Why more women in rail? It’s good for business, says Corina Moore
6/15/2022
By Julie Sneider, Senior Associate Editor
The rail industry’s need to recruit and retain more women in rail is not a human resources problem, it’s a business problem, according to Ontario Northland Transportation Commission President and CEO Corina Moore.
In her June 8 keynote during the second annual Railway Association of Canada’s Women in Rail Conference, which was held virtually June 8-9, Moore explained that in order to remain competitive, railroads must diversify their workforce and leadership. Why? Doing so is good for business.
Moore made her case by describing her personal career story, offered suggestions for railroads to increase the percentage of women and other minorities in their companies and told women in the audience not to sell themselves short as they pursue career advancements in rail.
When she was named president and CEO of Ontario Northland in 2015, she was the first woman to run a major Canadian railway. Last year, Moore was recognized as one of three of Canada’s Most Powerful Female CEOs by Women’s Executive Network (WXN); in 2018, she was named “Woman of the Year” by the League of Railway Women.
Moore joined Ontario Northland in 2005 as director of the telecommunications division. In 2010, she became chief operating officer and vice president of the refurbishment division. In that role, she directed several external remanufacturing contracts and secured two of the largest contracts in the history of Ontera, the telecommunications division of Ontario Northland.
Since Moore took the helm of Ontario Northland — a Crown agency of the Ontario government that operates passenger and freight rail, bus travel and parcel service, a rail equipment refurbishment business and even a hotel — revenue increased, costs were significantly contained and services were reimagined and expanded, said Indigenous-French Canadian entrepreneur Jennifer Menard-Shand in her introduction of Moore at the RAC conference.
Listen to many voices
As Ontario Northland’s top executive, Moore has sought a range of perspectives for reviving the organization, which in 2012 was under the threat of divestiture by Ontario’s provincial government. Under divestiture, the business’s rail, bus and telecommunications divisions were to be sold. Two years later, government officials changed course and decided the organization would remain in public hands, although the telecommunications division ultimately was sold. When she took over as interim president and CEO in 2014 (and permanently installed a year later), Moore was charged with turning the rail company around.
Since 2015, Corina Moore has led Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, a Crown agency of the Ontario government that operates passenger and freight rail, bus travel and parcel service, a rail equipment refurbishment business and even a hotel. ontarionorthland.caShe implemented a turnaround plan that required a new way of thinking at the century-old organization. To move the company forward, she sought opinions from a broad range of perspectives inside and outside the organization. She was also determined to pursue gender equity at Ontario Northland. In the 1980s, less than 4% of the employees were female; by 2012, that percentage had increased to only about 6%.
“When we looked at how we were going to transform the organization after 115 years, we wanted to look at new processes, not how we had always done things,” she said.
To get there, Moore and her leadership team also solicited comments from passengers and shippers to learn what worked and didn’t work at the railway and what it should do to recover. As the transformation took hold, some longtime employees left Ontario Northland; Moore hired a couple hundred new faces, including many more women.
Today, about 23% of Ontario Northland’s employees are female. That’s about 11% higher than the rail industry overall 10% higher than the trucking industry, Moore told the conference attendees.
“I solely believe that part of the reason we’ve been so successful since then is because we talked to our passengers and customers and listened to what they needed and because we had such diversity around the table,” she said.
There’s still a long way to go
Still, Moore wants to push the workforce diversity and inclusion envelope even further, not only for Ontario Northland but for the entire rail transportation industry.
“There needs to be gender equity, and we are far from that,” she said, adding that conferences such as the RAC’s Women in Rail event help spread the message. “I don’t know of a railway that doesn’t have vacancies they can fill. So, if we’re going to turn our back on 50% of the population, we’ll have a problem” filling those jobs.
Helping leadership understand why diversity and inclusion practices matter is key, Moore said.
“Women can drive trains, women can fix trains, women can be electricians. Contrary to popular belief, every single role that we have at Ontario Northland or any organization can be done by a woman or a man,” she said. “Leadership understanding the impact that [diversity and inclusion] can have on an organization is Step One.”
Research shows that job satisfaction and employee morale is higher at businesses that practice diversity and inclusion, Moore said. Places that recognize the different skills that women and men bring to the table can strengthen an organization.
Setting hiring targets isn’t enough, however.
“It's not just about hiring different people. It’s about making sure people around the table genuinely feel that they are heard and valued,” she said. “You can hire people, but if they’re not heard or valued, then you’re not getting the full impact and you’ve wasted all that time hiring that person.”
Moore also recommended that rail businesses have mentors available to give feedback to women looking to advance in rail careers. Ontario Northland is developing a formal mentorship program, she said.
Be on guard for bias in the workplace
Executive leadership, allies and mentors should also watch out for biases and/or microaggressions expressed toward women at work, Moore advised.
“How many times have we seen a man walk into a [board] room and he’s very assertive, and then a woman walks into the room with the exact same tone and is told she’s ‘a bit too aggressive’ and then that [observation] goes into her performance review,” Moore said. “Let’s make sure we are treating people fairly.”
After sharing wisdom gained during her own career, Moore advised women at the conference to “get rid of the guilt” for not spending more time with the kids; avoid negative self-talk; and “find your voice.”
“Develop an elevator speech about yourself,” Moore said. “Take two minutes to articulate who you are and where you want to go. Practice the speech with a friend, mentor or sponsor. Practice communicating your achievements.”
If you don’t have the “best resume” for a particular job you aspire to, add the words “Bet on me,” Moore suggested.
“I love that line — bet on me,” she said. “There are so many smart women out there who deserve the opportunity to be the person they can be in the workplace.”
