Last International Women’s Day, we profiled the women of our management team, and how they’ve positively influenced our working culture. This year, we’re turning the spotlight onto one particular individual. Deb Keirl, our in-house Learning and Development specialist, has led a number of initiatives aimed at championing inclusion.
Last year, while heading up our Kickstart training academy, an idea came to Deb as she shopped. “I was in the supermarket and saw some marketing that said you could get sanitary products for free if you couldn’t afford it. This made me think about the first Kickstarters, and I realised it was something we could really promote at Tritility.”
So Deb teamed up with the other female managers and launched our End Period Poverty initiative. We now have two points of contact in our Jarrow office, and one in our Washington office, with a stock of sanitary supplies for people to take for free whenever they need them.
Deb is a member of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Forum, a group which is open to all staff. The aim of the group is to ensure that our working environment, company policies and practices are welcoming to all, and that difference is celebrated.
After consulting with the group, Deb devised a company-wide training strategy that will see all new hires, as well as existing staff, receiving Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training.
The sessions outline what equality and diversity is, the Equality Act 2010, the nine protected characteristics, and how we can all play our part in promoting equality in the workplace.
Deb’s dedication to important causes extends to her extra-curricular work. In the past year, Deb has led numerous charity initiatives, supporting Walking with the Wounded, Isabelle’s Campaign, Washington Mind, Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen and Football Shirt Friday for Cancer Research. She is currently rallying together colleagues for a summer skydive, which she hopes will make the Guinness Book of Records for the most people completing a skydive in one day.
If you're open to work and seeking a role within a company that puts people first, check out our careers page.