In celebration of International Women’s Day and to celebrate the achievements and successes of our female team we took some time to interview them about their careers.
Dorothy Wainscott joined Packaging Automation in 1999 and is our HR Manager & H&S Adviser.
This is Dorothy’s story...
Q. Dorothy, can you tell us do you have a role model?
Rosa Parks is my role model; she stood up for what she believed in and behaved with dignity and integrity.
Q. Please can you tell us a little about your experience/career history in the manufacturing sector?
Packaging Automation is my first and only experience in the manufacturing industry, prior to this I was a Civil Servant and before that I was in a retail head office for a short period of time, where I ended up spending my time making people redundant as the site closed.
I think I found the challenges more in moving from a large organisation with formal and established processes to a smaller family business where there wasn’t an established HR function just lots of custom and practices.
Q. What is it like working in a male dominated environment?
In the main there is not a huge difference between workplaces and industries. However, I do find that generally male managers & team leaders are not so good at paperwork, and they find some of the people management side more challenging preferring to deal with practical tasks and problems. I feel that some men find it more difficult to ask for help.
On the flipside male colleagues tend to be more straightforward and pragmatic to deal with; it is easier to be straight to the point with them.
Q. Have you had to overcome any difficulties throughout your career?
I cannot really say that I have had any specific difficulties, just the usual ones of juggling family, work and managing to complete my CIPD & H&S qualifications whilst doing this too.
Q. Have you developed any specific skills?
The key skills I have developed are organisation, planning and time management.
Thank you, Dorothy, for sharing your story with us, it is an honour to have you on #TeamPA