Enterprise Ireland's new programme for developing women in rental
As a business that only promotes from within, retaining female managers in daily rental is crucial for Enterprise.
It ensures that there is good gender balance as employees progress through the business, promoting a strong diverse and inclusive culture.
"Inclusive leadership and employee engagement is a journey that never ends"
Brendan Grieve
When Brendan Grieve was promoted to lead the Ireland Group in August 2020, he could see that this would need to be an immediate area of focus as all the Area Managers were male.
“We could see that we needed more women in management roles and to create role models for aspiring female talent coming through the ranks,” Brendan said.
“It became clear as we reviewed our talent strategy that other factors came into play, also making it easier for women to relocate.”
A twelve-month, six-part Women in Rental Leadership Development Programme was introduced to help female daily rental employees to develop into managers and every female Branch Manager was invited to participate.
“There were five students in our first cohort, and I am so proud that they have all advanced in their Enterprise careers,” Brendan continued. "Success starts with small steps.”
Three of the alumnae have since been promoted to Area Managers working in Ireland and achieving excellent results in terms of sales and customer service.
Another important innovation was the introduction of an enhanced relocation package – called Relo-Lite since it was not the full-blown international relocation programme.
This offers housing, financial, and general assistance to enable a newly promoted employee to hit the ground running in their new location.
The programme has been very successful and Ireland now represents 39% of all European relocations. More than half of the employees who participated in domestic relocations have been female which demonstrates the importance of providing practical support in career development.
“The impact of these two programmes cannot be overstated,” smiled Brendan. “Inclusive leadership and employee engagement is a journey that never ends, and at each step we need to be clear about areas that need improving and how we can introduce new measures to improve our performance.”
As of June 2023, females represent 50% of Area Managers in Ireland and 38% of all managers in daily rental.
"People are everything, without them we don't have anything"
Louise Cattigan is one of the three new female Area Managers and oversees an area from Letterkenny through to Swords in North Dublin.
“I never thought I was competitive until I started working with Enterprise,” Louise said. “There is such a healthy competition between the branches which keeps us focused on continuous improvement and development. It has helped me get to where I am today.”
Louise joined Enterprise’s Management Training Programme in 2017 and became a branch manager just two years later.
“I've always enjoyed training and helping people, even before becoming a manager and in my previous employment,” Louise said. “I thrive seeing my team positively progress on their journey and be promoted to the next level.
“People are everything, without them we don't have anything. In my area we are like a little family: everyone gets on and helps and guides each other.”
"Each move gave me the opportunity to throw myself into a new local marketplace"
Orla O'Connor
“Relocation has been central to my Enterprise career,” said Orla O’Connor, another of Ireland’s newly promoted female Area Managers. She began working at Dublin Airport in 2018 as a Management Trainee, was promoted to Assistant Manager within a year, and then began a series of moves to new locations and experiences.
“I joined the flagship Dublin city centre location to start my home city rental experience as an Assistant Manager, then moved to Sligo for a promotion to Branch Manager. After a few months I took my next relocation promotion moving to become branch manager of Athlone in July 2021.
Orla next headed back to Dublin to take over Ireland’s largest home city store. She also signed her area’s first dedicated Enterprise Car Club.
“Each move gave me the opportunity to throw myself into a new local marketplace and a new challenge in terms of driving even better performance and customer service,” Orla said.
“Then the Women in Leadership Programme helped me take the next step as an Area Manager,” Orla concluded. “I’m a member of our DE&I council in Ireland and I specifically take the lead on our gender stream, helping to build a strong business where everyone succeeds.”
If you are interested in a career with Enterprise, please visit our recruitment website at careers.enterprise.co.uk and at https://careers.enterprise.ie/
