Multinational Public Services Provider Serco advances purpose-driven agenda for women Empowerment

The multinational public services provider Serco is looking at new programs and chances to support diversity and inclusion inside the workplace while empowering women.

Serco, under the direction of its Middle East CEO Phil Malem, hosted a curtain-raiser in the Women's Pavilion at Expo City to commemorate International Women's Day on March 8.

100 workers attended the event, which was organized in partnership with SercoInspire, the company's internal worldwide platform. The main goal of the celebration was to recognize the accomplishments of women in business.

Encourage more women

The Executive Leadership team of Serco Middle East is now 50% female under Phil Malem's direction. At Serco Middle East, women now hold 38% of key positions, including high-potential positions. 

Also, the number of national women employed by the organization climbed year over year by 76% in 2022. Author of the acclaimed book The Fix: Overcoming the Invisible Barriers Holding Women Behind at Work Michelle King was one of the outside speakers invited to the event. 

Michelle also serves as the executive director of the UN Women's Global Innovation Coalition for Change, which is in charge of three major programs aimed at utilizing innovation and technology to hasten the realization of gender equality and women's empowerment. 

The Arab Institute for Women's Empowerment's (Nusf) founder and CEO Mae Al-Mozaini also spoke about her path and what has motivated her thus far. Nusf was established to support Saudi nationals and Arab women's professional growth and leadership in the business environment.

Leading with Purpose

Representatives from The Giving Movement, a sustainable streetwear company based in the UAE that has partnered with Serco to create their own custom company polo shirts, were also present.

Serco recently established its Advisory with Purpose division intending to assist its clients in achieving their own ESG goals. In addition to focusing on sustainability, they came to the event to discuss leading with purpose and give the attendees beautiful bags made by The Giving Movement.

"I myself am really enthusiastic about the equality of women in the workplace," Phil Malem stated. We currently have amazing women in leadership positions at Serco Middle East, but I want to see even more of them succeeding in their careers here.

"As a company, our focus is on how we can leverage our knowledge and people to realize national ambitions, and that necessitates both internal and external attention. The goal of Vision 2030 is to empower more local women to succeed in the workforce and to increase women's engagement in employment. As a provider of public services, it is our responsibility to ensure that we are establishing high standards for equality and collaborating with our customers to do the same.

Brilliant speakers

According to Serco Middle East's Chief Human Resources Officer, Hana Abu Kharmeh, "This day was about giving the stage to some brilliant speakers, delivering advice to help our female colleagues achieve their own goals, and empowering us all with the tools to work together to create an equal world, where even more women have a seat at the table. We need a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace culture for Serco to perform at its best. By promoting women into more traditionally male-dominated positions, we can both help women advance in leadership positions and assure Serco's continued success as a company”.

“Although there are 364 other days in the year outside International Women's Day, the agenda for this day has been centred on the activities we should all do to ensure that we are all still pursuing equality”.

The executive sponsor of the Serco Inspire network, a group that promotes gender diversity in the workplace, Samantha Rowles, Operations Director - Transport at Serco Middle East, commented on the event in the following way: "We're proud to have brought everyone together to highlight our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive environment that operates with purpose. I have a strong desire to see more women assume leadership positions in operations because they bring a range of abilities that will benefit the company.

Diversity is key

"This is not a 'tick-the-box' exercise for gender diversity; as a company, we have a duty to support mentality shifts that will inspire more women to sit at the boardroom table. Diversity is important, and occasions like these show that we want to keep supporting women and helping them succeed.

"Vision 2030 is a great opportunity for us to harness the incredible momentum of growth we are seeing in Saudi and use the support of the government and large private sector employees such as Serco to get more Arab women into leadership roles where they are then excelling, because they have the tools and support to do so," Nusf founder Mae Al-Mozaini added.

A final emphasis on purpose, a subject that Serco is embracing going ahead, marked the event's conclusion. Serco said that it will launch a significant tree-planting campaign as part of its endeavour to conduct business sustainably, including through its focus on diversity and inclusion and its wider business operations. 

In conjunction with EcoMatcher, Serco is working with the UAE-based Storey Group to assist the One Billion Tree-Planting Program. The business is urging members of its neighbourhood to get engaged and do their part to preserve the environment. By utilizing its workforce base, Serco intends to demonstrate its dedication to protecting the environment.

In keeping with the UAE hosting COP28 and 2017 also being the Year of Sustainability, Karen Storey, Founder of The Storey Group, added: "We are very pleased to be charting the road to help Serco make a real sustainable contribution. What better location to launch our tree-planting cooperation than in front of Serco's incredible community of great women? We truly think that women will play a crucial role in our collective response to climate change.