Customer success story

Female engineers soar higher at Airbus

Airplane manufacturer Airbus has long taken pride in employing local workers at its Aircraft Fitter operation based in Broughton, Wales. Working alongside outsourced recruitment partner Guidant Global, an advertising campaign was devised and launched to help Airbus welcome more high-quality female Aircraft Fitter talent.

Talk to our team View results

Impact at a glance

Inclusive attraction strategy for Aircraft Fitter roles. Helping Airbus challenge perceptions and grow female representation.

229

Quality applications from female talent

23%

Female Aircraft Fitter workforce, up from 1%

35%

Of new hires into the Aircraft Fitter workforce are now female

96.7%

Retention of all female hires since campaign launch

Women taken on during the campaign remaining in role

Campaign impact: increasing female applicants, challenging perceptions and helping Airbus bring about change in its Aircraft Fitter workforce.

$64bnRevenue

125,000+Employees

UK, EURegion supported

AeronauticsIndustry

229Quality applications

96.7%Retention

The Situation

Airbus wanted to tap further into the local talent base and improve equality and diversity.

Airplane manufacturer Airbus has long taken pride in employing local workers at its Aircraft Fitter operation based in Broughton, Wales.

However, they are aware that the overwhelming amount of the Aircraft Fitter roles have been carried out by men.

It was determined at the beginning of 2022 to tap further into the local talent base and improve equality and diversity.

Working alongside outsourced recruitment partner Guidant Global, an advertising campaign was devised and launched, featuring female Airbus talent working on different aircraft within the manufacturing environment.

There were challenges including battling conscious and unconscious beliefs that manufacturing was a male only role and a perception amongst women that as such Airbus only welcomed male applications. Airbus, like the rest of the aviation industry, also had to tackle fears about the long-term impact of the Covid pandemic on demand and employment.

Workforce representation

Female workers within the Aircraft Fitter function at Airbus Broughton had typically wavered around 1%, out of an approximate 500 strong workforce during pre-pandemic times.

Campaign launch

2022

Guidant Global’s experience in developing leading and creative inclusive recruitment strategies helped Airbus welcome more high-quality female Aircraft Fitter talent.

The Challenge

Breaking new ground, hiring more female workers and addressing structural concerns around the future of the aviation sector.

The number of female workers within the Aircraft Fitter function of the business in Airbus Broughton had typically wavered around 1%, out of an approximate 500 strong workforce during pre-pandemic times. This isn’t unusual in the wider aerospace and manufacturing sector where men are the dominant gender. However, it’s well below the 10% to 15% female representation seen in the wider UK engineering workforce.

Low female representation

Female representation in the Aircraft Fitter workforce at Airbus Broughton had typically wavered around 1%, significantly below the wider UK engineering workforce.

Challenging traditional perceptions

Airbus wanted to break away from traditional thinking around the Aircraft Fitter role and challenge conscious and unconscious beliefs that manufacturing was a male only role.

Aviation sector concerns

Airbus, like the rest of the aviation industry, also had to tackle fears about the long-term impact of the Covid pandemic on demand and employment.

The Solution

An end-to-end talent attraction strategy and candidate journey focused on challenging stereotypes associated with the role of Aircraft Fitter.

Guidant Global designed an end-to-end talent attraction strategy and candidate journey, with an innovative approach of focusing on challenging stereotypes associated with the role of Aircraft Fitter. The campaign, including visuals of women in the role, ran for two weeks on channels such as Facebook, Instagram and Indeed.

01 Role positioning and language +

The ‘Semi-skilled Aircraft Fitter’ role was re-labelled to ‘Entry-level Aircraft Fitter’. This offered more accuracy in line with the role and favourability amongst female talent. From job adverts to a dedicated ‘Women at Airbus: Aircraft Fitters’ micro portal, the campaign adopted gender-neutral language with a soft slant on feminine-associated words.

02 Micro portal and talent stories +

The dedicated micro portal aimed to bring to life what working in the role at Airbus Broughton was like through stories from World War Two, where Broughton’s 6,000 strong workforce were mostly women, to current-day female aircraft fitters. Blogs spotlighting women already working at Airbus as aircraft fitters were created to bring their experiences to life and combat misconceptions about the role.

03 Open-minded hiring criteria +

The recruitment teams worked with Airbus to create even more open-minded criteria. This included a bigger focus on transferrable skills to cater to female candidates with work experience that a large proportion of male applicants wouldn’t typically hold.

04 Candidate engagement and bias training +

Female applicants in the pipeline were sent regular communications and individual check-ins to be kept engaged. Guidant Global recruitment teams’ unconscious bias training, gaining skills to recognise and eliminate unconscious thinking patterns and discriminatory behaviour, helped bolster the strategy.

05 Inclusive workplace changes +

It was also crucial to evolve the workplace environment to make it more inclusive for female staff, to aid recruitment and retention. Changes included shift flexibility, adjusted assessment tests, more female changing room facilities and onboarding female candidates as a group to instil female empowerment and camaraderie.

Results

Airbus immediately saw positive results in the number of females engaging with the Aircraft Fitter role.

We immediately saw positive results in the number of females engaging with the Aircraft Fitter role. A myriad of candidates, with a variety of skillsets and backgrounds, who would never have considered or felt comfortable applying prior to the campaign. In addition, we noticed female applicants from big local competitors such as Rolls Royce, Vauxhall and Magellan.

229

Quality applications from female jobseekers

23%

Female representation in the Aircraft Fitter workforce

Female representation at the start of the campaign

35%

Of new hires into the Aircraft Fitter workforce are now female

308

Aircraft fitters as of December 2022

Female Aircraft Fitters as of December 2022

High-quality attraction

Between February 2022 and the close of 2022, Airbus received 229 quality applications from female jobseekers.

Improved representation

As of December 2022, of the 308 aircraft fitters, 71 are female. Female representation in the Aircraft Fitter workforce is now at 23%, up from a 1% representation at the start of the campaign.

Strong retention

Retention has also been staggeringly impressive with 59 women taken on during the campaign remaining in the role as of January 2023.

“I didn’t think you actually employed females in the aircraft fitter roles and then I saw the Facebook advert and decided to apply.”

Female Aircraft Fitter at Airbus Broughton

The Future

Continuing to build momentum through training, talent storytelling and candidate feedback.

We’re still constantly receiving applications as word of mouth about the roles and the impact of our campaign keep spreading amongst the local community.

It’s vital therefore that continuous recruitment training such as keeping up to date with unconscious bias training is maintained. This will play a constant but important role in ensuring that the screening of applications is fair and equal.

Ongoing training

Continuous recruitment training, including keeping up to date with unconscious bias training, is maintained to support fair and equal screening.

Talent storytelling

More blogs spotlighting female talent are being created and rolled out to help keep female talent at Airbus engaged.

Candidate feedback

Feedback is consistently collected at every stage of the candidate journey, with Guidant working closely with Airbus to improve the process from application to aftercare.

Supportive environment

Having more female workers in the role has made the working environment livelier and supportive, with women supporting fellow new starters with tips and encouraging words.

Book a discovery call with
our workforce experts.

Talk to our team →

Solutions

Latest from Guidant Global

About