As an employer that places the utmost importance on diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and sees STEM outreach as a part of its responsibility - it was great to learn that the impressive teams at Schneider Electric™ UK recently held a fun and educational ‘Bring your child to work’ day at its Eurotherm™ offices.
Schneider Electric knows that businesses like themselves need to inspire and engage a new generation of talent, and so employee’s children were invited to see what their parents really get up to at work.
Discovering new opportunities in the world
With a variety of fun activities, the employee’s children learnt first hand what engineering involves and how fun it can be, with some even dressing up for the part!
Following a tour of the facility, many of them commented that they were surprised at how big it was, and that they had never considered how varied the job functions were at Eurotherm.
“After our tour they had a much better understanding of all the people that help make our company a success and where their parent plays an important role. It also opened their minds to a broad variety of career possibilities in their own future,” said Amber Watkin, Application Marketing Engineer and STEM co-ordinator at Eurotherm.
Learning about career possibilities
Children were given the opportunity to see how Eurotherm controller plastic cases are prototyped from 3D images, drawn using CAD (Computer aided design). Getting the chance to see one of these newly designed products emerging from the 3D printer was a highlight for many!
The son of Aaron Beeton, Test Engineering Manager at Eurotherm enjoyed measuring who had the hottest hands with a nanodac™ recorder controller, and was excited by how many everyday items around them are made in processes that need precision temperature measurement and control. I’m sure Aaron was a proud Dad exclaiming “Both my boys loved it and didn't stop talking about it all weekend!"
Others enjoyed the quality check demonstrations given by Eurotherm goods-in and end-of-line inspection teams and getting the chance to see their 'stamp of approval' process.
Dan Hamblin who works as the SaaS Technical Lead at Eurotherm was delighted that his step-daughter excitedly expressed her enjoyment at learning all about his job.
“Thank you very much for the Intel on what my step dad does at work, it was interesting finding out everything that he does and what other people do, it's good to know where everything comes from and how it's made and put together. It's also great that you use pink packaging (my favourite colour) and it was good fun dressing up like an engineer and having fun with the other children! You were all very friendly to me and I liked spending the morning with you all.” Leonie.
Eurotherm by Schneider Electric has great STEM ambassadors
Schneider Electric strongly believes in the importance of a diverse STEM workforce, and understand that to increase the representation of women in STEM roles, we need to inspire and engage a new generation of talent. These sort of events offer the chance for young people and young girls in particular to learn about the types of opportunities available to them and be inspired by the exciting type of work being done by Engineering companies like Schneider Electric.
Amber Watkin is confident that via events like ‘Bring your children to work day’, more and more young people will have a clear understanding of what an engineering career is and how you can get a job in the industry.
"Even though companies often report a shortage of women in engineering, we actually find plenty of girls interested in science and technology at these type of events," explains Amber. "What we need to do more is demonstrate the opportunities available for them in the workplace and encourage them to choose the subject as career.”
A fantastic career choice
Why not explore the wide range of engineering roles at Schneider Electric and get excited about having such a great career in this progressive and globally reaching industry. You may just be a budding inspirational engineer in the making.
Find out more
Disclosure: Where Women Work researches and publishes insightful evidence about how its paid member organizations support women's equality.