March 2025 – Ahead of International Women’s Day on Saturday (8 March), Unipart Chief People Officer Vicki Hooper shared her career journey, and her view on how to accelerate action to achieve greater gender balance.
Vicki joined Unipart in the 1990s after realising on a youth training scheme at 16 years old she wanted to work in a people-orientated role. The epiphany came on the first day of a ‘train the trainer’ course. “By lunchtime, I knew that was what I wanted to do,” said Vicki.
From there Vicki held a variety of people-focused roles at Unipart, ranging from training, change management, and consultancy, and in 2008 she took the role of HR Director for a division. Looking back, Vicki said: “I’ve now spent 30 years at Unipart and I’m incredibly grateful to have had so many key roles and opportunities to develop myself.”
IWD is a vital day in the calendar for millions around the world, with participation spanning a variety of countries and cultures.
“For me, it’s an opportunity to pause and reflect. It puts a conscious point in the diary that makes us examine if we have any barriers, real or artificial, that are in the workplace stopping women from being their best,” said Vicki.
“I truly believe my role as CPO is to make sure all colleagues can give of their best every single day and ensure everyone can use their voice, because if they do we are going to have a fantastic company and deliver exceptional service to our customers.”
This year’s IWD is focusing on the need to ‘Accelerate Action’, emphasising the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality. Vicki said: “We‘re making sure that we are recruiting and developing diverse talent – our 2024 graduate intake is a great example of that. We’ve also ensured a diverse array of apprenticeships, created development frameworks that are accessible to everyone, and are encouraging and supporting more women into mentorship and visible leadership positions.”
Unipart takes the opportunity to put this proactive approach into operational areas when recruiting colleagues.
“We’ve seen that women typically take a larger amount of care roles outside of work, so we aim to offer a wide range of flexible contracts to ensure our positions are open to anyone, regardless of their gender,” said Vicki. “This is proving successful and has a positive impact on the sites.”
Vicki explained the toughest challenge she’s faced, and shared her advice for the next generation of leaders: “The biggest barriers for me have been ones that I’ve put in place myself by worrying about what others are thinking of me. Particularly after the birth of my children my decision to return to work when I did was questioned. My view on this now is that, regardless of what type of decision you are making, you must do what’s right for you and your family, be confident in your decisions, and have the support of your business in the same way Unipart supported me.”