How one company is boosting opportunities for women

At this company, 43% of head office employees are women despite its industry being male-dominated

BY John Hilton 06 Sep 2017

In Australia, the transport and logistics industry has one of the lowest rates of female employees of any industry.

However, despite this industry-wide gender imbalance, CouriersPlease (CP) has grown its proportion of women driving the strategy and innovation of the business.

Indeed, 43% of head office employees are women – almost double the number of females in the Australian transport, postal and warehousing industry (22%), which has the third lowest representation of females in any Australian industry.

Moreover, between the 2015 and 2016 financial years, CP grew its female managers by 6%, and by 9% between the 2016 and 2017 financial years.

Women at CP are helping to drive the business from the top, making up 80% of the senior management team. One of these women is the recently appointed Chief Operating Officer Hoy Yen Hooper.

With nearly two decades of general management and strong commercial experience in the Australian and New Zealand logistics and supply chain sectors, Hoy Yen is a significant figure behind the strategy and innovation of operations at CP.

Hoy Yen said it was an exciting opportunity to join a strong team of women who are leading the transformation of the business, as it expands its delivery and courier network across the country and overseas.

“The logistics sector is changing, a shift we not only see at CP, but in other businesses in this sector, with Australia Post appointing its first female to the top spot,” said Hoy Yen.

“As online shopping increases, and there are more parcels in the network, we look forward to seeing a further increase in the number of female Franchisees we have on the ground.”

Hoy Yen joined Chief Financial Officer Paula Sabbouh, the first female in this position at CP, as well as National Commercial Manager Hayat Horma.

According to a study into Australia's largest 200 companies earlier this year, men named Peter or John were found to be 40% more likely to be at the helm of a company, than women.

HRD also recently reported that recent figures from WGEA show the national pay gap – the difference between men’s and women’s average weekly full-time earnings – is 15.3%, or around $251.20 a week.