Women in Manufacturing

Charlie’s Fine Food: subverting the perceptions of manufacturing jobs

Women do not feel comfortable entering male-dominated workplaces. Moreover, there is a perception that a job in manufacturing is a monotonous assembly-line task or work that is done in a dirty and dangerous environment, preconceptions that bear little resemblance to the modern, innovative and technologically advanced manufacturing operations.

Industry Update sat down with Jacky Magid, Co-Owner, Head of Sales, Marketing & Product Innovation at Charlie’s Fine Food Co to discuss how the company is shifting outdated perceptions of manufacturing.

Industry Update: Could you explain how your business differs from traditional manufacturing workplaces?

Jacky Magid: At Charlie’s, our work conditions vary vastly from those described above. Charlie’s operates out of a modern custom built facility that is SQF certified (a GSFI food safety standard). We pride ourselves on our safe manufacturing processes and we offer training opportunities to staff at all levels of the business.

The company promotes collaboration where we actively listen to our staff, encouraging them to share their ideas and thoughts around improvements to systems and processes. Some of our greatest manufacturing initiatives have come from women on the factory floor via our suggestion box.

Having said that, our female employees are not only confined to the factory floor. We are proud to say that women are employed in all levels of the business from the factory floor to admin, management and leadership. Importantly, we are very flat structured and actively resist operating a hierarchical model.

At Charlie’s, we have an inclusive approach to business that we feel breeds collaboration and penetrates the traditional male dominated nature of manufacturing.

IU: In general terms, around 30 percent of women are employed in industry. According to the World Economic Forum, 33 percent is the share of women at junior level staff, 24 percent

at mid-level staff, 15 percent at senior level staff, 9 percent as CEOs across all industries.

What is the percentage of women that you employ at Charlie’s Fine Food and do you have a hiring policy that is advantageous to women?

JM: In all honesty, we haven’t needed to establish a hiring policy that promotes the employment of women. We are a workplace that offers flexible working practices where possible, and we tend to attract great women as a result.

As mentioned previously, we have women at every level of our business. Well over 50% of our employees identify as female.

At Charlie’s, we hire staff on a meritocracy, and we have women working in traditionally ‘male roles’ and men working in traditionally ‘female roles’.

IU: There is a perception of gender roles that makes women feel industry “is not for them” and role models at leadership and on the shop floor are lacking. How is this addressed at Charlie’s Fine Food?

JM: We are not short of role models at Charlie’s. Many of our team leaders, both in the factory and the office, identify as female.

When I began in the sector 15 years ago, having previously worked as a lawyer in construction litigation, I was taken aback by how male-dominated the food service industry was – particularly in sales.

This realisation strengthened my commitment to bringing more women into the industry and promoting a flexible working environment that accommodates for those with young families, caring for elders or studying.

Charlie’s offers a range of flexible working conditions along with continued training and opportunity for personal and professional growth. This, combined with a commitment to operate a great business, attracts great staff generally but particularly women.

IU: Are there specific professional development opportunities that you encourage your team to undertake to improve their skills in the industry?

JM: Absolutely. At Charlie’s, we offer a range of professional development and training courses across all levels of the business. These include deeper training in mechanisation, lean manufacturing, food safety, OH&SC, innovation, digital, leadership and business management.

Currently, we have at least one staff enrolled in offsite leadership and management training. We are also committed to promoting staff from within, supporting this with additional training if required.

IU: Could you describe your experience within the Australian workplace detailing the highlights and challenges?

JM: Like with all family-owned and run businesses – SMEs – there have been some great highs & some low lows.

Ken and I came from corporate backgrounds. We were able to bring corporate thinking and business practices to Charlie’s, while leaving some of the more outdated and biased tendencies at the door.

We are proud to have grown an inclusive and flexible working environment for people who identify as both male and female. From the get-go, Charlie’s has cared for its staff. This became especially prevalent through COVID and now with uncertainties created by supply chain issues and the dramatic increase in ingredient and input costs.

