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IHS Markit gains UK Women in Maritime Charter Certification
26 May 2020Ashlee Williams
IHS Markit becomes seventh company to achieve Women in
Maritime Charter Certification
Maritime UK, the industry body for the maritime sector, has
announced IHS Markit as the seventh company to gain Charter
certification as part of the Women in Maritime programme.
In September 2019, Maritime UK launched the Women in Maritime
Charter as the centrepiece of its efforts to boost gender diversity
across the maritime sector. Seven companies have now gained Charter
status: Bruntons Propellers, Shoreham Port, Fleetwood Nautical
Campus, MFB Solicitors, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Hutchison Ports and
the latest company, IHS Markit.
To gain certification companies must share their baseline data
including the total proportion of women in the company and in areas
like senior management. Companies then set out targets for either
five or ten years. The targets form a large part of individual
company action plans, which also include commitments by the company
to implement specific projects and initiatives. Through the life of
the programme, Maritime UK regularly engages with charter companies
to assess progress and identify areas for new programmes and
activity whilst providing a platform to share best practice and
challenges with others.
IHS Markit's action plan includes running a yearly employee
engagement survey with particular focus on diversity and inclusion
culture; a robust job description reviews to ensure the use of
gender-neutral language and training/professional development
opportunities for all employees, including unconscious bias
awareness.
Charter companies are supported by Maritime UK's Diversity in
Maritime programme and supported by a wealth of resources,
toolkits, programmes and mentors. These include:
Online toolkit: a continuously updated online toolkit with best
practice guides and policies including the latest one 'HR Guidance
for Recruiters' which Maritime UK has launched as part of the new
Diversity in Maritime programme
Interview Pool: which loans maritime women to companies that
may lack diversity on interview panels. Research by the Women in
Maritime Network identified that more diverse interview panels or
panels with HR professionals with diversity training are more
likely to recruit a diverse workforce. However, several smaller
companies highlighted that they do not have access to such
recruiters within their staff. The interview pool provides a
facility for these companies to access relevant skills and
expertise
Speaker Bank: provides a database of women speakers for panels
and conferences. Through its work, the Women in Maritime Network
heard that many conference organisers claimed that they were unable
to identify women to speak on a relevant topic at events. The
speaker bank will be expanded to cover a wider-diversity agenda
with industry speaker specialising in LGBT+ and Mental Health and
will continue to tag speakers with areas of industry expertise
The first step to becoming a Charter Company is to sign the
Pledge. Over 120 companies has now been signed a statement of
intent to demonstrate commitment by companies to making progress on
gender diversity.
Sue Terpilowski, Chair of the Women in Maritime Network
said:
"We are delighted to celebrate IHS Markit becoming the seventh
company to gain Charter Certification. We salute their commitment
to boost diversity in their organisation and assist us combat
barriers for women entering and staying in the maritime
sector."
Harry Theochari, Chair of Maritime UK
said:
"We were determined that our diversity programmes will be robust
and meaningful. We look forward to continuing to work with our
Charter Companies to deliver these ambitious action plans. To
deliver against our ambitions, including Maritime 2050, our sector
must have access to a diversity of thought and talent. To thrive,
we need to succeed on diversity, and we now call on other companies
to seek Charter certification and join our Diversity in Maritime
Networks."
Ashlee Williams, Executive Director of IHS Markit,
Maritime & Trade said:
"Inclusion and diversity are an important part of our DNA at IHS
Markit. While it is not easy starting out as a woman in a
traditionally male dominated field and the shipping industry has
come a long way over the last few years in relation to diversity.
We can achieve more to ensure lasting cultural change and so we
support this great initiative for more women to join the industry
and boost gender diversity across all areas of the maritime
sector."
Posted 26 May 2020 by Ashlee Williams, Senior Operations Manager, Shipping Commerce