Programmed Maintenance Services : Joins Forces with CDAA

Programmed has found a new partner in our journey for change and diversity in the Career Development Association of Australia (CDAA).

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We were thrilled to have the opportunity to become corporate partners with CDAA in 2016, having found kindred spirits who share our passion for promoting diversity, inclusion and equality. As catalysts for change, the CDAA will be able to further Programmed's 'Women In Trades' conversation with career advisors and career development experts. Through them, we will have more voices educating, engaging and encouraging females to consider the rewards of a role in the trade industry.

The CDAA is the country's largest community of career development practitioners. Members come from every state and territory and work in a range of corporations, large and small. These include companies like Whitelion, VTAC and the University of South Australia with individuals from various business departments getting involved. Members come together in a forum like environment to exchange ideas and work together towards growing career development opportunities.

A key focus of career development is to enable people to develop the skills to manage challenges, make good decisions about their working lives, and maximise their contribution to the communities in which they work. And the CDAA does this, beginning first with their very own members - encouraging and supporting them in fulfilling their aspirations for excellence by providing a broad range of opportunities for professional development and networking.

In light of this new partnership with the CDAA, Programmed hosted the CDAA for their Annual General Meeting at our William Street office in November 2017. In return, the CDAA invited Mark Rademaker, General Manager Human Resources, Programmed Maintenance division to be a guest speaker. Mark took this valuable opportunity to discuss the challenges that gender stereotypes plays in the career choices of young people and the flow on effects of achieving gender balance at Programmed.

Mark shared the challenges Programmed faced in achieving our goal of becoming a truly gender diverse company offering equal opportunity, particularly as we operate in a typically male dominated industry. Referring to Programmed's diversity plan and how we were breaking down doors, Mark played our 'It's Up To You' video, and explained our plans for leveraging the momentum we have thus far built going into 2018. Mark also displayed our employee numbers broken down by gender, challenging the career practitioners in the room to consider the role they played in being able to address the issue of gender labels in career decision making.

At the conclusion of Mark's presentation, the room openly discussed how CDAA, their members and career practitioners could close the gap on workplace gender balance inequality. Stephen Wyatt, CDAA Victorian President, said Mark's presentation was very well received, with many people continuing to chat about aspects of gender balance throughout the rest of the evening.

Pictured is Mark with Stephen and Louise Millar-Hoffmann, CDAA Victorian Secretary. We look forward to continuing our partnership with CDAA to help realise total workplace gender balance in Australia.