Reading Buses have won the national finals of the Venus Awards, affectionately referred to as the ‘Working Women’s Oscars’.
Reading Buses were entered into the national finals at the Audleys Wood Handpicked Hotel, Basingstoke, as winners of the NatWest Venus Thames Valley Awards.
In competition against two other companies, the judges recognised that Reading Buses had worked hard to bring females in across the company from drivers to engineers.
It employs 57% more women bus drivers than five years’ ago and 18% of the total workforce are women – 106 out of 584 employees. Almost one in four drivers recruited in 2016 are female.
Nikki Ball, Marketing and Brand Manager, picked up the award on behalf of the company. She says: “The award is all about people – the amazing, caring Reading Buses employees who work hard every day to deliver unrelenting customer focus.”
Said Martijn Gilbert, Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer: “This is a fantastic achievement which we are super proud of, and recognises the hard work of our team to buck the trend in the transport industry by employing a significant number of women as drivers.
