CAF Rail UK is on a journey to make the workplace more diverse and inclusive…with the help of a special doll.
As part of its recently-launched Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, CAF is aiming to increase the number of females within the business, particularly in engineering roles.
Women represent 22 percent of the CAF SA engineering workforce and the desire is to achieve, if not better, this statistic in the UK.
To promote this, CAF has teamed up with the Women In Engineering Society (WES) to take part in the ‘Lottie Tour’ which will see CAF sending a Lottie doll to every one of its UK locations this summer.
By encouraging staff to take pictures of the doll in their workplaces and sharing them internally and across CAF’s social media platforms, the company hopes to inspire young people – but especially women – to consider engineering careers.
Every year the WES Early Careers Board organises its ‘Lottie Tour’ to capture the interest of a younger engineering audience.
This year’s official tour starts in November, but CAF has started earlier to allow its doll to complete visits to all its 14 UK sites.
Phillipa Harley, HR Business Partner CAF Rail UK, explains: “This is the first time CAF has been involved in this type of initiative and it was important to find something different and fun that brought colleagues together.
“The project will remind colleagues of the overall company strategy to raise awareness of diversity and inclusion.
“We also hope it will reach a wider audience and give an insight into what working at CAF involves.”
The project is a joint initiative between CAF’s Diversity & Inclusion Working Group and the Business Support Unit.
When Lottie arrives at a depot, teams are being invited to take photos of her at work, submit the images to the D&I Working Group, then send the doll on to her next destination. Prizes are being offered for the best photographs.
Lottie started her tour on 14 July at CAF’s Manchester Airport head office and is expected to finish in early October at the Chester depot, part of CAF Rail UK’s Wales & Borders project.
Everyone can follow Lottie’s journey on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/6885354 and Twitter https://twitter.com/cafrailuk.
Photo credit: CAF Rail UK
