Hello, I’m Carolyn Ferguson, Company Secretary at Go-Ahead.
I’m incredibly proud to be an executive sponsor of Go-Ahead’s very first nationwide programme launched last year – Go-Ahead Women.
We recognise that to be truly customer centric, our teams need to reflect the communities we serve. Given 50% of the population in the UK is female, then we should also have a workforce that is 50% female, and this is something Go-Ahead Women aims to achieve by 2035.
To do this we need to meaningfully increase the number of women we recruit by showing them why being a bus driver can be such a fulfilling career and how we’re changing our business to be more inclusive to create the right work conditions for everyone to thrive.
The best part of being an executive sponsor is getting to meet so many aspiring and inspiring female bus drivers. It is this feedback that was at the core of the Go-Ahead Women programme when it was launched, and it continues to be so to this day.
For example, as most in this industry know already, traditional bus depots haven’ t always been the most female-friendly. As part of Go-Ahead Women, we are investing £8 million to change this so that when women join one of our businesses, they can see and feel that they are welcomed by working in inclusive environments with inclusive colleagues that support them doing their jobs.
Go-Ahead also acknowledges its responsibility, as a major employer, to ensure that we are providing equal employment opportunities so that everyone has the chance to succeed. This commitment to diversity will help us build a stronger, more dynamic workforce, while inspiring the next generation in the transport industry.
The next generation is a big focus for Go-Ahead too. In addition to increasing the number of women bus drivers, we also want to ensure that we have a strong pipeline of future female leaders. We were therefore thrilled that our latest Engineering Apprenticeship Programme included 20% females, which recognises the work we’ve done to explain, just like driving, engineering can also be a fruitful career for women.
We know from Go-Ahead Women, that our female trainee bus drivers really valued having female mentors and so our female engineering apprentices are also supported by two dedicated female mentors, both of whom have formerly been apprentices at Go-Ahead.
We want women to feel empowered, positive and excited knowing that Go-Ahead is a company that could open up a whole new career path.
For me personally, I can already see the positive shift in diversity and inclusion culture across our businesses. We know it can’t happen overnight, but with intent and purpose, change can happen. Some great examples include the many industry awards our Brighton & Hove Bus Company now receives for promoting diversity and inclusion. Our Fastrack Operations already have 20% of female bus drivers and at Carousel Buses, we have an all-female management team. In Go-Ahead Sweden, our leadership team is 50% female and importantly, our Go-Ahead Board has been strengthened by the appointment of Louise Cheeseman, industry leader and founder of Women in Bus and Coach, as an Independent Non-Executive Director.
While there is of course much more work that we need to do, I’m proud of the great strides we have already made to improve our diversity and inclusivity. I’m also incredibly proud to support Women in Bus and Coach. It’s a chance for us to learn and be inspired by others in our industry and to tackle some of the challenges we face together. I truly believe that it is so important that we work together to change how our industry is perceived and highlight the amazing work that women and allies do.
