Championing the Women of Orange Hire

International Women’s Day: March 8, 2021

On International Women’s Day, we’d like to celebrate the contribution and achievements of some of the women on our team.

Let’s meet a few of the women at Orange Hire who are excelling in their roles, driving our business forward, and making a significant difference at all levels of our organisation.

Narelle Appleby, Business Development Manager

“Working at Orange Hire, I have always felt completely supported by all of my colleagues, both male and female. It’s a great environment for gender equality and in my opinion a level playing field for all,” says Narelle.

Whilst equipment hire has traditionally been a male-dominated industry, women are increasingly joining companies like Orange Hire. With over two decades in the equipment hire industry, Narelle reports that her experience has been overwhelmingly positive and encourages more women to join the equipment hire industry.

“I’m supported by my managers and my team, and I’m respected and appreciated by my customers which makes for a very happy working environment. When you feel great, you perform well! I love coming to work at Orange Hire.”

How Orange Hire supports women in the workplace

Orange Hire is committed to supporting women to thrive in our workplace – not just on International Women’s Day, but every day! Orange Hire sponsors one of our employees as part of the Women in Hire program through the Hire and Rental Industry Association (HRIA) as well as actively promoting flexible, part-time and work-from-home arrangements.

As a progressive, people-centred equipment hire company, Orange Hire is heavily focussed on developing and supporting women in their careers. Our executive leadership team has a strong commitment to gender equality, and we embrace a culture of diversity and inclusion.

Orange Hire’s CEO Greg Parfitt explains that by taking a top-down approach to improve gender equality and value diversity, the company is building a resilient business with a deep-set culture of inclusion.

“By focussing heavily on people and equality at the top tiers of the business, we are able to influence every team across our entire organisation,” says Greg.

“We recognise that there is still work to be done, however by supporting HR, sales, operations and all our teams to involve women at every career level – from entry-level to executive – we frequently see considerate, egalitarian and effective decision making in our business.”

Greg adds that the knock-on effect from including, supporting and valuing women makes good business sense.

“This has been critical to our success as we continue to grow in leaps and bounds. Valuing diversity, fresh ideas and new opinions continues to help us forge ahead as one of the fastest-growing equipment hire companies in Australia.”

“Initiatives like actively supporting flexible working arrangements – even before COVID brought working from home to everyone’s attention – has enabled us to attract the best candidates who are absolutely excelling in their roles.”

It’s time to challenge bias at work

Whether deliberate or unconscious, bias often holds women back in their career. It makes it harder for women to get hired, harder to get promoted, and it negatively impacts their experiences at work.

We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements.

Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world. From challenge comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge the norms, particularly in traditionally male-dominated industries.

#ChooseToChallenge #IWD2021