Building mutual understanding at heart of RSK Women's Network

For Chair of the RSK Women’s Network Eloise Sochanik, building reciprocity between women is at the beating heart of the membership and of her experience supporting and being supported by women in the workplace.

The power of women supporting women through mentoring

Eloise said she derives great value from mentoring younger women, not least because she feels she learns from them too.

She added: “Collaboration is critical in how the network shows up for women across RSK. We have a dedicated team of volunteers who bring their professionalism, ideas and passion to make the network the best it can be – we are literally stronger together. The support of our senior leadership, including Divisional Director for Technical Services Claire Knighton, who is our executive sponsor, and Group HR Director Zoe Brunswick, makes a huge difference too.”

Male allies play a vital role in workplace inclusion

With a large membership, the Women’s Network attracts not only individuals with lived experience but also male allies who are crucial to the work it does. The support of those allies, particularly at senior leadership level, helps the network achieve its goals and ultimately support everyone to live their lives fully at work.

Eloise said: “Examples of this include conversations around fertility, the menopause, parental leave or leave for carers. These are gender conversations – not just women’s conversations.”

Expanding the Women’s Network internationally

Committed to being as inclusive as possible, in the last couple of years the network has made a concentrated effort to attract more colleagues based internationally to the network.

Since then, more international voices have featured in network campaigns, and there has been an increase in the number of colleagues in other countries becoming members and joining the committee. The network has also hosted more events at times that are more accommodating to those working in different time zones.

Eloise recognises that there is a lot more work to do and a lot more to learn, but the progress made so far is something she and the committee are proud of.

Recruiting more women in STEM careers

In the year ahead, the Women’s Network is looking to work collaboratively with RSK’s five other employee networks to help each other achieve their collective goals.

Eloise said: “Recently, we all attended a recruitment event hosted at LinkedIn’s headquarters in London, which was an opportunity to explore where we could do more, not just to engage our existing employees but to attract more candidates.

“Our focus is obviously on recruiting more women, and this year we intend to work closely with the recruitment team to establish a pilot programme to encourage more women with a background in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) backgrounds to join RSK.

“We’re also hosting an event on women in sport, highlighting the amazing achievements of both employees of RSK Group who play sport and the teams the group sponsors, such as Cardiff Rugby Club.”

Raising awareness of menopause

The menopause is another area of continued focused for the network, and leading the charge is Senior Marketing and Communications Executive Rachel Milne.

Last year, she set up Menopause Moments and Menopause Mates, a regular virtual coffee morning and space on RSK’s internal system, respectively, that enable women experiencing the menopause to come together, share stories, tips and tricks and have a laugh.

Rachel said: “Having a safe space to just talk is both valuable and refreshing – nothing is off limits. We’ve spoken about our own experiences, both at work and at home, and discussed ways to deal with symptoms, as well as tips and tricks for dealing with diet, wellbeing and healthcare in general during menopause. Some people want to blow off steam and frustration, and that is okay too; in fact, it’s welcomed, as sometimes we feel we have to hide the difficult things we experience with menopause.

“One of our goals is to have the menopause factored into the mental health first aid support the group offers. We’d especially like to see more colleagues who are of the age where they are going through the menopause become mental health first aiders, so they are able to relate to colleagues who need support.

“Further awareness for managers or colleagues is always something we are trying to raise. Education is key, and we will try to do that across the group, no matter where women may be based around the world.”

Proud of all it has achieved so far, the network is looking forward to continuing championing women and amplifying their voices to help them thrive across the group.

RSK employee networks are colleague-led and -owned spaces to foster awareness, community and inclusion within the workplace. United by shared characteristics, interests and life experiences, colleagues across the RSK Group now host six networks that are creating inclusive, supportive communities that provide education and policy guidance: the RSK Pride Network, the RSK with Unity Network, the Neurodiversity Network, the Armed Forces Network, the Accessibility Network and the Women’s Network.