BlueScope CEO Paul O’Malley would “love it” if more women wanted to work at the steelworks.
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Mr O’Malley said only 3 per cent of the workforce on the factory floor at the steelworks was female and admitted, “we’ve got a job to do to improve diversity”.
”We don’t reflect our community in that it’s pretty much a male environment,” Mr O’Malley said.
“What we know is where there’s more balance in gender you get more productivity. So we’re overtly saying if we can and there are opportunities, we’d love to hire more women.
“There are some great women in the plate mill now.”
To build up the female workforce at BlueScope required the company to go on the front foot.
“It’s actually going into the community and saying ‘we want you, we don’t not want you’,” he said.
He said it was also a matter of ensuring everything was in place, from maternity leave policies to supplying personal protective equipment that fits.
Mr O’Malley said the company would like to be hiring on a ratio of 50-50 when it comes to gender.
“We’re not there yet, we’re probably a fair way from it,” he said
“It can be a tough environment. But women are as capable as men so there’s no reason why we can’t bring in – at the same ratio as men – replacements when the opportunity arises.”