Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1055150
With one of the largest precast drainage, tanks and water management product ranges in the UK and Ireland, FP McCann has become the first choice for architects, developers and building contractors. All our products are manufactured offsite and provide an extensive range of benefits, including overall life-long cost effectiveness. DRAINAGE SCOTLAND/NI: 028 7964 2558 | ENGLAND/WALES: 01530 240000 TANKS & CHAMBERS: 01789 336960 SALES@FPMCCANN.CO.UK | FPMCCANN.CO.UK/TANKS-CHAMBERS PIPES HEADWALLS PRECAST TANKS & DRAINAGE SOLUTIONS BOX CULVERTS STORM CLEANSER TM HYDRODYNAMIC SEPARATOR GULLIES & SLABS RAIN HARVESTING CHAMBERS MULTI PURPOSE CHAMBER SYSTEMS STORM- HOLD TM STORM WATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM STORM- BRAKE TM / CHAMBER VORTEX FLOW CONTROL CHAMBER UNIT MULTI PURPOSE PANEL SYSTEMS STORM- STORE TM STORM & WASTE WATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM WET News Ad_180x130_270318.indd 2 10/04/2018 14:53 6 | DECEMBER 2018 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk The Talk: opinion JAMES BROCKETT, EDITOR, WWT A workforce that reflects its customers A s with other sectors that provide an essential service to the public, the water industry is dependent on its workforce. When a burst pipe, an overflowing sewer or a potential water quality incident happens at any time of the day or night, it's the skills and dedication of employees that make the difference in keeping the water flowing safely. For this reason, water companies and other major players in the sector have a duty not only to consider the staffing needs of today, but the workforce of the future. How can we ensure that skills gaps are plugged before they develop, and that enough people of talent choose water as a career? One central consideration, as high- lighted by our cover feature in this issue of WWT, is that the sector needs to make sure that it draws its people from all sec- tions of society and demographic groups. To meet all its challenges, water can't afford to have a workforce that is over- whelmingly male, white and middle aged. This isn't a matter of political correct- ness, but rather the desirability that any organisation reflects the customer base which it serves. It's vital to eliminate bar- riers that might be preventing women and ethnic minority workers from thinking about jobs in the industry. This applies especially to customer-facing roles – since customers like being assisted by people like themselves – but should actually be the thinking across the sector. The water industry is in competition with other sec- tors for a relatively narrow pool of people with science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) backgrounds and skills, and water needs to make sure that it is the first choice of as many of the people in this pool as possible, as well as helping to grow the pool for future generations. With this in mind, it's heartening to note that the industry has a number of high-profile female leaders, at executive level in water companies and in other key organisations. One of the latter who has been recently appointed is Lila Thomp- son, the new chief executive of British Water, who speaks to WWT in our feature about the recent 'Women in Water' confer- ence event and her ambitions to create a wider network of women working in the sector. It's also good news to see how water companies and their contractors are increasing female representation at entry level, through outreach initiatives that link up with their apprenticeship and graduate intakes. The statistics on diversity in water seem to be heading in the right direc- tion, and long may it continue. The water sector has a lot to offer its employees, and should be shouting about it more widely. With the ageing workforce and Brexit rep- resenting two workforce challenges that are on the horizon and looming rapidly, building a more diverse workforce is one way to future-proof the water sector's operations. "Water can't afford to have a workforce that is overwhelmingly male, white and middle-aged."