Sackers Ltd have signed the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce Gender Equality Business Pledge set up by Suffolk Business Women.

Suffolk Business Women is a key part of the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce. It exists to facilitate the contributions of women in business and wider public life to the economic and social prosperity of the county.

Image of David Dodds holding the gender equality pledge certificate with the two female members of the senior management team (L to R: Clare Lanchester, Shipping Manager and Helen Crapnell Communications and HR Manager)

All businesses in Suffolk are encouraged to sign up the pledge to demonstrate their commitment to working towards supporting gender equality in the region. The recently launched initiative has already seen 30 businesses signed up to it with an aim to get 100 on board by the end of this year. To get more information on it visit the Suffolk Business Women page.

Commenting on behalf of Chamber regarding the pledge, Chair, Michelle Pollard says:

“So many companies across the country embrace equality and diversity so well and yet organisations like Suffolk Business Women still have to exist because yes, this is still an issue.   More and more companies accept that they do have to change the way that they attract female candidates into certain roles and sectors.  Research has proven time and time again that a more diverse workforce has been shown to encourage a wider variety of ideas and improve a company’s profitability”

Proudly, Sackers Senior Management team is made up of 50% men and 50% women. One member of the Senior Management team who is also a board member of Suffolk Business Women, Helen Crapnell who says:

“Regardless of size, location or sector, employing female personnel is no doubt good for business. It’s about what skills an individual brings to the business, not what sex they are. I, myself, cannot deny that I have faced challenges in my career for being a female.  It’s unfortunate that women usually carry the responsibility of the family unit so often have to sacrifice one or the other.  If you are lucky enough to get an employer who is supportive to your career when have a family, it can make you ultra organised and very time efficient because you have no choice. 

Despite working in a male dominated environment, I cannot stress how supportive Sackers have been to me.  I’m told regularly by David (MD) that as long as I get the job done, he doesn’t mind when or where I do it. To have that at the back of my mind takes off the pressure of juggling it all at once, but also engenders trust and loyalty and it means I do the job when I am most efficient and go the extra mile. That holds its weight in gold. As a family run business, they really do value the work life balance so I’m pleased that we’ve signed this pledge as it represents Sackers commitment to women like me in business.” 

Clare Lanchester, Shipping Manager at Sackers says:

“With two children under five, it is difficult to work full time conventional office hours, Sackers are very family oriented and allow me to work around childcare needs, without this flexibility I would not be able to have the career I have today. I worked here before I had children and they have supported me then and now.”  

David Dodds, MD says:

“At Sackers, Gender Equality is high on our priority list. I would never hesitate to employ women in business and our management team is made up of 50/50. We do lack women in our manual roles but this is not for any other reason than that the applicants are male. It would be nice to see more women applying for jobs our manual labour roles and driver roles too.

Gender shouldn’t come into recruitment at all, personally I would recruit on attitude even over qualifications. If you have the right attitude, you can be taught anything.

We are a family business and that is a priority for us in our culture to support our staff and their families.  This doesn’t just include women, all staff are supported in flexible working where their job allows it, to fit around their family needs. Happy families mean happy staff and that’s where you get productivity, not in gender”.

If you are interested in a career at Sackers, please send your cv to HR@sackers.co.uk