The hire industry has traditionally been a male-dominated world. Walk into a branch 20 years ago, and the balance between men and women in hire would, in many cases, have looked very different from the teams working across the sector today.
That history has not disappeared, but neither has the industry stood still.
Across HSS: The Hire Service Company, women are building careers in branches, operations, customer-facing roles and leadership positions. Some arrived with experience from other traditionally male-dominated sectors. Others expected hire to be little more than a temporary job. Few deliberately set out to build a career around tool and equipment hire.
What has kept many of them there is something people outside the industry may not immediately associate with it: the people.
“The hire industry wasn't intentional, but once I joined, I realised how varied it is. Every day is different,” explains Tasha.
Her first impression was that the job would revolve primarily around machinery and equipment. Experience quickly changed that view.
“It’s actually a people-oriented business. The equipment is important, but building relationships, finding solutions and helping customers keep their projects on the right track are equally important.”
That distinction matters when considering how the industry attracts more women in the future. If hire is still perceived from the outside as a world predominantly concerned with tools, machinery and traditionally male roles, there is a risk that potential careers within it remain hidden from people who could thrive there.
Nobody working in hire today would suggest that its gender balance has completely changed. The women working across HSS: The Hire Service Company recognise that they remain part of a predominantly male sector.
What has changed is where women can increasingly be seen within it.
At Hertford, for example, three key management roles within the depot are held by women. Elsewhere across the company, women are working in branch leadership, operations, driving and customer-facing positions.
That visibility matters.
When Louise interviewed to join the business, one of the people sitting across the table was Sophie, a Branch Director. Having already worked within another male-dominated industry, it provided an immediate example of what progression could look like.
“Having a female boss within the hire industry goes to show women are able to progress within this industry if they wish,” she says.
For another colleague, the change is particularly apparent because she has watched it happen over two decades. What was originally intended to be a stopgap became a 20-year career in hire. She remembers experiencing prejudice because of her gender when she first entered the industry, but also describes that period as “a very different time”.
Progress, however, does not mean assumptions have disappeared entirely.
Tasha recalls occasions when customers initially appeared to prefer speaking with a male colleague. Rather than allowing that assumption to define the interaction, knowledge and experience usually changed it.
“Once you demonstrate your knowledge and help problem-solve any issues, their assumptions usually disappear.”
It is a small example, but an important one. Changing perceptions of women in hire does not happen solely through corporate statements about diversity. It also happens through ordinary interactions: a woman leading a branch, solving a customer's problem, managing an operation or developing a career that others can see themselves following.
There is also a wider business case for attracting people from different backgrounds into the sector.
Hire is fundamentally a service industry. Customers may need equipment, but delivering that equipment successfully depends on communication, organisation, technical understanding, problem-solving and relationships.
Different people inevitably approach those responsibilities differently.
The women interviewed for this article pointed to qualities ranging from attention to detail and customer service to communication and alternative approaches to solving problems. The argument is not that those characteristics belong exclusively to women. It is that a business drawing from a wider range of people also draws from a wider range of experiences, ideas and perspectives.
As Tasha puts it: “Different perspectives make better teams.”
That principle sits closely alongside HSS: The Hire Service Company's philosophy of “people dealing with people.”
If the future of hire is going to remain centred on understanding customers and solving real problems, then building teams that reflect a broader range of people can only widen the experience and thinking available within those teams.
Perhaps one of the industry's biggest challenges is not convincing women already working within hire that they belong there. It is making the opportunity visible to women who have never considered the sector in the first place.
The routes taken by women within HSS: The Hire Service Company demonstrate why that matters.
One arrived from logistics. Another joined after relocating and looking for a new opportunity. Another expected to stay temporarily and remained for two decades. Technical expertise was not necessarily what brought them through the door.
Nor, according to Tasha, does somebody need to arrive knowing everything about tools and equipment.
“Be willing to ask the questions, work hard and build relationships.”
That opens up a much broader picture of what a career in hire can involve. It is an industry where people can learn on the job, build technical knowledge over time and move between different roles as their experience develops. And as more women become visible across branches, operations and leadership, the industry has more opportunities to demonstrate that progression rather than simply talk about it.
There is still a gender imbalance within hire, and the experiences shared by women across HSS: The Hire Service Company show that its legacy has not disappeared completely, but they also show why the industry's future does not have to look like its past.
Women are already managing teams, supporting customers, running branches and building long careers within the sector. Their presence is not significant simply because it improves a statistic. It broadens the experience within the business and gives the next person considering the industry someone they can see succeeding within it.
For women looking at the hire industry from the outside, Tasha's advice is straightforward:
“Don't let the industry's reputation put you off. You don't need to have all the knowledge from day one. Be confident and don't underestimate what you can bring to the role.”
Perhaps that is where meaningful change starts: not by pretending that hire has never been male-dominated, but by making sure its history does not dictate who gets to be part of its future.
To find out more about HSS: The Hire Service Company and the people helping shape the future of the hire industry, contact us.