Stagecoach Manchester Aims to Address Under-Representation of Women in Engineering and Transport Sectors with New Campaign

Stagecoach Manchester Aims to Address Under-Representation of Women in Engineering and Transport Sectors with New Campaign

(IN BRIEF) Stagecoach Manchester has launched the ‘Engineering Your Future’ campaign to encourage more women to pursue careers in engineering. The company has identified a lack of women in both the engineering and transport sectors and hopes the campaign will promote opportunities through its engineering apprentice programme. Currently, only 3.1% of the company’s skilled engineers are women. The campaign features female engineers Karen, Jess, and Chelsea, who share their experiences and explain what a career in engineering involves. Stagecoach has set targets to achieve 40% of women in leadership roles and 25% of its workforce identifying as being from ethnic minorities by 2026, as part of its commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive working environment.

(PRESS RELEASE) PERTH, 9-Mar-2023 — /EuropaWire/ —  Stagecoach (LON: SGC), a Scottish transport group, announces that Stagecoach Manchester has launched a new campaign, ‘Engineering Your Future’, to encourage more women to pursue careers in engineering. The campaign aims to address the under-representation of women in both the engineering and transport sectors and has been launched to coincide with International Women’s Day.

Stagecoach Manchester currently employs 130 skilled engineers across Greater Manchester, but only 3.1% of these are women. The ‘Engineering Your Future’ campaign features three of Stagecoach Manchester’s female engineers – Karen, Jess, and Chelsea – who share their experiences and explain what a career in engineering involves.

The campaign will help promote opportunities through Stagecoach’s engineering apprentice programme and encourage more women to apply. Many of Stagecoach Manchester’s former apprentices have progressed to management and even Engineering Director positions.

Janine Summers, Regional Director at Stagecoach and a driving force behind the campaign said: “It’s a privilege to be launching our Engineering your Future campaign this International Women’s Day.

“At Stagecoach, we are committed to supporting and promoting women across the transport sector, so we would love to see more women starting their careers with us and coming through our ranks. As we emerge fully from the pandemic it’s an exciting time to join the transport industry and embark on a new career in engineering. The introduction of electric buses adding to the attraction. I’d urge any woman to explore her options and consider engineering as their career path. This is the beginning of something special at Stagecoach.”

The launch of the campaign is part of Stagecoach’s wider commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive working environment. The company has set targets to achieve 40% of women in leadership roles and 25% of its workforce identifying as being from ethnic minorities by 2026. Stagecoach has employee-led diversity and inclusion networks, which have led to the development of new family-friendly policies such as miscarriage, maternity, paternity, and adoption leave.

Rebecca Rathore, Operations Director at Stagecoach Manchester said: “Women have long been underrepresented in engineering, especially in the transport sector. Stagecoach Manchester is committed to changing that and helping women achieve their full potential.

“Working in public transport is enjoyable and rewarding and our depot teams are supportive and friendly places to work. It’s one big family.”

Stagecoach Manchester is committed to attracting, recruiting, and retaining a diverse workforce, and the ‘Engineering Your Future’ campaign is an important step towards achieving this goal.

Lee Wasnidge, Managing Director at Stagecoach Manchester, said: “Stagecoach recognises that people of all genders and backgrounds are fundamental to its success. We have a duty as a responsible employer to create a diverse and inclusive team that reflects the communities we serve.

“Gender diversity is a crucial business issue and this new campaign is a real chance for us to change the face of engineering in public transport.”

For more information on working for Stagecoach Manchester visit stagecoachbus.com or register your interest in an apprenticeship with Stagecoach Manchester here.

-ENDS-

For additional information, please contact Alistair Ferguson at Tangerine Comms on 0161 817 6600 or email Stagecoach@tangerinecomms.com

NOTES TO EDITORS

Stagecoach

• Stagecoach is one of Britain’s leading public transport businesses, helping connect communities for 40 years.
• Our team of 24,000 people and our 8,300 buses, coaches and trams are part of the fabric of daily life in England, Scotland and Wales.
• We connect people with jobs, skills and training, bring customers to our high streets, connect tourists with visitor attractions, and draw families, friends and communities together.
• Stagecoach is Britain’s biggest bus and coach operator. We run Megabus, the market-leading value coach operator, and Scottish Citylink, which connects 200 locations across Scotland. In Sheffield, we also operate the Supertram light rail network.
• We are proud to serve communities in major cities including London, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, Sheffield, Oxford and Cambridge, as well as rural locations from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland to Wales and south-west England.
• Our impact is about far more than transport – we support the economy, help cut congestion on our roads, protect our environment and air quality, boost safety on our roads, and contribute to a healthier nation.

Stagecoach Manchester

• At Stagecoach Manchester, we are proud to serve communities throughout Greater Manchester covering Manchester, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Wigan.
• Our team of over 2300 people help to connect over 106 million passengers every year in Greater Manchester across a fleet of 700 buses.
• We are committed to investing in public transport for the benefit of the communities we serve and have invested over £25.8m in new buses and facilities since January 2015.
• We are also committed to helping the environment, and introduced 32 electric double decker buses into Greater Manchester in March 2020. These were the first electric double deckers in the region and in their first year in service clocked up over 700,000 carbon free miles.

SOURCE: Stagecoach Group Limited