When other businesses were struggling to implement policies around vaccination, Charlie’s empowered their staff with education brining in a local doctor to talk through the available vaccinations and answer any questions. The result was incredible, with staff feeling enabled to make decisions on their and the company’s interests.

Another highlight for me came through COVID, where the business pivoted from prominently B2B food service business to B2C business selling to major retailers and growing a consumer brand. Not only has this changed the way Charlie’s does business but it has provided the staff – at all levels – with continued and new ways of working.

Jacky Magid, Co-Owner, Head of Sales, Marketing & Product Innovation at Charlie’s Fine Food Co

Charlie’s Fine Food Co

charliesfinefoodco.com

The sweet smell of Clover Fields’ success

Clover Fields started in 1983 as a boutique business in the Blue Mountains and grew into a thriving factory and design centre which is now based an hour west of Sydney. It was the first company in Australia to replace animal tallow-based soaps with a pure vegetable base, striving to remain at the forefront of innovation in environmentally conscious products and manufacturing.

Industry Update caught up with Elizabeth Valek, the founder and owner of this family-owned and female-led business.

Industry Update: How does your business differ from the traditional manufacturing workplace?

Elizabeth Valek: Although I was only 23 years old when I started the business, I identified the value of women with family having roles in the workplace. At that time, it was not, and still is not, the norm to operate a factory with our hours. We operate and maintain an office and factory floor all within the same hours, working from 9:00am to 5:30pm, and on Fridays from 9:00am to 3:30pm.

We built our business on flexible working hours to suit women with children, who can start at 9:00am or 9:30am after school drop off. We also built-in flexibility to be able to leave early if required.

I also set out to train many women in roles ranging from clerical through to machinery operation. In our early days,

many women would say to me that they had not worked for over 10 years. It always amazed me to hear this, so I tried to build the women’s confidence even at the interview stage by reminding them not to sell themselves short, as running a household with children involved a complex skill set. EV: We have a hiring policy that is advantageous to women by maintaining our operating hours to this day, and by employing several extra casuals when we have large jobs.

These workers may only be with us

for a few weeks, but I like to feel that when they have a good experience here getting back into the workforce and feel valued, that they leave with the extra confidence needed to move forward with employment.

Currently, 13% of our workforce are male. This figure can drop when we employ extra casual who are mostly female. IU: Can you give us an insight into gender role perception?

EV: We are a small manufacturer, so I can only speak from our experience.

Women are great critical thinkers, and more importantly, are generally better at time management and lateral thinking than their male counterparts.

In any manufacturing and production, the key driver to smooth and effective shop floor management is the notion of ‘brains before the brawn’, so to speak. This is where women excel.

As a result, more of these roles have opened to women, and should continue to open, if an employer values cost-effective management of their processes.

IU: How do you plan to strengthen your numbers?

EV: We are hoping to expand our export sales through new sales methodology by implementing direct sales. This would involve more clerical staff to process the online purchases and also more warehouse staff to implement pick-packing. I already have the infrastructure and would just need to build on this. These roles can all be performed by women, right down to forklift driving.

IU: What development opportunities and staff training does Clover Fields offer? those processes in-house. So far, this is proving to be very successful. These women in turn will be responsible for recruitment and training of more staff as we expand into the export online market.

Last year, we trained two other female staff to operate a forklift and will train further to meet needs.

We are also implementing extra training for machine operation. This has a distinct secondary advantage of making jobs more fluid. By increasing skill sets, we can cope when staff are absent better. This has been our saviour during absences caused by COVID and also the current labour shortage.

Last year, we have upskilled clerical staff on a new accounting system that has enabled us to cost-effectively move more accounting in-house. We are operating more efficiently, having more control over our operations.

We are also planning for updated first aid training to be done on-site during this coming year, which is always a good skill for anyone to keep current.

All our employees are valued, and we as an organisation can only move forward with everyone behind us as a team.

Clover Field’s Office Team

Clover Field’s Warehouse Team

Clover Fields cloverfields.com