Nurturing ambition, inspiring future engineers

16 January, 2025

Individuals like Maryam with their unique stories still inspire me to keep learning and applying myself to make an impact. We need more leaders in the sector to be more proactive about their role in inspiring the next generation, the newcomers to the sector and even their own colleagues. We need them to talk about their work, how they got to those positions of leaderships, what challenges they faced and overcame, and the contributions they made in their field. This would show their resilience and galvanise those who are inspired by their experiences.

Creating the right culture to retain skills and talent in the workplace

What’s also become clear to me throughout my career is that ambitions need mentoring – because if attracting the right talent to engineering is hard, retaining this talent is no easier. And the data around retention of women in engineering is disheartening. The Royal Academy of Engineering and the Women’s Engineering Society found that majority of female engineers – 57% – quit the profession before they reached the age of 45 – compared to only 17% of men.

There’s a raft of measures that can help improve retention rates, and creating the right culture in the workplace is a big one. An environment where a diverse workforce – men, women, old hands and newcomers – feels valued is crucial. ‘

Belong and Matter’ plays a significant part in Air Products’ employee value proposition – so inclusion is incredibly important to us, but why? The answer is simple - we know that people only share their insight and experience to the full when they feel safe in a work culture, when they feel they belong and that their contribution is needed for the collective success as a business.

Of course, we should recognise and celebrate differences, because of the fresh perspectives they offer but equally, I always tell myself that regardless of gender, ethnicity, background and so on, we are all ‘just human’ and should fundamentally support each other in that vein.

We run a variety of initiatives including employee resource groups (ERGs) set up to support networking, build connections with peers, connect with role models in the company, understand issues, seek solutions for challenges and implement lessons learned. Senior leaders across the group head these ERGs, but the ownership of these groups is very much in the hands of its membership because we find that a simultaneous top-down and bottom-up approach is best for maximum engagement.

This culture of positivity and support is something I have experienced first-hand. I have faced tough challenges in my personal life in recent years. But thanks to the support of my colleagues and the leadership in Air Products, I have had some of my most fulfilling career experiences over this time. Interesting opportunities and encouragement helped me to continue to grow in the career I am passionate about.

The brightest future

I love what I do, and I love the realm of engineering – we are providing elegant solutions to complex problems; we are boundary pushers and determined to find better, more efficient ways of doing things. It is exciting to live at a time when revolutions in technology such as AI is empowering engineers to accelerate their route to solutions for global challenges such as climate change. I’d say this puts engineering skills in the sharpest of focuses and demand.

Dynamism, discipline, effective communication, and a hunger to learn and develop new skills means while engineering isn’t easy, it certainly isn’t boring. Add to that the fact that according to an Engineering UK report, 25% of all job postings in the UK are for engineering roles, and there’s a real opportunity ahead.

This demand for engineers is expected to grow faster than any other occupation, with an additional 173,000 jobs projected by 2030. The reality is, there are very few sectors that can go without recruiting engineers to optimise their processes, increase efficiencies, and support progress to net zero. For anyone exploring engineering as a career, then, I’d say the world is your oyster

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