Equal Opportunities

Women into Engineering in BT - Openreach Campaign

12 July 2007

Openreach has launched an advertising campaign designed to attract more women into engineering roles.

The campaign "Fresh Air by Openreach" was the subject of consultation with the Unions in terms of the general approach and theme. All of the women featured in the ads are Openreach engineers. The campaign builds upon the work which has been done jointly so far with Openreach to increase diversity within the workforce generally but with a specific focus on women engineers.

Openreach has doubled the proportion of women and ethnic minorities coming into their business. In 2005/06 the percentage of female recruits was 2% and for 2006/07 is 5%. For the first quarter of 2007 the percentage has increased to 6.5% and the upward trend is continuing.

The Women In Science and Engineering Industry benchmark is 5%. The percentage of ethnic minority engineering recruits has doubled from 5% in 2005/06 to 10% in 2006/07. The targets set by Openreach were for 10% of women recruits, 15% ethnic minority recruits and 4% disability. None of these targets were met but considerable progress has been made, with the exception of disability which will be looked at as a subject on its own over this coming year.

The "Fresh Air" advertisements are just a part of the recruitment campaign and highlight specifically the potential role for women in engineering and in Openreach. There is still work to be done and issues around retention as well as recruitment will need to be considered. The CWU team has been clear with Openreach that the recruitment of women into engineering cannot be a "quick fix" and that it will require a sustained campaign that tries a number if different approaches. This is the most serious sustained approach ever adopted by BT and will ultimately, hopefully, lead to a more diverse workplace and open new career paths and earning opportunities for women in BT.