Heroes award spotlight on shortlisted individuals - Macy Richards.
With just over two months to go until this year's Highways Heroes awards we showcase some of the individuals who the judges have shortlisted for the prestigious awards at this year's event.
Macy is a trainee civil engineer for Milestone Infrastructure, working on the Oxfordshire Highways Partnership Contract.
Since joining in Sept 2020, she has rotated into different teams on the contract to gain a varied understanding of the work we complete. She is currently working within the construction and is extremely well organised and has diligently completed assigned tasks on schedule and to a good standard.
She is actively involved in several key Social Value areas to support other early careers staff on the contract and to promote engineering and apprenticeships in the wider community.
For the last 2 years Macy has led a peer support group called the ‘Graduate and Trainee Forum’ - this group consists of weekly meetings, to work on knowledge gaps and create a good support network for any questions.
Macy has the responsibility of planning and executing these sessions, involving finding session ideas, liaising with guest speakers, and chairing the sessions. This allows group members to acquire knowledge on parts of the business which they may not have otherwise had and help achieve the training attributes they need to complete for our apprenticeships.
Finally, it creates a space where people feel comfortable sharing their ideas and concerns about the business. Macy has recently led a series of ‘Meet the Manager’ sessions, encouraging experienced staff from Milestone and our client, to talk about their career to date and tips for younger engineers at the start of their careers.
Macy recently took over chairing our office ‘MILIFE’ wellbeing & charity working group, leading by example in helping to organise many successful fundraising activities, from a Coronation Cream tea to a Bake-Off challenge and successful quizzes and raffles. It is fair to say that without Macy’s leadership many of these activities would not have happened.
This has raised £750 for Helen and Douglas House, a local hospice.
Macy has been actively involved in work with local schools. She is an OxLEP apprenticeship ambassador, and regularly goes into schools to talk about her experiences as an apprentice and why students should consider a career in civil engineering. She has recently taken part in a ‘career stereotypes’ event, encouraging students to consider career pathways they would not have normally considered. Macy has also been part of a small core group organising and executing ‘Milestone Roadshows’ in local primary schools - taking a group of employees into schools along with the plant they work on, aiming to teach children about our work and the importance of road safety.
Being a young female engineer in a male dominated industry has also been an obstacle that Macy has had to overcome. She has clearly built in confidence over this time and is now able to express her views with those more experienced than her in a professional and polite way and has learnt effective ways to communicate in different scenarios. Having other female role models in the organisation has also helped her. She is also successfully using her role as an apprenticeship ambassador and personal links with local schools to inspire other young female engineers to come into the industry. This is particularly important to her as she feels passionate about challenging negative stereotypes that can still be present within the industry.
Her training has benefitted the industry too - at recent STEM events, she has spoken exceptionally well about her apprenticeship and the opportunities it has given her. Through this work she is acting as an exceptional female role model to other trainees and students, thereby actively contributing to addressing the skills shortage and improving diversity and inclusion within the industry.
Taking place at the London Hilton, Park Lane on 28th November,the event will not only recognise those who have gone above and beyond their duty, but also those that have helped someone or improved a situation, either in the communities they work in or to unconditionally support fellow workers in their team, with Will a special guest at the event where the achievements of our unsung heroes will be recognised.
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