Roberts Co are honoured to have been featured across a variety of media publications for IWD 2023, championed by Alison Mirams, Executive Chair. 

To mark International Women’s Day 2023, Norman Disney & Young (NDY) hosted a unique hybrid panel event, celebrating the official United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women theme of DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.

‘When organisations focus on innovative ways to achieve work life balance for all their staff, the consequences are wide ranging. The change, which may be focused on a male workforce, can have massive positive ramifications for women. An example is Roberts Co and their push for construction site work to be undertaken during a 5-day week, rather than 6.’

Alison Mirams commented, “When we built Concord Hospital, we said to NSW Health Infrastructure, given the high suicides and high divorce rates we need to build a 5-day week. We did, and the findings were what you’d expect. Staff had better work life balance. They were happier, healthier, less depressed and less fatigued. They spent more time with the kids – taking them to Saturday sport – and playing sport themselves.

What I didn’t expect was the feedback from the partners – there were 16 next of kin in the survey. They said the 6-day working week in the construction industry perpetuates a gender stereotype – dad is the breadwinner and mum is the carer. Women can’t take on full-time employment because dad’s hours are so long and inconsistent and they need to do the caring. So the realization for me was that our working hours stop women from having a career.”

Read the full article: ndy.com/international-womens-day-2023

Alison Mirams also participated on the panel at the AFR’s Business Summit, and you can learn more in the following two articles.

‘Learn about sport’ and other tips for aspiring female CEOs’: afr.com/business-summit/learn-about-sport-and-other-tips-for-aspiring-female-ceos

‘I am the poster child’: Why work sponsors are good for women’: afr.com/work-and-careers/careers/i-am-the-poster-child-why-work-sponsors-are-good-for-women

Connecta included Roberts Co in their IWD piece, titled ‘Growing Builder Commitments to Female Representation in Construction’: conecta.com.au/female-representation-construction

Finally, Alison was recently interviewed for The Australian Business Review.

‘I would just love to see the industry work five days a week’: theaustralian.com.au/business/leadership/construction-industry-facing-huge challenges-as-risks-mount-in-2023