© Pipelife Sweden
Diversity, Inclusion, Career: Female workers reflect on their careers at wienerberger and where they want to go in the building materials and infrastructure industry.
“I fancied working in industry for a bit. Now I have a flexible job, where there’s always something to do,” says Anette Johansson full of enthusiasm. Having joined Pipeline Sweden’s plant in Ljung in 2022 as an injection molding machine operator, she now also prepares products for shipping, ensures the warehouse is fully stocked and acts as the contact person for new members of staff. In the Swedish plant more than half the workforce is female. From driving a forklift to overseeing shifts or getting hands on in the maintenance team – gender plays no role in these jobs.
© Pipelife Sweden
Anette in Action: As a machine operator at the Pipelife Sweden production plant in Ljung she always has everything in the warehouse under control.
Wienerberger defined ambitious ESG goals in its Sustainability Program 2026. The company promotes awareness of workplace equality and ensures that female and male employees are given equal opportunities. By doing so, wienerberger contributes to Goal 5 “Achieve Gender Equality” of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Measures include developing action plans for each country and coaching programs for female employees. When executive positions are filled, preference is given to women provided their qualifications are equivalent to those of male candidates. One example of woman power at the top of the corporate ladder: Solveig Menard-Galli has held a seat on the four-member Managing Board of wienerberger since 2019. In 2023 women also accounted for 40 percent of the Supervisory Board members. The company is therefore making good progress towards fulfilling the EU Council Directive to improve gender balance among the directors of listed companies by 2026.
wienerberger actively promotes diversity and inclusion. This commitment goes far beyond gender diversity. In every country in which the company operates, customized action plans will be developed and implemented by 2026. These are based on one principle: fair wages and equal opportunities for all members of staff.
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© Wienerberger AG
Approximately half the European workforce are women. According to Eurostat data, women were underrepresented in industry in 2022, accounting for approximately 18.1 percent of the workforce. However, attitudes are changing: In the past, jobs in industry were often associated with heavy lifting and repetitive assembly-line work. But nowadays, these aspects of the production process are performed by machines. Read more here: Industry of the Future Offers Top Career Opportunities.
Advances in automation, digitalization and Health & Safety are turning sometimes physically demanding jobs into technically challenging and interesting professions. This brings new perspectives and development opportunities for skilled workers – regardless of their gender. On the whole, the boundaries between work and personal lives are becoming more fluid, simplifying work-life integration.
In recent years, the percentage of women in the wienerberger workforce has risen steadily: In 2022 approximately half the employees working in administration at the company were female. Nevertheless, as is the case throughout Europe, there is still a great deal of potential to improve the gender balance, especially in production. The pioneer in the Group is Pipelife Sweden, where approximately 66 percent of jobs in quality control and some 46 percent of those in injection molding are held by women.
“Be it as managers or skilled workers or for fresh innovative perspectives: We need to get more women into industry. One way is to get girls excited about technology while they are still young,” says Gülnaz Atila, COO Region Central at wienerberger. “We can introduce them to different professions, for example, with internships and taster days.” Role models like Anette Johansson and Gülnaz Atila are leading the way and showing the kind of jobs and development opportunities that are available in the building materials and infrastructure industry.
“Be it as managers or skilled workers or for fresh innovative perspectives: We need to get more women into industry. One way, is to get girls excited about technology while they are still young.”
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© Wienerberger AG
© Robert Staudinger
