FEATURE
Stand out from the crowd Katie Lawrence, who is currently doing a degree course in sports technology, has been doing some work alongside Raleigh’s bike development team and said the experience there has been hugely beneficial. “It’s been great for me,” she said. “Having those initial
conversations with Stuart to find out where I’d fit best in the business really helped me know what I was coming into and allowed me to look forward to it a lot. “I’ve been very lucky compared to a lot of people I know
that have done placements, in the sense that I’ve been able to see so much of how everything works and get involved in so many different projects. My other course mates are stuck doing the same role every single day, so they’ve only got experience in a very small area. “I’ve been involved in so much, from creating frame geometries, to testing and competitor analysis. It’s given me a great idea of how the whole development process works and a good understanding of it all. “I think it’s massively benefited me because it’s given me
time to work out that this is the type of thing I want to do when I leave university. It’s an industry that I want to go into, so that’s been valuable.” On female representation within the engineering industry,
Lawrence said that, from her experience so far, the workforce is nowhere near equal. “Any experience like this is so beneficial to me and helps me stand out in the crowd,” she said. “We’re really passionate about that at Raleigh,” Atkins added. “When we’re at shows and talking around the industry, the fact that our female representation within the whole business is up at 35% now is way out of kilter with the
industry.” A lot of those roles are in HR, finance, marketing and customer services, Atkins said, but Raleigh is keen to broaden the types of roles women are doing within the company. “Fingers crossed there might be an opportunity for Katie in a year’s time when she’s
graduated, if she wants to come back. “That is another aspect of it for us. If we can find real talent, we’ll look to see if there’s something we can offer at the end after graduation as well. Katie’s work has been incredible, the way she’s fitted in with the wider team and business. “One of our colleagues in the distribution centre is also
going to be doing a degree apprenticeship in supply chain. So we’re looking for all the opportunities we can for developing all our staff, not just female, but she has high potential and wants to learn and is in an area of the business that is probably underrepresented as well.” Another big change that’s happened with the Covid-19
pandemic is the move to hybrid working, with many companies realising that employees don’t need to be in the office every day to produce good quality work. But offering this to staff wherever possible has the added benefit of immediately widening the pool of talent available, said Atkins. “This then increases the potential number of female applicants as well, so all of this flexibility is definitely improving the chances for bringing people in. “As things really settle down post-Covid, I’d like to think we can possibly expand it and have two of three students in for the year. “It is quite challenging for students to find quality years out,
as Katie described. It’s important, and we’re happy that we can give back and provide some opportunity.”
Raleigh’s modern workspace, The Hive, at its headquarters in Nottingham
18 | May 2022
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