Giving up time to inspire the next generation. How Evie Marsden is using her volunteering days to support young girls and women.
Interviewer: Harrison Bartlett
In her day job, Evie Marsden is a quantity surveyor with us at Kier. She’s been here since 2019, having joined as a graduate. She’s currently working on a £5m refurbishment project of a children’s secure unit, supporting the team from a commercial and financial perspective.
Outside of her role though, she works with Girlguiding as a unit leader for the Guides group in her area. Girlguiding is a charity organisation that gives girls and women the opportunity to come together to learn new skills, to volunteer in their local communities and go on trips as a group.
Evie recently used the volunteering policy we have at Kier, to support with her efforts at Girlguiding.
At Kier, our employees are entitled to two additional full days of paid leave every year to support charities and local communities of their choice.
Girlguiding is a charity organisation for girls aged from four to 18, split into different age groups. Evie works with the Guides age group, which includes girls from the age of 10, through to the age of 14.
“The motto for Girlguiding is ‘girls can do anything’, and to me that also means that the girls are to feel like they can be prepared to do or achieve anything they want to. I feel like I have the chance to empower these groups of girls, and it’s something I’m really passionate about,” Evie said.
As someone working in a STEM (science, technology, engineering & maths) focused role, Evie was very keen to tell me more about how passionate she is about inspiring the next generation into our industry. “A lot of the leaders in the group are teachers. So funnily, me not coming from that background, I get a lot of questions about my job as a quantity surveyor, and I enjoy explaining what I do,” she told me.
Evie then continued to tell me about some of the activities she’s been up to within the group, including visiting Paris!
“We do a lot of interactive stuff, your typical arts & crafts activities, but we’ve also done careers focused stuff, in an engaging way. For example, our younger age groups have been taken around their local town, looking at buildings and working out what materials they’ve been made using, like wood, or bricks for example,” Evie said.
It was fantastic to hear the variety of work Evie does in her role as unit lead, and even more impressive how she has been able to bring her experience in the construction industry to life for the next generation.
We then started to speak about Evie’s exciting trip to Paris. Along with some other Guide leaders, they took nearly 40 children to the French capital, visiting the Eiffel Tower, and of course, Disneyland – because when in Paris, you just have to!
“It was a big thing for the group, especially given there were girls the age of 12 or 13 that have never been away without their parents, it was a mega thing for them,” Evie added.
I then asked Evie about using her volunteering days for that very trip, something she was excited to talk about.
“Having used the volunteering leave policy before, I already knew how simple the process was. I had a conversation with my manager, letting them know about the trip and my plans to use the policy, and that was pretty much it! As easy as that,” Evie told me.
Evie added how she feels it’s a real bonus to have a benefit like this. She hopes that, given her own experience was very straightforward, that it’ll encourage others to do the same. “I think it’s fantastic. Having something like this as a benefit definitely makes me feel proud to work at Kier,” she added.
“Guides is something I loved when I was younger and it's great to show the girls that you can carry on with your hobbies and fit them around your day job," Evie added.
We’ve seen employees use their volunteering days for a variety of different activities. They might be volunteering at local food banks, competing in dragon boat races, or supporting other charities close to their hearts.
Evie is continuing her work on inspiring these young girls. Answering their questions about her own career, and encouraging them to look at opportunities within the world of STEM, even through our emerging talent routes, like apprenticeships or graduate schemes.
Next year, she intends on using her two volunteering days again for a Guides camp, in preparation for an even bigger one that’s coming in 2026, which is really exciting for Evie and the group.
If you’re passionate about volunteering, whether like Evie you work with Girlguiding, or you volunteer with a local charity regularly, and you want to work with an employer that supports this, why not take a look at our vacancies?
