Women remain underrepresented in engineering across the UK, making up just 16.9% of the workforce. At Lanes Group, we recognise that addressing this imbalance requires more than improving recruitment figures. As a leading employer in the utilities sector, we’re committed to creating long-term career pathways that support women at every stage. Through structured coaching, mentoring programmes and ongoing professional development, we’re working to remove barriers and provide the right support for women to thrive in engineering and technical roles.

Mentorship programmes at Lanes

Mentorship is an opportunity to learn new skills and build connections. In industries like utilities, where female representation remains limited, the presence of mentors and role models offers women real insight into the challenges they may face, and strategies for moving past them.

Recent research highlights that women consistently leave engineering mid-career at a much higher rate than men. At Lanes Group, strategies like mentoring are designed to combat this trend and improve the retention of women across our business. It’s part of our wider commitment to making sure women feel heard, respected and supported from day one.

Mentoring also supports a wide range of skill development. Our female mentees often cite benefits such as:

• Gaining greater confidence in their technical knowledge.
• Developing leadership and communication abilities.
• Strengthening their decision-making and problem-solving.
• Building stronger professional relationships.
• Making the transition back to work after maternity leave smoother.

These are qualities that help women grow into more senior roles where, in time, they can support other women coming through the industry.

Proactively addressing the gender gap

In the UK, women are still far less likely to pursue engineering-related pathways after school. Even among STEM graduates, a smaller proportion of women enter or remain in engineering roles compared to men. Mentorship helps bridge this gap by showing that there are tangible paths to success, and that those paths don’t need to be walked alone.

At Lanes Group, our female staff are spread across a wide range of roles, from drainage engineers and driver operators, to team leaders and office support staff. While not all of these women joined with an engineering background, many have grown into technical or leadership roles through support, mentorship and our training programme.

We know that representation helps change perceptions. We are fortunate to have women in key leadership and HR positions here, giving staff visible role models who understand their challenges and can offer relevant, practical guidance.

Mentorship programmes that provide real outcomes

Our mentorship is more than a box-ticking exercise here at Lanes. We are focused on programmes that support real change for the women on our teams:

Mentoring at Lanes is designed to:

• Provide practical support.
• Create opportunities for mentees to reflect, plan, and build confidence.
• Encourage progression into new roles or areas within the business.
• Connect women with mentors across different parts of our company.
• Offer a safe space to discuss challenges and get advice.

These mentorship relationships are especially valuable in drainage and utilities, where structured career development for women has not always been assured.

Developing leadership confidence

Women in engineering roles need the same access to leadership pathways as any other group. Yet, many leave the industry because they feel sidelined from opportunities or unsupported during key life stages.

Our mentoring programme is paired with hands-on learning, formal training and access to new responsibilities over time. For example, a woman joining as an operative or administrator may choose to move into a drainage engineer role or take on management responsibilities with mentors there to support the transition.

Creating community and lasting impact

Mentorship at Lanes isn’t limited to one-off sessions. Many of our mentors and mentees build long-term relationships, often becoming sounding boards for each other’s professional development over years.

These relationships have a knock-on effect. As women progress, they often choose to support the next wave of talent, reinforcing a culture of shared knowledge and mutual support. It’s through this network that many of our female colleagues have built their confidence, changed careers within the business or achieved progression they hadn’t considered when they first joined.

We also encourage participation in external initiatives, including industry events and communities such as the Women in Utilities Network, where our staff can meet other women in the sector, share ideas and stay connected with broader professional networks.

Lanes Group’s commitment to mentoring and development

Mentoring is just one part of Lanes Group’s wider efforts to support women in utilities roles and improve female recruitment. Other commitments include:

• Providing clear, long-term career paths across technical and leadership roles.
• Offering equal opportunities into senior and strategic positions.
• Offering flexible shift options where possible to support those with caring responsibilities.
• Providing development opportunities from entry-level through to management.
• Supporting return-to-work journeys for women re-entering the workforce.

In doing so, we hope to secure a more diverse workforce, so we can continue to contend with some of the UK's biggest infrastructure challenges.

Interested in joining a company where your growth matters?

If you’re looking to build a long-term career in engineering or technical services and want support to grow, develop and thrive, take a look at our current opportunities at Lanes Group Careers.

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