wonderful industry that keeps providing me an amazing career.”

Mother to nine-month-old Horace and toddler Edith, Denise says its Catalyse Change CIC learning and mentoring programme is just one of the many projects Vattenfall offers to women.

Supporting women at work is a natural part of Vattenfall’s culture, she said. Its London office has a room dedicated to women to express breast milk, “empowering mothers to return to work.”

She feels she has come “home” by joining Vattenfall’s Norfolk Zone projects after 15 years working for technical supply chain companies.

“It’s a forward-thinking company that promotes diversity. Vattenfall’s ethics on work/life-balance is so inspiring. The company make sure you have your family balance; and they really care about your wellbeing.”

Leadership course helps make women shine

In her role as deputy site manager at turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) at Iberdrola’s largest wind farm, Esmee Thornton is undertaking a Women in Leadership course.

“There are around 30 of us doing the course. It is tailored to help women shine. Naturally men and women have different strengths.”

Esmee is part of SGRE’s service and maintenance team that are two years into a 15-year contract with ScottishPower Renewables for the 102-turbine 714MW East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm, off Lowestoft.

“There’s myself and the site manager, we oversee daily operations, which includes the coordination of vessels and making sure the planning team and technicians are ok.

“People management is a big part of our job. We also make sure all the turbines get serviced every year. If anything breaks, we go out and get the teams to fix it. Our role really is to guide, manage and support the teams and the client.”

Esmee grew up in Kent, before moving to Norfolk to study Environmental Geophysics at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, choosing geophysics because she loved “maths, physics and the earth.”

She spent her third year in industry with Great Yarmouth based Gardline as an offshore geophysicist. She decided then she wanted to work in wind.

“One of my jobs on the Gardline was a survey around a windfarm. I remember sailing around and looking up at a turbine and thought, it would be really cool to work with those.”

Esmee later went on to study a master’s degree in energy, engineering and environmental management, sponsored by ScottishPower.

She then took a year out to travel around New Zealand before working for the East of England Energy Group (EEEGR) as events and marketing coordinator.

Choosing wind has meant Esmee could remain in the area she fell in love with as a student. She had believed she would need to live and work in London to work in energy.

“I knew the area had a lot of wind farms, but I never realised all the roles that were available. University mainly exposes you to project engineer roles, which are normally all in an office in London, and not the operational side of things. But, since starting with Siemens Gamesa, I now know there are so many jobs and options for people in wind.”

Esmee, now 29, would like to see more women choosing wind as a career. It is “a modern industry and I think that modern mindset comes through,” she said.

“I think for me I can see a really good future and a really reliable career in wind, something that will keep going long past my time in work.

“Working in the job I do; I feel like I am really contributing here. If we weren’t running the wind farm there wouldn’t be energy generated, we wouldn’t be powering homes, so I think that is another really nice thing about working in energy in general, but especially renewable wind.

“I honestly couldn’t imagine doing anything else, I really enjoy the camaraderie of working on a site, I love being with the team and around people.

It is exciting working in such a modern and fast paced industry. Renewables are the future.”

Targets for women cause imposter syndrome, businesswoman warns

Targets and quotas for women in a workforce can lead to women feeling that they’re in jobs merely to tick a box, electronics engineer and businesswoman Jennifer Cushion warns.

A balanced workforce benefits everyone but it must be achieved by a shift in attitude and mindset, she said.

“True equality and balance in the offshore wind industry, or any sector, will not be achieved by targets and numbers. To get it right, there has to be an attitude of appreciating why a balanced workforce is better for business and everyone working in it.”

A lop-sided workforce doesn’t always mean it’s male-heavy either, Jennifer said.

“Lop-sided organisations can be those that employ many women but women are mostly in traditional female roles, like administration and HR, and not spread across all areas.

“Then, if women are appointed to roles to meet targets, they can feel imposter syndrome.

“There are so many parts of the industry that should appeal to women. It is an industry looking to change the environment, about making a difference, and bringing about net zero. It is seen as a good industry to work in ethically, yet it is not attracting enough women.”

Jennifer, who runs offshore radio communications company Fern Communications with her husband, product designer Clive, admits to slight embarrassment that her business is “lop-sided.”

“I am always looking for women to fill roles if it is possible.”

Jennifer started her career in her native Australia, training as an electronics engineer at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).

After completing her communication technician traineeship with the Civil Aviation Authority and gaining a few years’ experience, she headed to London for a year’s travelling armed with work visas and references in case – as it turned out, she never went back.

Aged 29, she was one of seven technicians in the service centre of a mobile phone company when she was asked to apply for her line manager’s job when he resigned.

“This would have never happened in Australia. I had only been there for three months. I immediately felt imposter syndrome. Was I just being asked to make the numbers up because they wanted a female applicant but would never get the job?

“But I got the job and ran the service centre for two years.”

She feels strongly about the positive contribution older women can make in the wind industry, maintaining their visibility at work and being part of the fabric of the industry to encourage more women in.

“If you are in a position to employ people, we should be going out of our ways to encourage women to work in the industry. We need to give them the first step.”

Fern Communications now has an 11-strong team and is recruiting four engineering-based roles for its Lowestoft and Scotland bases, where it has contracts on Moray East and its first floating wind farm at Kincardine.

“Helping with inclusivity in the energy sector and training isn’t about gender but raising awareness of opportunities for everyone and the industry making it accessible for everyone.”

Do what you enjoy and find a great mentor

The wind industry needs to make workforce equality as natural and engrained into its culture as its attitude to safety, Alexandra Richards, operations and maintenance manager of Vattenfall’s Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm, says.

“We would have only achieved equality when it is not a conscious decision. Like with our outstanding safety culture, you need to work on it to make it natural and then it becomes second nature.”

Leading a technical team and keeping turbines spinning on an offshore wind farm wasn’t the obvious destination for an international relations graduate with an MSc in oil and gas law and a career route in commercial and contractual negotiations.

“To be an operations manager you don’t need to know how to fix a turbine yourself. You do however need to manage and empower your team of technicians as well as the contractors and agreements with contractors, which is what I have always done.

“It’s about owning the skills you bring to the table. My manager suggested I interviewed for my role, but, at the time, my experience in operations and maintenance was largely commercial and contractual. I took some time to evaluate how I could best make the transition from commercial to operations.

“I realise now, in my current position, that I have a broader perspective and actually benefit from not being highly technical. If I was, I would be at risk of being pulled into technical details, but that is not my role. I can’t micromanage my team because I can’t do what they can do, rather I need to develop the team, call on central functions for support and delegate where necessary.

“It has been an interesting path to get where I have in my career. I have always stuck to what has interested me. I don’t see it as being any different as a female. Do what you enjoy, simple.

“In the energy industry, there are so many different roles. Do what interests you, build relationships and find a mentor you really respect and trust.”

Mentoring has been important for Alexandra in her career progression, in both her oil and gas and wind careers. Vattenfall encourages everyone to have a mentor.

“It is a very open organisation with communication in both directions. I am very proud to work for VF, towards a fossil free future. They meet their equality standards very well and they do what they say they will do. They put their values into practice.

“Women are in senior roles because they are best for that particular position. Appointing women is not a conscious decision, it is very natural. It is wonderful that women are in these roles.”