Message from Carol McGlogan to Celebrate International Women’s Day

As I reflect on International Women’s Day, I feel lucky to be part of the electrical industry.  Although we have a long way to go to advance women in this industry, I see signs of hope.  Some of the largest electrical companies are led by women: ABB, Anixter, Schneider, Southwire, and Gerrie Electric…to name just a few.  Our EFC board wants to set the example by ensuring that women are represented at the board table to promote diversity of thought.  EFC will be launching initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion to prepare our members for future competitiveness in the labour market.

There is a desire for change and a recognition that we can no longer continue with the largely-homogeneous workforce we have today.  We need to build our bench strength.  Women and other diverse groups need to populate our workforce at every level of our organizations.  Part of being successful is to have the appropriate experiences and time to build capabilities as leaders of the future.  This is not about quotas and promoting unprepared candidates into leadership positions, it’s about building systems of development, empowerment and inclusion so that those candidates are prepared and set up for success.  This is a long-term strategy, but we need to start somewhere.  We also need to be quick to adapt, as many industries are ahead of us and the race for talent is on.

Many of our members have already embraced the concept of diversity and inclusion and have mature programs to address the issue.  Our mandate at EFC will be to help accelerate the adoption for all to ensure our relevance and competitiveness as an industry.