For WA civil contractor Whittens, gender diversity isn’t just a tick-box exercise; it’s providing a competitive edge that’s improving productivity and strengthening culture.
Over half of Whittens' senior leadership team is female. Images: Whittens
The Perth-based nationwide company, a CCIWA Advantage Member, highlights gender diversity as a key pillar of its people & culture strategy.
Over half of Whittens’ senior leadership team is female, including co-founder and CEO, Louise Whitten.
“In a male-dominated sector, having 60% female representation at the executive level is a rarity and something I’m proud to be part of,” Whittens Head of People & Culture Laurie Moran tells WA Works.
“It’s the result of deliberate recruitment practices and assessing all candidates holistically to ensure equal opportunity employment.
“It all comes down to finding the best person for the role. When we find good people they often quickly progress through the business into more senior positions.
"This is a point of difference for us as an agile family-run business – development opportunities are something we actively provide and pride ourselves on.”
But the long-term goal is to have more gender balance across operational roles, which Moran acknowledges is no easy feat.
“We are targeting more women for entry-level roles through various pathways and aiming to increase representation in more senior level roles as well,” she says.
Practical pathway to gender balance
In recent years, Whittens has implemented initiatives to support increasing its female workforce. This includes the roll-out of a parental leave policy, now offering an increased provision to primary care givers, as well as a paid parental leave provision for secondary care givers.
"We don’t benchmark against our competitors; we’re looking to the tier-one companies for inspiration, as this is where we attract most of our talent from,” Moran says.
Entry-level operator program opens doors
In 2024, Whittens ran its first iteration of the Entry-Level Female Operator Program at Fortescue’s Flying Fish Camp project in the Pilbara, and was successfully named a finalist in the 2024 CCIWA Diversity & Inclusion Awards.
The program, in partnership with Cailin Mining & Civil Training, involved providing training and employment for women who were new to the construction industry. Three females participated in the program for the duration of the project.
“The training was facilitated in a safe offsite environment where the participants were not at risk and felt supported. The program also had designated onsite mentors,” Moran says.
With a strong pipeline of works, Whittens is planning to roll out similar initiatives over the coming months.
Graduate program helps build a pipeline
Whittens’ graduate engineering program, which has an established learning framework, has also been successful in attracting more females, and several have since progressed into site engineer and project engineer roles.
“As we continue to win more opportunities, we plan on keeping this initiative going,” Moran says.
“Not only does it support our aim of attracting more females, but it also supports Whittens in building our engineering capability, recognising that skilled civil engineers are difficult to find.”
Among other initiatives, Whittens has successfully mapped the framework for a gender diversity committee, better known as the Women of Whittens (WOW) Committee.
Once live, this initiative will provide a forum for the female talent in the business and provide opportunities for committee members, of both genders, to get involved in initiatives to support overall gender diversity.
Gender diversity makes good business sense, Moran says
The impact of gender diversity has been felt at all levels of the business.
“Feedback from our operations and projects has been that they’re seeing the benefits of a blend of males and females within the group,” Moran says.
“At an executive level, we are proud to have four females at the table. This has led to better decision-making, increased productivity and innovation, all contributing to company strategy and Whittens’ overall growth and success.”
Moran says true success will be when women in operational and leadership roles is no longer seen as a milestone – it’s simply the norm.
Whittens is interested in hearing from both experienced and entry level female talent, candidates who want to be part of a progressive, inclusive team. Find out more here or email [email protected].
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