Jennifer Del Mastro: Risks of not retaining female engineers

Jennifer Del Mastro is a Systems Safety Engineer and an advocate for women in engineering and work-life balance. She has over 25 years’ experience as a public servant, Defence contractor in private industry, and consultant.

Why is it important to recruit and retain female engineers?

Engineering workplaces need team members from diverse backgrounds, including female engineers. Workforces with a diverse gender mix and range of backgrounds bring new ideas and perspectives, which studies have shown makes good business sense. Diverse teams can also reduce ‘group think’ or cognitive biases. The Harvard Business Review has also reported that women bring their abilities as natural teachers and mentors, which can help bring a team together to achieve their best. Women make up almost half the population and represent a lot of engineering talent. There is also the important issue of a female perspective in safety and design. My height is in the 95th percentile for women. If I can’t reach the door handle or controls on an armoured vehicle, then other women can’t either.

What will help employers attract more women to engineering?

Women often don’t apply for senior engineering or management roles, especially when they don’t meet all the criteria. Employers can attract female applicants by using an inclusive recruitment process. This is something the IT industry does well. Examples are using unbiased language in the job advertisement, position description and interviews. To do this, hiring managers need access to training in inclusive recruitment practices and unconscious bias.

Inflexible conditions of employment can also be a barrier for women in engineering workplaces, especially those with young families. Flexible or part-time working hours and the option of working from home or without fixed hours in each day can also help. Other attractive benefits are childcare, a flexible travel policy which includes payment for childcare on location, support for breastfeeding, clear and consistently applied maternity policy, and administrative support. Some employers have been providing these conditions for years. I have worked part time in the engineering industry for 15 years, ranging from one to four days a week. This included a four-hour day when I returned from maternity leave.

Employers should also reach out to universities, high schools and primary schools to introduce female students to engineering role models and promote an interest in maths and science as early as possible. Most importantly, they should emphasise role models who are doing great things and high-achieving women in engineering. They should also make it fun for the kids.

What about retaining women in engineering?

Flexible working conditions, support for parents, and work-life balance are also important to keep women in the engineering profession if they choose to start a family. Another important consideration is shifting from the barrier of motherhood to the more inclusive model of parenthood. This includes offering strong parental leave for fathers so that the organisation can model work practices.

Mentoring is also an important part of retention to help women manage and make the most of their careers. This should be offered as early in their careers as possible, or even at university. I started a mentoring program recently after 25 years in engineering, but would have greatly benefited 15 years ago or earlier. Salaries also need to be on par with male colleagues, and there needs to be a fair and transparent salary package for each role.

Encouraging women to develop career vision plans with the support of their mentor and other colleagues is also valuable, as is a succession plan, so they can actively plan their careers. Another consideration is shifting from the stigma of quotas by emphasising personal achievements of women in the workplace. If there are quotas, they should be based on designated positions in the organisation, rather than total numbers in the workforce.

How do we shift culture to effectively recruit and retain female engineers? 

This is important, especially for engineering workplaces with strict on-site requirements. Even in these environments, there are tasks that can be done off-site, flexibly or from home. For example, report writing and training documentation. COVID-19 has shown companies that it is possible to be more flexible. As a Safety Engineer, my skills are in demand. This means I have been able to negotiate my terms and conditions. This might not be possible for women in less sought-after engineering fields. Planning for career breaks or slow-downs such as families and other commitments could be done through a succession plan and avoid the loss of female engineers to the profession.