We’re excited to be hosting a wide range of activities to celebrate International Women’s Day, aiming to inspire conversations and changes to make a real impact for women all year round. Our first activity of the year is our International Women’s Day panel event, taking place at Leigh Court on the 8th March.

Joining our panel for the event is Georgia Grimes, who leads the Fibre Build unity at Openreach. We spoke to her about her inspirational career, and why she’s excited to speak about inspiring inclusion at our International Women’s Day event this year. 

Please can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your career and your current position at Openreach?

I’m proud to lead the Fibre Build unit at Openreach – my team of 8,000 engineers, telecoms professionals and contract resource have a mission; deploying full fibre connectivity to the UK. As part of Openreach’s multi billion investment in UK infrastructure, we are enabling millions more people every year to access opportunities, education and entertainment. We are continually innovating to ensure our customers get world class connectivity faster and at a market low cost point. 

Prior to this role, I’ve held several Directorships at BT Group and before that I was a management consultant at Accenture working for a range of global clients. At home, my husband and I spend our weekends chasing our two daughters around the fields of South Gloucestershire where we live.

Why did you choose to get involved with our International Women’s Day event this year? 

I’ve been lucky enough to benefit from the mentorship and guidance from some incredible women and men during my career. If there’s an opportunity for me to pass any of that advice and learning along to support others, I’ll seize it.

Being a South West girl myself, growing up in Cornwall, going to Uni in Bath and now living in South Glos, I’d also love to see more representation from the west country in business. I hope to be part of highlighting new opportunities, avenues and options for women in this region.

Why do you feel this year’s theme of Inspiring Inclusion is so important? 

A lack of gender balance in leadership means women face the same systemic disadvantages as any other minority; fewer progression opportunities, unfair remuneration, a working environment that doesn’t adequately support their needs, a culture that makes them feel excluded…to name but a few. However, women also have the additional disadvantage of being the primary caregivers – for children and/or other caring responsibilities. My hope is that the theme of Inspiring Inclusion will help shed light on the wider societal changes needed to achieve equality and the role we all need to play in making it happen.

In addition, we are at a critical juncture for Inspiring Inclusion - advances in AI (Artificial Intelligence) are starting to codify our collective consciousness and understanding of the world. If we don’t actively address biases now (for all minorities), we risk seeing it compounded and made more insidious in the future.

When looking at some of the ways we can inspire inclusion for women, can you tell us some of the ways that Openreach is tackling this?

Over the past five years, I’ve seen firsthand the meaningful cultural change happening at Openreach and in the wider BT Group. As with many telecoms and engineering companies, there was a lack of diversity and some institutional practices which weren’t conducive to an inclusive environment. I’ve been impressed that the company has made a continued, genuine commitment to recruiting, retaining and developing female talent and supporting other minorities. 

Firstly, diversity and inclusion targets are part of our scorecard in the same way as financial KPIs like revenue and capex spend – this means our annual performance is in part a product of how well we change our culture and is embedded in every individuals’ goals. 

Secondly, there have been a series of company wide training programmes  - some mandatory, some voluntary - which encourage reflection, self improvement and personal growth in a safe space – people can question their own biases and learn how to tackle them. 

Thirdly, there has been significant investment in diversity networks – communities where people can come together to celebrate what they share and understand their differences. These are chaired and governed by elected members at all levels of the organisation so that they truly represent their communities. These networks have not only helped change organisational policies and raise awareness, they are fun and engaging and are helping people be more comfortable discussing sensitive or politically charged subjects. 

There will always be more to do on diversity and inclusion in the workplace and society but I think Openreach is setting a great example and I’d like to see more organisations following their leadership.

How can we inspire organisations, groups and individuals to understand and value women’s inclusion? 

This one has an easy answer because money talks. We see time and time again that increased diversity leads to increased profit. When FSTE 350 companies achieve gender balance within their executive committees, each business could increase its pre-tax profit by up to £900m based on real life examples of companies who have made this change. If management and leadership teams are more reflective of the customers and communities they serve, they’re more likely to understand their problems and provide better quality, sustainable solutions and products. So as well as the clear moral and ethical imperative for inclusion, it’s just good business.

Finally, what do you hope people get out of listening to you and the other panel members after the event?

My honest hope is that it can be another ‘pebble in the pot’ of normalising women in leadership positions, in STEM industries, in prominent roles at events. I’d love to see men and women become less tolerant of inequality and be more demanding of their organisations, their colleagues and themselves to challenge and remove barriers in the workplace and society.

If you would like to be a part of our International Women’s Day conversation, we would love to see you at our panel event on the 8th March, taking place at Leigh Court in Bristol. Spaces are still open, and you can find out more and sign up here.