Elim Celebrates International Women's Day

International Women’s Day has been celebrated since 1911, and it’s two-fold message has remained the same– to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, but also mark a call to action for accelerating gender equality.

This year’s theme is ‘#Invest in women: Accelerate progress’ and it is a reminder that all organisation’s need to consistently champion their female colleagues and customers.

At Elim, 72% of our colleagues are female.  We remain aware of the inequalities that can face women in the workplace, and actively ensure that we have the right culture, strategies and processes in place to ensure that colleagues at Elim are supported in their goals and given the opportunity to accelerate their career at every opportunity.

Empowering Women in the Workplace

We aim to support colleagues in their development and career aspirations. In addition to essential training, funding is available and can be applied for to facilitate further training and personal development. We recognise the value in homegrown talent and are proud to have invested £26,000 in training, accreditations and higher education over the last 3 years.

Flexibility is Key

We recognise the changing nature of work and the workplace. At Elim we value and trust our colleagues to deliver their roles to a high standard and aim provide more flexibility for them to do so where possible. By providing flexible work arrangements, we retain highly skilled women and have seen increases in morale, engagement, productivity, and commitment.

We also know that supporting the needs of mothers and carers is a great way to empower women in the workplace. This study shows women make up the majority of part-time employment at 38%, compared to that of men at 13%, as caring and parenting responsibilities often fall to them.

Supporting working mothers and carers with career progression makes our teams more diverse, offers new perspectives that drive innovation and help model and promote a flexible workplace culture.

Removing Barriers for our Customers

In 2022 Elim launched an initiative to support residents and their ambitions. The Elim CARES fund is inspired by our organisation's values and feedback from staff on what residents need to reach their aspirations. This could be the purchase of a new interview suit, travel costs to interview or college, books and stationary or a contribution to childcare costs in the initial period before someone receives their first pay packet from a new job. Most recently, two residents from our women’s supported housing service in Bristol have used the CARES fund for essential equipment to support their studies, and to support their aim for a future job in IT.

If you would like to find out more about accessing the Elim CARES fund- please contact your Housing Officer who will be able to help you apply.