In our ‘Women of Eurovent’ series, we asked Aysegul Eroglu, Deputy General Manager at Systemair Türkiye, on what can be done to inspire more women in the HVACR industry and also how she manages to expand her knowledge.
What do you think we can do to support and encourage more women to join our industry?
At Systemair, our aim is to advance our company in line with the United Nations’ 10 sustainable development goals in order to become a sustainable company. Among these goals, increasing our global female leadership rate to 25% and above, aligning with Gender Equality, stands as a key sustainability objective for us.
In Systemair Turkey, our female employee rate has reached close to 30%, with women employees participating in every area of our company’s business network, regardless of whether they are blue-collar or white-collar workers. We believe that the diverse perspectives brought by our female employees greatly benefit the progress of our industry. Therefore, we support vocational training programs for women organised by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and public institutions to encourage women to have a greater presence in the workforce.
To increase the employment rate of women in the industrial sector, we are a stakeholder in TOBB’s “Women’s Hand in Industry Project”. As the number of women within our organisation increases, we have observed that they bring a different perspective to our current work and also serve as good references for newly recruited women in the organisation. Happy female employees play a key role in building happy organisations. Of course, to ensure women’s happiness, it is necessary to facilitate their personal lives. Therefore, we believe that opening daycares in industrial zones, relieving women of childcare responsibilities to make them free in their professional lives, is an important step. Additionally, it is crucial to design workspaces and conditions to suit women, which undoubtedly has a significant impact on increasing their participation in the workforce. Implementing postnatal leave systems, regulating breastfeeding breaks, and providing opportunities for remote work are rights that greatly contribute to women’s increased participation in the workforce.
Every step we take to involve women in the workforce contributes to the participation of more women, and as women become more visible in different roles in the workforce, they serve as a source of inspiration for other women who are not yet ready for the workforce, influencing them and making it easier for them to join. Women are stronger together!
How do you continue to learn and expand your knowledge?
With the advancement of information technology every day, the amount of knowledge accessible to humans is also increasing. I believe that the way to utilise all this knowledge and reach quality information now lies in involving artificial intelligence more in processes. The amount of HVAC knowledge is increasing globally and locally every day. On the other hand, regardless of our industry, individually, we need to access, learn, and continuously improve ourselves with new knowledge. In this context, I try to follow the best examples in the fields that I am interested in. I believe that the experiences of people who have previously travelled a similar path are very valuable in terms of personal development. Sometimes accessing this kind of information through a publication, and sometimes meeting new people, chatting with them, and being inspired by their thoughts and experiences is a more practical way. Of course, ultimately, I try to internalise all the information I obtain and analyse it with my own values. Each new piece of information opens new doors, and I believe that examining multiple disciplines from psychology to technology and looking at life more holistically constitutes one of the most important parts of progress and personal development in today’s world.
