SWE is a global organization which strives to empower women in their careers as engineers and leaders while demonstrating the value that diversity and inclusion (D&I) provides to engineering and technology professions. This conference is more than just a recruitment event, but rather a celebration of women’s contributions to STEM.
ABB is proud to be a part of SWE’s Corporate Partnership Council (CPC), which annually sponsors over 120 employees with global SWE memberships, and subsequently supports SWE’s mission towards gender parity in the workplace, a goal that aligns closely with ABB’s own D&I strategy.
Within the employee resource groups (ERGs) at ABB, is SWE at ABB. This group hosts numerous events for their ABB member population aimed at empowering women and allies in engineering, technology, and beyond to achieve their full potential. To learn more how this group works and how you can join, visit the internal SharePoint site here.
Throughout 2022, the SWE at ABB Board of Directors was hard at work mapping out ABB’s presence at WE22. At this year’s conference, ABB was able to sponsor over 45+ employees to attend, lead an inspirational career panel, recruit talent, network with fellow women professionals, and attend 200+ professional development workshops and presentations.
“It is truly inspiring to see the power of this partnership and how great things can be achieved when people are coming together to collaborate internally and externally. This is what drives our company forward and I applaud the efforts of “SWE at ABB” and all of our employee resource groups across the world!”- Heidi Robertson, Head of Diversity and Inclusion
The below are just a few of the many highlights from this year’s conference:
- Five inspiring ABB SWE members hosted “Black Women in STEM”, a panel discussing challenges they and other women of color face in STEM and in particularly male-dominated work environments. ABB Production Manager, Cassandra Jackson; Manager of Special Projects, Aundrea Landrum; Pricing Specialist, Raechelle Emanuel, and Project Manager, Adriana Turkson made up the panel of speakers led by Discovery Program Trainee, Milayn Dark. The panel included tips to identify and address microaggressions and negative stereotypes in the workplace, as well as how to increase the pipeline of diverse talent in STEM-lead organizations.
- Director of Business Strategy for Commercial Energy Solutions at ABB, Angela Scott, was nominated to represent ABB at SWE’s Executive Women’s Luncheon where she had the ability to network and meet other senior-level professionals from across different business sectors. The luncheon was intended for women with identified ability to develop as leaders and executives within the engineering and tech industry.
- SWE at ABB and Early Talent hosted a career fair booth which allowed conference attendees to engage with potential employers and to network with colleagues at partner companies. Throughout the course of the event, ABB ambassadors met with over 394 potential candidates, conducted 30+ interviews on-site, and currently have 8 candidates in the interview/offer process pipeline for early talent opportunities.
This year’s conference was a true success, with an increase of 350% ABB attendance compared to the previous year. Having the opportunity to sponsor employees to attend SWE conference to network, learn from, and engage with current and future diverse talent is one of the many ways ABB empowers women. SWE at ABB aims to sponsor more attendees in the future and to implement similar programming to foster and retain talent, accelerate career development, and position ABB as an industry leader and employer of choice for all women.
If you’re interested in joining SWE at ABB and would like to learn more, fill out the form here. Board of Directors elections for Encompass Groups at ABB are around the corner, so make sure you are signed up to receive more information on how to get involved.
