Shipping, broking and commodities companies should cast their nets wide when seeking to recruit more women, and be open to poaching talent from other sectors.

That is the message from Zoe Upson, who last year founded ­London agency Oceanblu Commodities Recruitment to help firms identify diverse talent from other fields with transferable skills.

The former freight derivatives broker at Freight Investor Services believes that by extending their field of vision to other sectors, shipping companies can address a key problem in achieving greater workplace diversity: a shortage of qualified, experienced candidates.

But where should companies start?

“To be a good broker, you’re ­educated, you’re smart and you’re incredibly good at sales, working with people and business development,” Upson explained.

“Can we be sourcing from other sectors and other markets to bring women across [into shipping]? That’s something that I see as ­initially quite an obvious place to start.”

It is not that companies are unwilling to hire women, she said, they are just not being proactive. The biggest obstacle is that there is not a big enough pool of talent to put at least one female candidate forward for each job — unless they are sourced from ­sectors outside of shipping.

As an ex-broker, Upson does not think broking is tough, but said more can be done by employers to ­enable­ women to excel: by helping to build confidence and addressing issues such as maternity leave — more specifically, maternity pay.

“Brokers and/or traders earn incredibly well, so if you’ve only got statutory [maternity pay] and then you drop down to what it is now in the UK — £150 [$210] a week — how long can you spend off before coming back?” asked Upson, who is a mother.

Zoe Upson CV
  • June 2020 to present: Director of Oceanblu Commodities Recruitment
  • December 2017 to December 2020: Head of desk tanker, freight derivatives (fuel oil and LPG FFA) at Freight Investor Services
  • June to November 2014: Client trading at Sonas Commodities, an independent oil derivatives trading company, focusing on fuel oil products and crude oil markets
  • September 2010 to June 2014: Derivatives broker, Freight Investor Services
  • September 2009 to September 2010 Spinnaker Consulting. Working on the commercial desk

Relationships with clients can suffer too, when female brokers go on maternity leave, but this is something that employers can help remedy, she said. “I think there should be that reassurance that when you come back [from maternity leave] you do get your accounts back.”

The more flexible style of working adopted by much of the world during the pandemic could help female brokers and traders manage their work-life balance, Upson said, calling it “a new world”.

“This is where we need to take advantage of it. Can there be working from home going forward? I think there is now, and that’s another massive positive thing.

“If you’re in this industry and you go forward and you’re a pheno­menal broker, you can still cover your clients from home with your children around.”

Ultimately, the lack of experienced female candidates for broking and trading roles needs to be tackled at its source by promoting the careers in schools and colleges, according to Upson.

She has taken matters into her own hands by visiting her old secondary school to talk about careers in shipping and the varied roles it offers.

Upson has founded Women Together, a group that offers women working in broking and trading roles solidarity at informal social events.

“It’s about sharing insights, supporting one another, networking and elevating one another’s careers,” she told TradeWinds.

Meeting other women working in the same field can be a “relief”, because the group can understand the realities — the ups and the downs — of day-to-day life.

Women Together wants to grow and begin putting on more ambitious events in London that will reach more women in the industry.

Upson has even bigger ambitions to help increase diversity in shipping. She wants to establish a foundation or charity that will engage with women studying for shipping-related degrees and help them find work placements when they leave university.

She would appreciate working with any organisation that would like to lend a hand in facilitating such a scheme.

Prospective members can join Women Together at womentogether.uk