Who are Air Products PLC?
Air Products touches the lives of people around the globe in positive ways every day. With approximately 19,000 employees and operations in 50 countries, we serve customers across a wide range of industries from food and beverage to medical, energy, and transportation.
We bring together talented people to develop innovative solutions for the challenges that face us, our customers, and our world. This is part of our higher purpose, as is creating a first-class company where people belong and matter and enjoy coming to work and are proud of what they do.
Our past and future success rely on promoting collaboration among people of different cultures and backgrounds. We are expanding the Air Products family globally by growing in new geographies and, as we grow, we bring with us our diversity and inclusion values to some areas where the societal roles of minorities and women are still evolving.
Diversity plays an integral role in Air Products’ success. Our ‘Women’s Success Network’ is a resource for both women and men at Air Products to help females reach their full potential by supporting their development and championing an inclusive workplace.
The Network focuses on three critical objectives:
- Connecting women with colleagues and leaders to form supportive, strategic networks
- Developing women’s technical and leadership skills to promote personal and professional growth to strengthen our talent pool
- Advocating for a culture that fully embraces the business imperative of attracting, retaining and advancing women into roles of leadership and influence
What projects / schemes / initiatives to support women’s recruitment, retention and progression in STEM are Air Products PLC involved in?
Inspiring the next generation is important to Air Products and our outreach activities encourage young students to explore and learn about the Industrial Gases industry and promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths through various initiatives across the UK & Ireland.
Our Science Ambassador Programme is designed to deliver exciting liquid nitrogen demonstrations to students of all ages; from sparking their interest in science in the younger years, to working on projects with students and graduates at college or university. The programme includes information around how we make our gases, how they are used in everyday life, while the content links to the science curriculum.
Our STEM Strategy goals fit into four areas;
- SPARK Interest of students starting school to pre-college.
- BUILD Capabilities for college/university students, enriching their learning.
- SHARPEN Skills of our employees, developing new skills and personal development opportunities.
- ENGAGE Communities where we operate, so we are a supportive organisation, who cares about its neighbours.
Air Products employees are able to join many of our employee resource groups (ERG’s) which support inclusion. One such group – the Women’s Success Network – allows colleagues to network and support each other by sharing their expertise. We aim to create a workforce who are confident in their abilities, share experiences and support each other to strive to be the best that they can be.
Being a member of WISE and linking to their campaigns will give us access to valuable events and programmes where we can learn, develop, and share our case studies and stories to help inspire the next generation of female scientists and engineers.
Why did Air Products PLC join WISE?
As an organisation with strong values towards diversity, inclusion and belonging, Air Products joined WISE to give its employees the opportunity to network, attend events and share experiences with and learnings from other organisations. All of this will help us to achieve and sustain an environment where people belong and matter.