It might take one woman to change a lightbulb but it takes a few more to enlighten a traditionally male-dominated profession. One of the missions of EPCglobal, a recruitment company for engineers and construction experts, is to encourage more women to enter the engineering industry. An unusual company value is “transformation” and, in order to help alter the equality balance of the industry, the firm works with the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology to fund research and awareness-raising projects. The business, based in Sheffield and with offices in London and Bristol, helps about 600 people a year find jobs in places as far away as Dubai and Australia. Recently it surveyed engineers to find that 30% of the respondents didn't think women performed as well as men in all fields and levels — and almost four in 10 didn't care if females were underrepresented in the industry. EPCglobal does and it also cares about the wellbeing of its own 62 employees, who feel that they can really make a difference in this organisation (a positive score of 88%). It is a young team, with an average age of 28, and half of employees have joined in the past year. The company gets its best scores for the development it offers. Everyone has an individual training plan and an annual personal development budget. Staff say this is of great benefit to them (81%) and that the job contributes to their personal growth (87%). People have monthly one-on-one career development meetings and there are plenty of opportunities in the UK and beyond. Two senior managers have been promoted from within the company, and all appointments are advertised internally before being publicly announced. Employees don't find that their health suffers because of work. Deadlines are realistic and there isn't too much pressure to concentrate (both questions gaining a positive score of 82%), nor are they spending too much time working (69%). The company offers flexitime and options to work from home, with the aid of laptops and mobile phones. There is private healthcare, including family members, on offer for everyone and 12 people take this up. Staff get critical illness cover, a contributory pension (after a three-month probation period) with the firm matching employee contributions of 5% of salary, life assurance and access to childcare vouchers. A few people have a share option scheme, too, and almost everyone gets a profit bonus and performance-related pay. Holiday isn't overly generous, ranging from 20 to 24 days, with an extra day for senior managers, but staff say work doesn't interfere with responsibilities at home (75%). Managers get roundly praised for being caring (86%), supportive (87%) and open and honest (89%), all top 20 scores. They regularly express appreciation for a good job done (88%), motivating people to give their best every day (79%) and to fulfil their potential (81%). Employees also have a great deal of faith in their chief executive, Tobias Read (91%). He and other senior managers give updates and encourage people to offer ideas: staff “empowerment” is another of the organisation's values. The firm says it is “committed to investing in the Third World”, opening one office in India in 2006, where it works with about 20 people who “connect thousands of Indian engineers with big EPC projects”. With the environment in mind, it has invested in a high-tech database system so projects can be managed online without the need for printing. Each EPCglobal office also recycles the paper and cardboard that it does use. People have fun (90%) and social events include a Christmas party, summer sailing weekends and healthy games of football. Women, of course, are part of the team.