Ahead of International Women in Engineering Day, Aecom’s Karen Britton explains how her company supported her return to work after having children.
The theme of this year’s International Women in Engineering Day on 23 June is ‘Transform the Future’, encouraging more women to choose a career in engineering. With construction facing a persistent gender imbalance, raising awareness and interest in engineering among emerging talent is key to attracting future female engineers. But building a more diverse industry also means making a difference for the women already working in the sector.
I’ve always had a passion for civil engineering. I had a strong start to my career, gaining valuable experience on major projects at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports. I was leading large teams of up to 250 on site and felt I had everything to play for.
Karen Britton
Then 12 years ago, I realised I was pregnant. I faced the prospect of being both a mother and passionate engineer. I struggled to find role models in my situation and received confusing messages about how to proceed with my career. While flexible working was discussed, the solutions seemed employer-focused and I felt the freedom to pursue my career as I wanted wasn’t an option.
It was a difficult time and I made the choice to step away completely. I stopped the career I loved to focus on the family I wanted to raise. I took a six year career break, which felt like the right choice, yet out of step with my personal passion for civil engineering.
My career gap was an amazing time. But as the children grew, I realised the bit of me that gets excited about buildings, infrastructure and the flexural strength of concrete was not satisfied. One day my husband came home to find me with my children building a very complex piece of civil infrastructure with Brio, Lego and blocks. We were very proud of our quite significant creation. There was a monorail, airport, road interchange system and underground tunnels. He turned to me and said, ‘Karen, I think it’s time you went back to work.’
Bespoke programme
The prospect was both exciting and terrifying. After not working for so long, my confidence was low. I imagined it would be impossible to return to civil engineering, but a friend encouraged me to send out my CV. Within four hours I had a response, I was invited to Aecom for a chat. After offering me a job, the company devised a bespoke return-to-work programme that allowed me to set out my terms and how it needed to work for me.
I started back two days a week and upped my hours as it suited, allowing me to balance family responsibilities with work. I now lead a major programme with a large team and am passionate about supporting them as they progress through their careers.
I recently supported the development and roll-out of ‘Freedom to Grow’, Aecom’s new way of working in the UK and Ireland. The initiative is about empowering employees to find the working style that suits them best and balancing that with other commitments in their lives. Supporting the initiative is all about communication and might require me to talk to clients in advance of delivery. When I explain we’re doing things differently because we want the best, motivated and fulfilled people to do the job, clients can see the benefit.
It’s vital that employers recognise the benefits that supporting and understanding individual working styles, drivers and aspirations can bring for diversity and inclusion. Retaining female talent is key to increasing the proportion of women across all levels in our sector.
Karen Britton is a technical director at Aecom.
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