Newfoundland and Labrador have developed programs and activities to reach early school students, recruit secondary and post-secondary students, and retain women who have started down a pathway to engineering careers. But those associations can’t do it all. Employers and engineering managers have a vital role in encouraging and supporting women engineers so that they achieve their full potential in the profession.

Every female engineer acts as a mentor and role model for the women who come after her, and contributes to the growing critical mass. Yet, too many women who have overcome the obstacles and become engineers still leave the profession. What can employers do to prevent this loss of talent? Becoming Leaders – a Handbook for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology provides many useful strategies and suggestions.

Get a life!
One of the ways managers can help support women (and men) in their careers is by providing options that promote a healthy work-life balance. Modern research on workplace health and safety shows that work-life balance is one of the human factors crucial to achieving high standards in organizational health and productivity – and happy employees. Workplace options that promote work-life balance include flex-time, part-time work and job sharing; supported parental leave; on-site daycare; and support of fitness programs.

Dare to be different!
Employers must show leadership and be visible in promoting and supporting diversity in the workplace. This could include:

• establishing a diversity committee reporting to senior management
• ensuring diversity on selection committees
• learning about how subtle factors affect performance evaluation and career success
• periodically reviewing recruitment, promotions, work assignments and compensation packages to eliminate bias based on gender or other minority issues.

Do sweat the small stuff!
Employers are obliged to provide a workplace free of sexual harassment. Managers should establish a harassment policy and take it seriously. They should be alert to even the most subtle forms of harassment and take immediate action should harassment occur – before there are any formal complaints. By the time someone resorts to a formal grievance process, much of the damage may have already been done.

Imagine yourself in the other person’s shoes…
Where women engineers are still the minority in the workplace, managers should be sensitive to the effects of isolation. Providing mentoring or networking opportunities for junior women to meet other women engineers can lessen that isolation. Managers can proactively identify career development opportunities for women, who may be slow to self-identify for advancement. Firms should encourage women to stay in touch during family leave, making it easy by providing internet access, workplace updates and invitations to meetings, seminars and training events.

It’s Win-Win!
Employment equity activities are not reverse discrimination; rather they are measures to redress systemic imbalances that have evolved in our society.   In the modern business environment, the motivation for increasing women's representation has moved beyond issues of fairness or simply reflecting society's demographic.  There is clear recognition that increased diversity, including gender diversity, improves organizational performance with increased innovation capacity, added breadth of values and perspectives, enhanced team effectiveness with inclusive management styles, and healthier emphasis on balanced work/personal lives.  There is the additional positive outcome that where workplaces support women in successful careers, they support everyone – women and men.  Many of the practices and programs that could be implemented to support women would also help men in their careers and in achieving a more satisfactory work-life balance.  All society benefits when opportunities are open to both men and women.

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