CELEBRATING THE LADIES OF THE FKG GROUP – INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

Construction and Civil industries have seen an influx of female workers in recent years which is helping to change the perception of a traditionally male-dominated industry. At the FKG Group, we are definitely part of that movement, with a growing number of females employed both in the office and on site.

With plenty of women working in our corporate offices, we are also fortunate to have four very experienced and qualified female operators working on a coal mine project site in the Central Queensland.

Hayley Hubbard, FKG Group’s Group Manager – Human Resources, says the mining project has been a standout with a large number of high quality, skilled female candidates. “We don’t always have the opportunity to recruit new team members for every project, or the chance to recruit females wanting to get into the industry. But for this project, we were lucky to have a really good candidate pool of skilled females,” she says.

To work in the construction, civil engineering and mining industries, you need to have specific qualifications and the willingness to work on remote project sites in remote locations, which can be challenging for both men and women. To celebrate International Women’s Day approaching, we spoke with two of the ladies working on the Central Queensland mining project, Cora Weir, a Scraper Operator and Shenaye Lahney, an Articulated Dump Truck Operator, shared their career journeys and thoughts on females working within the civil industry.

Cora told of being in the industry for 10 years, eight of which have seen her operating scrapers. Originally from Mead, Ireland, her father used to buy, sell and service heavy machinery, so she has grown up in this environment.

While in Ireland she found it very difficult to get her career started as a machine operator because she was a female, but after moving to Australia she was offered the training she needed and since then has thoroughly enjoyed her time working on site, within the industry.

Shenaye started working in the civil construction industry three years ago as a labourer and has since completed her Cert III in Civil Construction. “I have worked on multiple civil construction projects and it is not uncommon to be the only female on site. I believe it’s been my work ethic, initiative and motivation on projects that has changed the mindset of others about female workers in the industry,” told Shenaye.

“It’s been refreshing to see more women on site since I’ve joined the FKG Group.”

Hayley said that the FKG Group’s family friendly policies, including parental leave, childcare at the Toowoomba office, and flexible work options are aimed at providing “the best possible working environment for everyone and it is exciting to see that we are attracting more women in what has previously been seen as a male-dominated work force.”