Our strength is our diversity

Equality, diversity, and inclusion at Kirby

As a people business Kirby has a keen focus on diversity and inclusion, ensuring Kirby provides a place where people can work and thrive, and are treated with dignity and respect. This is borne out through our company policies and the values and behaviours that we encourage our staff to live by every day.

We are an equal opportunities employer | People are at the heart of our business, putting them first is our core company value – this is something that is driven from the very top of our business. Kirby does this through training and recruiting the best people to deliver solutions to some of the biggest engineering challenges faced by our generation, avoiding waste of talent and potential, by providing a positive working environment.

We embrace and welcome change | Kirby knows that diversity of thought and experience will transform our industry and create better solutions for our clients. Kirby is investing heavily in support and outreach to ensure better representation across the sector, while adopting new ways of working to unleash the potential of a more diverse workforce.

Nurturing a diverse workforce | Kirby has welcomed colleagues from around the world for many years, and now have 42 nationalities represented across the business. Gender diversity is also a key focus for our business, with talented women in our company empowered and supported to share their experiences and knowledge through mentoring, school outreach, college programmes, and our bursary programme, and graduate and apprenticeship placements.

"Our strength is our diversity, and we are positively committed to increasing this."

- HR Director, Fergus Barry.

Diversity and inclusion in action

Grassroots

Kirby works closely with schools across Ireland to bring STEM subjects to life through demonstrations, talks and work experience.

Partnerships

Kirby partners with colleges across the country to encourage students to apply for our apprenticeship and graduate programmes.

Training

All of Kirby’s employees receive diversity and inclusion and dignity and respect at work training as part of their onboarding, through our Kirby Academy training platform.

Welcome

Kirby provides a comprehensive level of support to colleagues joining from overseas, both in advance of and after they move. Kirby considers the individual’s full circumstances in relocating, including accommodation, advising on schools, sporting, cultural, and social events.

Build Your Career

Kirby provides clear career paths and invests in the development of our people and seeks to retain our talent as a key part of our sustainable competitive advantage. This is a key part of our ‘Build Your Career’ programme, which clearly maps your path to your ambition through the training, development and mentoring available to you at Kirby.

Bursaries

In 2022 Kirby launched its ‘women in engineering’ bursaries. Kirby has so far provided four bursaries to female engineering students. The programme provides a full scholarship to cover the full academic year, paid placements, mentoring, and the opportunity to become a Kirby ambassador at their third level institution.

Awards

Kirby has signed up to the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) Diversity and Inclusion Charter, and our commitment to create a diverse and inclusive workforce has been recognised by a number of awards including Investors in Diversity Silver and Investors in People Platinum.

Investors in People Platinum is a leading international accreditation that recognises companies which demonstrate high performance across a range of employee-focused assessment criteria, including approach to leadership, support and development of staff.

Developed by the Construction Industry Federation, in collaboration with The Irish Centre for Diversity, the charter outlines our commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion in our company.

The Irish Centre for Diversity presented Kirby with a Silver award for its commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

#PeopleFirst - Meet our team

“Ireland is a place that can easily become a home,” says Project Planner Babalwa Sigonya about her move from South Africa to the Emerald Isle

“Diversity of thought and experience will transform the future of engineering,” says Rosangela Condori, who received a bursary from Kirby to study renewable and electrical energy engineering

“The choice isn’t between an apprenticeship or college, you can do both,” says Kirby Turnover Engineer Brendan Muldowney

“By investing in its people, Kirby is investing in innovations and improvements for the future,” says Kirby Lead Planner Michael Bonandrini, as he studies data analytics and its application in construction and engineering

“Diversity is a source of richness; we see that on site every day,” says Dr. Francesca Balbi, Kirby’s HR and Compliance Lead for Italy

”I want girls to know engineering is a career option from a young age,” says Kirby’s Electrical Engineering Manager, Amy Lane

‘‘Becoming part of a senior management team was a huge achievement – especially as a young non-Irish woman.’ Giedre Visockaite, Associate Director – Strategy and Marketing

Cova Fernandez, Turnover Engineer with Kirby

“Engineering is an incredibly rewarding career, and one that I would strongly recommend to young women considering their career choices,” says Turnover Engineer Cova Fernandez

LinkedIn_People-First_Lauren-Henry-02-scaled

“Construction safety is a challenging but rewarding sector to work in,” says Kirby safety professional Lauren Henry

Kirby Promotes Engineering Diversity with New Bursaries

Nov 17, 2022

Third level supports form part of company’s drive to progress industry development. Kirby Group Engineering has announced it has awarded bursaries to four female students at third level institutions across Ireland. The scheme forms part of its ongoing effort to promote gender diversity in the evolving worlds of engineering and construction. Kirby is a leading […]

“By investing in talent and adopting new ways of working, we have unleashed the potential of a more diverse workforce” Sean Rapple – Pre-Construction Director speaks to the CIF Magazine.

Oct 12, 2022

Nurturing a diverse workforce is a well rooted concept at Kirby. The family-founded business has proudly welcomed colleagues from around the world for many years, and now has 42 nationalities represented across the business. In recent years, the company’s Pre-Construction team decided that its future strength would be in diversity and taking this to the […]

What workers want has never been a more powerful factor in the labour market. As we emerge from two years of disruption, experts tell us ‘it’s talent’s world and employers live in it’.

Mar 30, 2022

Fergus Barry – HR Director speaks to the CIF Magazine. The construction and engineering industries are no different. We must look at ourselves and realise that if we want to attract and retain new talent, we must provide an environment that’s attractive to and supportive of them. Our search has clearly identified that people today […]

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