Delron

In 2018, women held 30.5% of key management positions in organisations across Australia*. 

At Delron, the commercial cleaning company that sits with Ventia's Facilities Management business, we're proud to have a senior management team that's nearly 60% female and a large cohort of female managers and supervisors right across the organisation. 

From their head office in Perth Western Australia, Gail Forster, Katrina Wtulich, Sunny Haigh and Danielle Ryan together with Brad Western and Simon Herbert lead an organisation of around 450 staff spread across Australia.

As the company's Rostering Manager, a key component of Gail Forster's role is to manage an effective rostering team which in turn is capable of supporting the company's contract managers to do their jobs. 

"One of the biggest value-adds my team has, is in alleviating the need for contract managers to spend increasing amounts of time and energy on managing time sheets and rosters," Gail says. 

"We also need to ensure that our workforce is effectively utilised to deliver the highest levels of service to our customers."

Gail is pleased to be part of a gender balanced leadership team at Delron. 

"Some of the world's most successful companies now have females at the helm," Gail says. "There are many benefits attributed to a higher proportion of female leaders." 

P&C Business Partner Dani Ryan moved to Perth from Ventia's Sydney headquarters at the start of the year, bringing her expertise in people and capability to the Delron team.

"The thing I enjoy most is partnering with leaders to continuously improve the business through the professional and personal development of people," Dani says.
 
"We are fortunate to be a diverse leadership team across gender as well as personal and professional backgrounds." 
Executive Manager Brad Western says that having a gender balanced leadership team is important, as it's a more accurate reflection of the diversity of the communities we operate in. 

"Whether it's to service a cleaning contract at one of the large health facilities in Sydney or sending cleaners out to a mine site in the remoter parts of WA, it's important that we're drawing on the widest pool of applicants to fill our ranks, and I think we've done a great job of that at Delron so far."
Delron's Business Development Manager, Sunny Haigh, is responsible for driving and securing new business growth, and says that clients are also expecting suppliers to have a diverse and inclusive culture. 

Sunny says, "I love the diversity the BD role brings to my day to day activity. Business Development touches all industry sectors and all support functions within our Delron business."

Sunny says being part of a leadership team with a high number of females does make a difference to performance, profitability, and collaboration. 

"According to McKinsey, the most gender-diverse companies are 21% more likely to experience above average profitability," Sunny notes.

As Delron's new Finance Manager, profitability is of key interest to Katrina Wtulich. 

"Unfortunately, the finance industry on average is known for being at the bottom end of statistics as it is still heavily dominated by males," Katrina says.

"I am not only proud to be a part of a largely female workforce but of one that is also greatly diverse in cultures and backgrounds. Having a greater percentage of women is inspiring." 

Although they're a relatively newly formed team, Sunny says they are already working well together. 

"I am most impressed with the trust aspect, usually this is formed over many months or even years, however in this instance I see the immediate benefit by the way each team member values the depth of experience each of us has, and that we trust in each other's ability to deliver the required outcomes."

Each of the Delron leaders note how important the wider culture of an organisation is, and the role that plays in gender equity. They all agree that it needs to go beyond reaching a KPI. 

As Katrina says, "Gender equity in a team should not just be a strategy, it requires understanding, leadership, and respect from all members to make this happen."

"As a new leader, I am incredibly grateful for the daily learning opportunities, support, and comradery within Delron and the wider Ventia business," Katrina says. "The cherry on top is that we are a newly developed leadership team and have only begun. I hope our team can set an example for the future successors of Delron, and give opportunities to women in the wider organisation."

Delron Group sits within the Infrastructure Services Facilities Management business and offers medium and large commercial cleaning solutions across a number of industries, with specialties in the education, health, utilities, energy and resources and local government sectors. 

*WGEA 2019, Data Explorer