Almost 700 of Abri’s colleagues work in our Repairs and Maintenance directorate, ranging from Electricians and Gas Engineers to Schedulers. There are often preconceptions that this industry is male dominated, so increasing diversity and inspiring more women to feel comfortable and to see the range of opportunities available to them is a really important focus for us.
I started at Abri as a Housing Assistant temp and since then, I've worked in Independent Living and Partnership Living, before working as an Executive Assistant for the Operational Director at the time. That led me into my current role as Head of Central Support Services.
The best thing about my role is definitely the people. We have a fantastic group that I work with who are all really supportive. They’re dedicated, they're motivated, and they just love what they do.
The repairs and maintenance industry is typically seen as quite male dominated, but at Abri, the gender balance in the leadership team is equal with three female Heads of Service. However, I would love to see more women entering this industry at all levels and in all professions. Repairs and Maintenance is such a diverse directorate; there's lots of different roles whether you prefer being in the office or getting out and about. From plumbing through to surveying or contract management, there's something for everyone. And there’s loads of room for development too.
We offer loads of apprenticeships, which is great not only for younger people but for career switchers as well. We're working our way towards getting 50 rolling apprenticeships across the Repairs and Maintenance Directorate; from business admin to plumbing, electrical and gas. We're also looking at how we can use apprenticeships to upskill, especially as we look towards green technologies, and how we can make our homes more environmentally friendly.
In 22/23, we took on 18 new apprentices from Business Administration to Electrical, taking our total number to 36 apprentices. 3% of our new intake is female, and we want to continue to use our apprenticeships to attract women into trades. To do this, we are running a Women in Trade Campaign, making sure all our advertising always includes diverse representation, and attending more schools and colleges to let everyone know the incredible opportunities that come with being a skilled tradesperson.
There's also lots of different courses available to help colleagues develop within their roles. All of our supervisors and some of our other managers across the directorate have done SSSMS training. We also have colleague undertaking CIH apprenticeships and becoming Tetra Inspectors. So, everyone is getting in-depth, technical knowledge to be able to get our homes up to the standard they need to be.
We’re seeing more and more women enter this industry which is fantastic. But there is always more work to do. We believe our gender should never define what we do, which is why we’re so committed to creating diverse and inclusive organisation.