LWC Drinks - the UK’s largest independent drinks wholesaler - today announces the launch of its Women’s Network, alongside significant changes to its Parental Leave policies.
As part of a wider company initiative to drive and support better inclusivity and diversity within both the business and the sector as a whole, LWC is in the process of reassessing all its policies to ensure that they remain in line with the growing company’s core family values, whilst creating the best employee experience.
To kickstart the initiative, on Thursday 27th July, LWC Drinks hosted its first ever Women’s Network event, with guest speaker and Founder of the Women in Wholesale Network, Elit Rowland.
In an interview-style format, Elit - who is also Head of Communications at fellow wholesaler JJ Foodservice - shared her career journey, the challenges she has faced as a woman in a male dominated industry, and her top tips for climbing the career ladder. She stressed the importance of male allies; women supporting women and shared a handful of her own real-life experiences.
With an encouraging mix of both males and female colleagues joining the first session, an open floor Q&A at the end provided the perfect opportunity for attendees to put their own questions to Elit, with some really interesting insights gleaned.
The event closed with the announcement of significant changes to LWC’s Parental Leave policies, with enhanced maternity, paternity and shared parental leave pay.
Ebrahim Mukadam, managing director at LWC Drinks commented: “I am absolutely delighted to be announcing the launch of our Women’s Network and changes to our Parental Leave policies.
“As a business operating within the wholesale sector, we are acutely aware that it can sometimes feel like a male-dominated industry, and we want to be a driving force behind that change.
“We are hopeful that by creating this network, both female and male colleagues will have a dedicated support network and forum to share ideas, inspire one another, communicate, and learn. And having Elit as our first speaker was a real privilege. As a woman in wholesale herself, we just knew that Elit would really resonate with our audience and have stories to tell that would speak to our colleagues on a personal level – and that was exactly what happened!
“As a privately-owned family business, supporting colleagues in their own family life is incredibly important to us, and this is especially key when it comes to starting a family, and those early days of life with a new child. We are really proud of the changes we are making and look forward to welcoming many more babies into the LWC family!
“People are the core of our business, and they are the reason why we’re able to provide a standout service to our customers. We want to support our employees through all major life moments, so we are regularly reviewing all our policies and seek to make changes and improvements in line with our Company values and employee feedback.”
Anyone interested in joining LWC can contact the HR team via email: hr@lwc-drinks.co.uk