Brennan IT: Brennan enters long term WIICTA partnership as part of broader diversity commitment

Brennan has entered into a long-term partnership agreement for the Women in ICT Awards (WIICTA) program as it amplifies its commitment to have a larger female representation on its advisory board.The WIICTA sponsorship agreement spans for three years, with Brennan becoming the presenting partner of the Technical category and support other WIICTA initiatives to empower women in tech. This year, WIICTA will be held in Sydney on Thursday 15 May at Doltone House in Jones Bay Wharf.Brennan managing director Dave Stevens said it was the first in the industry to forge a long-term agreement for these important awards as part of its broader commitment to promote gender diversity and expand opportunities for females in the sector."WIICTA has grown from a small awards ceremony into a premier event attracting more than 500 industry leaders to celebrate and recognise outstanding female talent in the ICT industry," Stevens said."We have been an active supporter of the WIICTA initiative for a few years now and are extremely pleased to be increasing our support to further promote the contributions of women in the sector."ARN and Reseller News editor Julia Talevski said it was fantastic to see Brennan take its support for the prestigious WIICTA program to the next level, following years of support."Brennan has a clear commitment to promoting gender diversity through a range of initiatives, with Dave at the helm," Talevski said."We are pleased that they have entered the first long-term partnering commitment for the awards and have given a commitment to participating in other initiatives we to help make changes to a sector which is still lagging behind when it comes to gender diversity."Nominations are also currently open for WIICTA in New Zealand. Brennan recently undertook a report in the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), which revealed the company's commitment to having women make up 40 percent of its advisory board.Stevens said while women participation in the industry and Brennan has been on the increase in recent years, the company was committed to doing more to support greater diversity in the workforce."There has been a 26 per cent increase in the number of women employed at Brennan over the past three years, but we know there is more to do to create a truly gender-diverse workplace," he said."At Brennan, we're proud to have more than a hundred women across our Australian workforce and we're striving to create an environment where they can flourish and lead. But we know striving alone is not enough. Our intentions need to be backed by actionable, measurable changes."We acknowledge that we need to drive long-lasting change to bring diverse perspectives and approaches to how we can best deliver true performance to our customers."That is why we're taking steps to remove the potential for gender bias when it comes to recruitment, retention, promotions and through implementing sustainable and effective strategies that make a real difference and are not just corporate virtue signalling."As part of this we are working towards achieving at least 40 per cent female representation as we build out our advisory board."Women now make up 19 per cent of Brennan's workforce - a 26 per cent increase from 14 per cent in the 2020/21 reporting period.Additionally, its average base and total remuneration gender pay gap of 4.6 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively is better than the accepted WGEA benchmark of five per cent.Stevens said while the representation of women at Brennan was below industry average, there had been some positive steps forward, particularly when considering recent acquisitions negatively impacted the gender representation."It is also encouraging that a third of our female workforce in Australia are in technology roles, and that our ongoing review of pay parity has found that on a like-for-like basis, pay is fair and equitable," Stevens said."While the percentage of females being promoted is roughly proportional to representation, we are seeing a slight drop-off in senior and executive level roles."To address this, we are actively supporting the progression of female talent into leadership positions through programs such as Women Rising, which has already benefitted a quarter of our Australian female workforce."We acknowledge that we need to close the gaps in participation and median pay and will continue to invest in our broader gender strategy to put sustainable and real measures in place that will have a true impact."