Today, Programmed Facility Management joins the millions of people across the world celebrating women’s achievement, raising awareness about discrimination, and taking action to drive gender parity as we recognise International Women’s Day.
At Programmed Facility Management, we’re committed to creating a workplace that is safe, sustainable, and inclusive for all. We believe that a diverse workforce is key to our success, and we’re proud to have a team that recognises, respects, and values people from all backgrounds.
On this day, I’m proud that our ambitions resonate both within and outside of our organisation – in fact, today, Programmed has once again been named one of the Top 101 Workplaces for Women by global jobs network Work180.
We’ve worked hard for this achievement, and we recognise the significance of our responsibility to continue fostering a workforce where all of our employees can feel empowered to grow and thrive. We also know that by embracing diversity, we can tap into the talents and skills of our team members, better meet the needs of our customers, and build strong relationships with the communities we serve.
As our workforce continues to grow and diversify, so does our commitment to our diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) targets. We’re working to be changemakers in a field that has been traditionally male-dominated, with a goal of 50/50% Gender Balance in apprenticeship employment. This work starts early on, creating awareness in early adult development by inspiring young women and gender-diverse individuals at schools through partnerships with organisations like Explore Careers and Tradeswomen Australia.
In line with these positive motions towards the future of our industry, we’ve changed the language that we use to address our employees. For example – foremen are now forepersons, handymen are now handypersons, tradesmen to tradespeople and ‘men working at height’ is now ‘work being completed above’. These changes are simple, but they go a long way in representing trades as work for everyone, not just men.
We’ve strengthened our dialogue with all women at Programmed through initiatives like Women Connect @ Programmed, a newsletter designed for our female employees highlighting career development and articles of interest. We’ve also demonstrated our support for a family-inclusive workplace through our partnership with Circle In, an inclusive caregiver benefit platform providing access to expert advice at every life stage, for all of our Programmed employees.
And we’re ensuring that we continue to lead positive change with plans in place for new leadership development programs for our female employees, as well as focusing on our culture in ensuring we are always offering a work environment that is safe and welcoming.
This year, the theme for International Women’s Day is #InspireInclusion – a call to action to inspire others to understand and value women’s inclusion and for women themselves to be inspired to be included.
When I think about the inspiring women in my life, I go no further than my wife, who has spent her whole career working as a health professional with roles as diverse as managing a Nursing Unit within the Trauma Operating Theatre at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne to working on 12-hour orthopaedic procedures with a team of world-renowned surgeons.
The strength, compassion, and resilience my wife has and continues to demonstrate are attributes I admire and are attributes I continually see displayed throughout our workplace by our very own women within Programmed.
I strongly encourage you to take the time today, and every day, to consider the actions that you will take personally in contributing to our safe and inclusive workplace, as well as inspiring those around you to support and advance women to forge a better world for all.
Graeme Hurn
Chief Executive Officer
Programmed Facility Management
