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News Jan 30, 2019

Jacobs Partners with Women in Nuclear UK to Advance Gender Equality

Jacobs conference

As part of our continued commitment to inclusion, diversity and gender equality, Jacobs has announced the first industry partnership with Women in Nuclear (WiN) U.K. which sees the two organizations strengthening efforts together to achieve gender balance in the U.K. nuclear industry. Currently only 22 percent of the U.K.’s nuclear industry is female, and this number declines significantly at senior levels, statistics that WiN U.K. is working to change.

WiN U.K. aims to encourage women of all ages into, or back into, the nuclear sector through engagement with schools, universities, industry and other stakeholders. It supports those already in the sector with career progression though mentoring and networking, and also facilitates broader engagement on diversity within the sector.

Jacobs works on many U.K. nuclear sites and programs reaching key stakeholders throughout the nuclear industry, so the new industry partnership enables the two organizations to collaborate on opportunities to strengthen the focus.

“As a business and an industry, we continually need to do everything we can to build workplaces that energize our people and encourage creativity, collaboration and innovation,” said Jacobs Aerospace, Technology, Environmental and Nuclear Senior Vice President and General Manager Pete Lutwyche. “Having worked with Women in Nuclear U.K. since its foundation, our new industry partnership builds on this relationship and provides the framework to work collaboratively on mutual opportunities that improve inclusion and gender equality in the nuclear industry.”

“Inclusion and diversity are vital for any business and addressing gender balance within our industry is fundamental to the future success of nuclear. The U.K. Government has set challenging targets of 40 percent women in the industry by 2030, further reinforcing the need for change,” said WiN U.K. President Jack Gritt. “Jacobs has always supported WiN U.K. with a committed focus on gender balance; working as our industry partner for 2019 strengthens our opportunity to make a difference together.”

Opportunities will include joint events and initiatives throughout the year across the U.K. to promote careers in STEM, providing mentors and building closer connections with Jacobs' Women's Network (JWN). With over 5,000 members and more than 90 local chapters on six continents, JWN promotes an inclusive culture where women and men can thrive and feel valued.

Jacobs was recently honored as Employer of Choice for Workplace Gender Equality. We continue to make inclusion, diversity and gender equality a priority and are taking additional steps to support and advance these commitments in the workplace:

  • Undertaking a full pay equity review with our annual remuneration review and prioritizing budget for any remedial actions required to address inequity in like-for-like roles.
  • Introducing conscious inclusion training to all employees over the next year.
  • Holding senior leadership accountable for recruiting from a diverse candidate pool both internally and externally.
  • Empowering all employees to share opportunities for improvement with leaders.
  • Improving talent management and development processes to ensure training, development and career advancement are distributed fairly across the company.
  • Instituting culture-based leadership metrics into annual executive compensation, which will include inclusion and diversity goals for each senior Jacobs leader.

WiN U.K. now has over 700 members and is one of over 30 international chapters under the umbrella of Women in Nuclear Global.