Being our true self is invaluable, but how authentic can we actually be in the workplace?

Helen Johnson, Doctoral Researcher at Loughborough University, wants to understand more about the link between your gendered experience of being an engineer.

Having worked in male-dominated engineering and manufacturing organisations for over twenty years, Helen has started to wonder whether she would be the same person if she had worked in a female-dominated organisation; questioning whether she is being her true, authentic self, or whether she is a product of her environment.

To be authentic in the workplace increases employee engagement, team performance and team innovation, says Helen. It also inspires loyalty and engagement and increases belonging. Having a sense of belonging is vital, not only at work, but in everyday life. It can have a substantial effect on your productivity and your outlook on life – and when it comes to your career, it encourages you to do your best, and makes you want to stay with your organisation. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the way engineers experience authenticity at work and retention in engineering, Helen is asking for your contribution towards her PhD study, details of the study can be found at the end of the article.

With authenticity, comes diversity and inclusion – a topic, which is widely advocated for within engineering, so why are we still coming across barriers? Helen states that it could take up until 2124 for there to be the same number of women as men working in engineering, and it could take fifty years for the proportion of ethnic minorities in engineering to reach the overall proportion of ethnic minorities in employment.

In 2021, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers launched a new strategy to embed equity, diversity, and inclusion into all our activities and to be a key driver in our aspirations going forward. The strategy is a five-year plan and follows a wider review of the Institution’s governance, which highlighted the need to change culture. The vision is to “ensure that diversity and inclusion sits at the heart of the Institution’s core values and business ethics and encourages fairness, trust and transparency.”

At the Institution, we believe that promoting a more inclusive culture will make engineering attractive to a wider pool of talent and help improve recruitment and retention.

If you would like to contribute towards Helen’s PhD study, you can either:

• Complete an online survey (with the option of answering three surveys over the next three months, each 10-15 minutes) and/or
• Complete an online interview (an hour-long discussion about engineers, expectations, experiences, and the future of engineering)

In return, you will be contributing to the development of knowledge and the future of engineering. To find out more information about the research, or to take part in the survey/interview click here.