To celebrate International Women’s Day, we spoke to our Account Director, Hannah Briffaut, to find out what it’s like to work in a senior leadership position, and where the workforce is predominantly male.
Hannah started her career in facility management and worked her way up within the industry. “My current role allows a more in depth understanding of one of the many facets of being in the FM industry. The role also gives me direct experience of line managing and developing interpersonal and managerial skills.”
We asked her what struggles she had faced in the past, “When I was in my 20’s and was in a senior role, I did find that sometimes my opinions were not taken as seriously. It was a challenge to be heard and respected by people because of my experience and knowledge rather than them making assumptions about the experience I might have because of my age and gender.”
Despite the past, Hannah expressed that “In any industry you will be faced with challenges whether that’s professional or personal when dealing with people but it’s your self-belief, confidence, and resilience that’s key. Developing interpersonal skills that allow you to disagree/agree with people without it becoming confrontational.”
If you’re a woman aspiring to build a career in the cleaning sector, Hannah provides 3 keys to success: “professionalism, resilience, and adaptability. Never doubt yourself and believe in yourself. Trust your instincts and have the confidence in your own ability rather than seconding guessing and overthinking.”
Inspiring people like Hannah, and many of the other women we work with shows the willingness to learn and gain expertise is key to succeeding. It was a pleasure to gain insight and learn more about Hannah’s journey to leadership; we are truly proud to have her on the Regular Cleaning Team.
In April 2021, our workforce was made up of 53% Male and 47% Female. From 2017 to 2021 we’ve had a roughly equal Male and Female split across all four Gender Pay Gap bandings. This has led to a lower-than-average gender pay gap for female colleagues working for Regular Cleaning in comparison to the UK average. On average female colleagues at Regular Cleaning earn 5.6% less than male colleagues. In 2021 the average for the UK was 7.9%. Our split between male and female and part time and full-time working is also really even. We had 7% more males than females working full time. Our 2022 report will be available on 1st April 2023.
We aren’t just driving equality, raising awareness, and educating our colleagues, but we are also launching new initiatives including a mentoring scheme which we hope will facilitate more diversity in management roles in the future.