To support female employees who want to progress to the next stage of their careers, Aldi has piloted a Women in Leadership programme.
The programme aims to encourage female staff to develop their careers through a mentoring scheme.
According to Elaine Maguire, project and admin director at Aldi Ireland, the Women in Leadership programme was formed on the back of their diversity and inclusion strategy.
“This strategy was developed to improve diversity and inclusion at every level of the organisation, which is an ongoing priority of ours. As part of that strategy, we wanted to progress gender equality throughout the business and the Women in Leadership mentorship programme was one of the ways we are working towards this goal,” says Elaine.
The pilot programme was launched earlier this year across the store operations business unit.
“It is open to all women who wish to progress to the next stage of their career.
“It also offers mentorship opportunities to female leaders from store operations in Aldi, who can offer their support, knowledge and guidance to those in the programme, so it’s really practical in its application,” explains Elaine.
Empowering women
The programme has been created to empower more women working in Aldi to feel assured in their capability to take on senior positions and ultimately, feel confident to put themselves forward for those opportunities.
“We think it will support both attraction and retention at management level, as it offers an accessible programme for women in the business to progress their own career, leveraging the support and experience of other women in the company,” says Elaine.
Importance of programme
Sometimes career goals may feel unattainable or out of reach. This results in people not putting themselves forward or applying for a position they want as they feel unqualified or have a lack of confidence.
Companies need to put the right support and programmes in place to encourage employees to go for roles and positions they want and are well capable of obtaining.
“We are passionate about providing these supports that give women, regardless of their role within the company, a sense of feeling involved and supported in the workplace, so they can reach their goals with confidence,” says Elaine.
Following the successful completion of the pilot, the programme is expanding to all other parts of the business in 2024, including Aldi Ireland’s national head office, warehouse and store operations.
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