INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY WITH TLA

Speakers from different sectors of the landscaping industry shared their thoughts on the theme of #EmbraceEquity in front of almost 100 members, with the panel detailing their own experiences, how to encourage more females to choose landscaping as a career – and how businesses can retain the women already working in the industry.

CEO at The Landscape Association, Jodie Dean says that she feels that the industry has developed some great initiatives to encourage equity in the business and level the playing field for all genders.

Speakers panel | Chloe Mulheron, Vienna Spence and Judy Bates

One of the panel speakers, Vienna Spence of Husqvarna, believes that including diversity in teams added strength to a business.

“I think I’m really fortunate to work for a large global organisation,” she explains. “There’s a lot of consideration given to equity, diversity, and inclusion for us. We have programs to help educate our teams to open their thinking and look at alternative ways of working.”

Chloe Mulheron, an account manager with Landscape Solutions, says she is passionate about driving change and empowering women to thrive in the industry.

Landscape Solutions specialises in the maintenance of commercial sites and Mulheron talked about her experiences of working as a female in site-based roles and how her team created policies to encourage women to stay in the industry.

With many women leaving site-based work after having a family, Mulheron shared examples of how she has adapted work rosters for pregnant field team members, including changing duties for women during the final months of pregnancy, and retraining into other areas of the business.

Her company is also working on policies to help women return to work after parental leave. “Thirty per cent of women who have kids don’t go back to work,” she says. “And only 20 percent of women who do return to work return to the job that they had before they went on parental leave.”

“We’ve got a pilot program with a mother who has moved to a new team closer to her house so she can pick the kids up. If this runs well, we want to broaden it so that we can have flexible start and finish times. So that a mother, father, grandparent, whoever it may be, has flexibility."

TLA Director and former educator, Judy Bates, shared her stories of the early days of the industry and some of the improvements that have occurred during her time in landscaping, including the addition of paid parental leave and equal pay for women.

One of the first female apprentices in the nursery industry, Bates says that she has had a great career in landscaping and is excited to see so many women being part of the industry today.

“I’ve had an amazing journey,” she says. “I’ve loved my life. I love the fact that I’ve been involved in this industry for 55 years or more. I welcome you all to our industry. It’s amazing!”

Thank you to the sponsors of this year’s event, Husqvarna, Landscape Solutions, Andreasens Green, Bunnings Trade Australia and 1300apprentice.

About The Landscape Association

The Landscape Association is the peak industry body for landscaping in NSW and the ACT, TLA members enjoy a wide range of resources, information, services, and advice to assist landscapers to run their business and stay ahead of industry trends.

Read more about The Landscape Association via the links below.