'Empowered Women Empower Women' Interview mit Women@SGRE

In the following interview, Women@SGRE provide insight into their engament and activities at the industry leader Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy.

Renewable Energy Hamburg: Who had the idea for founding Women@SGRE? When was the group established?

Women@SGRE: "The foundation of our network started in 2013 by a small core team of female employees who wanted to take initiative on 'women topics'. Soon after, the core group started discussions, brainstorming and preparation involving all women at our Hamburg office location. This is how the 'Women@Wind' network was originally born. Years on, we developed to become 'Women@SGRE Germany' and today there is also a global women’s network at Siemens Gamesa."

Renewable Energy Hamburg: What does Women@SGRE aim for?

Women@SGRE: "Our network’s vision is to empower employees with diverse backgrounds ​throughout the ​company. Our aim is to enhance visibility and representation of women in the organization by defining quantitative measures which support the transformation of diversity and inclusion into reality. We are in close contact with our global head of diversity and inclusion, Marta Jimeno, to support her in achieving our company targets of increasing both the ratio of women in the workforce and top management to 25 % by 2025 globally. We also have regular meetings with our local HR, executive supporters and our German Managing Directors to discuss issues like female quota, recruitment or job sharing."

Renewable Energy Hamburg: Which activites does Women@SGRE develop?

Women@SGRE: "Germany regularly hosts networking events such as: Virtual Coffee Meetings, or virtual knowledge sharing events. Lately, there have unfortunately not been any in person meetings due to the corona pandemic, but last year, some of us were able to attend a training on 'Assertive Leadership'. Our motto is 'Empowered Women empower women'. Passing on knowledge and skills into the company is very important for us. Generally, we concentrate on three pillars: content, networking and visibility."

Renewable Energy Hamburg: Since SGRE is a highly international company which countries are mostly represented and why?

Women@SGRE: "There are of course groups in our main European countries, like Spain, Denmark and the UK. But there are also activities in the US, Brazil, Morocco or India. Our networks focus on different activities depending on the country. For example, in Morocco or India we have a stronger focus of driving initiatives around social responsibility such as: working with NGOs to empower women, donation of school supplies or distribution of food to local population near SGRE locations whereas others concentrate more on mentoring, networking and training."

Renewable Energy Hamburg: What is the percentage of women working at SGRE globally? How many women work in high-level management positions?

Women@SGRE: "The percentage of women in the workforce is little below 20 percent globally and declines when looking at senior management. In Germany the figures are a little better with almost a quarter of the workforce being women and slightly more than a fifth in management positions."

Renewable Energy Hamburg: You also have other diversity groups at SGRE. Are you working closely together with them?

Women@SGRE: "We are also connected with the LGBTQI network within Siemens Gamesa and a variety of other groups ranging from culture to sports to environmental protection and social commitment. There was for example an initiative at World Clean Up Day which we supported here in Hamburg or there is a reforestation campaign where we helped together with other colleagues to plant trees. It is great to see that there is a dedication towards environmental or gender issues and that the company supports colleagues to be active here."

Thank you for the great interview! We are looking forward to common activites and projects. Good luck for the future!