Member Article

Europa Highlights Drive to Reduce Gender Gap

Europa Worldwide Group is highlighting its drive to offer employees equal pay and opportunities, as its Europa Warehouse division sees an increase in its female employees stepping forward for in-house training to expand their skill set.

Europa follows the requirements of The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations, which came in to effect on 6 April 2017. The regulations require employers with over 250 employees to publish data on gender pay gaps and this includes regular reviews to assess the levels of gender equality in the workplace.

To comply with the regulations, Europa always seeks to find a balance, creating an equal workforce of male and female employees at different levels. Europa Warehouse Director, Maria Torrent-March is championing the drive for gender equality within the industry by encouraging more women to take on skilled jobs within Europa’s Warehouse division.

At its Dartford Warehouse for example, Europa has a 56:44 per cent male to female split within its Warehouse team, specifically relating to those with the skill set to operate machinery including VNA (narrow aisle truck) and Counter Balance Forklifts, and Powered Pallet Trucks.

The company’s continued drive for equality follows a series of promotions last year where Europa Warehouse saw a record number of female staff promoted to senior positions. This included four female administrators taking on roles as Account Managers, including one Senior Account Manager.

Maria comments: “We are making a conscious effort to reduce the gender gap. We support female employees to take on skill-based jobs such as operating Fork Lifts, by offering in-house career development training programmes, strengthening the number of female machine operators within the industry.

“As a business we follow the Gender Gap Regulations, ensuring our salaries are benchmarked in line with market rates and within different job categories - our aim is always to pay identically and we encourage female employees to take higher paid job categories therefore closing the gender gap.”

Within Europa’s Warehouse division, in-house training is run by its senior team members. Employees learn how to operate machinery, some of which require a licence to use, including practical skill elements such as abseils of up to 15 metres, ensuring ensure each employee is capable of handling any job required within the warehouse.

Europa plans to follow the same ethos at its new Corby warehouse – its £60 million, future proofed 715,000 sq ft state-of-the-art, logistics facility. Based at Midlands Logistics Park in Corby (Northants), the site has already reached its first major milestone with the outer steel framework now completed and is set for completion in June 2020.

The recruitment drive for the site is already underway, with Europa looking to recruit 200 new employees in a range of roles, from Warehouse Operatives to Management positions.

Europa Warehouse delivers a cost-effective solution offering a range of value-added capabilities including e-commerce fulfilment, production services, inventory management, packing, labelling, special deliveries, final assembly, quality control and critical parts management. Europa also has a fully compliant contact centre, offering an extensive range of outsourced customer support by phone and digital platforms.

Europa Worldwide Group is an ambitious independent logistics operator with six divisions – Europa Road, Europa Air & Sea, Europa Showfreight, Europa Warehouse, Europa Contact Centre and Continental Cargo Carriers. Europa Worldwide Group is the leading independent logistics firm which has gone from strength to strength, reaching a turnover of £250m last financial year, with further growth expected for 2020.

It has been an exceptional 12 months for Europa Worldwide Group, the best in the company’s 50-year history. Europa employs over 950 staff and was recently featured in The Sunday Times Top Track 250 for the second time.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rebecca .