How we got to here - a history of Constructing Equality.

This month marks the sixth year anniversary of Constructing Equality Ltd and we thought we would provide you with a bit of history and perspective so that you can understand how we are working to make change in the sector.

2007 – 2009 The Learning Years                

Originally, after leaving my job as a site manager, I set up the company with the aim of helping businesses find an approach to aspects around equality that could understand the challenges they faced. What was very clear from the off was that the industry could not overcome many of the barriers it was presented with such as: - false self-employment, poor trainee record, and nepotistic culture, without working together. We knew
this because companies that had tried told us they found this work was undermined by competitors poaching staff they had trained and therefore were unable to pay more, was diluted on projects without the same underpinning and was not valued by clients - who often valued short-term initiatives for the community over longer term progress for industry; consequently this did not win tenders.  You might think that this is not important to equality, but it is, very important indeed. How can we expect the majority of the industry to co-operate in encouraging and developing individuals from minority backgrounds when they themselves feel undervalued, badly treated and threatened? We felt that in order to bring equality to the sector we needed to start with the workforce we already had.

2009 – 2011 – Formulating a Plan

The first two years were spent reading quite a bit - the next few were spent reading a lot; undertaking a Masters degree and transferring onto a PhD . Not only did we need to improve conditions in the sector for the individuals within it, but for the companies too and we needed to be able to back this up with research. Whilst ten years in industry gave us a good background in the sector we needed to establish a greater depth to the understanding of how policy, politics and the economy shaped the way the industry operates and then look at how we could set in motion a realistic plan to overcome those challenges together as a sector. We know from historic work, to succeed it needed to have value, but be reasonably priced, be highly complex in its understanding of the sector, people and equalities as well as easy for companies to understand and use - but most importantly have the ability to bring the industry together; trusting that if we worked together we would all benefit. Early on we understood that we could not develop this trust from a consultancy framework, nor could we do this alone. We therefore decided to approach CITB the sector skills council.

2012 – Present - Making Progress

CITB were looking to develop an equality standard of their own - so, with the timing right, we put forward the idea of something bigger - that went beyond equalities and tackled the issues faced by the sector in a way that was affordable and attainable to all organisations working within it. We won the bid and have been developing the CITB BE FaIR framework for the last year and a half with the first 6 strands (Sub-contractors and Main Contractors) being piloted this year and the second set of 8 also being tested. The BE FaIR framework has had an amazing response and whilst it is at the core of our business, it’s not all we do.

We also undertake research for CITB and other clients, Training for companies like Graham, Taylor Wimpey and Derbyshire County Council and consultation for the likes of  Vinci, CITB and CIC.

Aside from the business of making money, we commit 10% of our time to work which helps move this agenda forward in industry - not only with our more recognised resources like the website, quiz and newsletter, which contain a wealth of information and opportunities for companies to promote good practice, but also by running projects to retain students in universities, collecting data in industry (CIC), visiting schools to talk about careers in industry and talking at events.

In the future, we want to involve more of you in this work - creating a scheme where you can become supporters of Constructing Equality Ltd., which will essentially mean that you support the right of all people in industry to be treated fairly.  We in turn will look to give you training and opportunities to showcase your passion. At the end of the day, the company is guided by a love of industry and a vision of the potential of the sector. 

We already do amazing things on a daily basis - just imagine how much more we could do in the right working environment.

Please get in touch to find out how you can get involved,

Happy Building

Chrissi

Constructing Equality Ltd. Newsletter survey feedback...

At Constructing Equality Ltd. we are always on the look-out to improve our business and services, as well as the news that we deliver in our monthly newsletter and weekly blogs.

Sponsored by CITB, the newsletter now has over 6,000 subscribers, and is the leading source of trusted information on diversity and equality in construction. It is a simple way to keep abreast of the latest news and articles, as well as current trends and best practice within the 
sector. In turn, its aim is to provide our readers with lots of links to useful sites and stories, and we also include job opportunities from around the sector.

We recently asked our readers and subscribers to participate in a short survey that would enable improve the newsletter and feature more of the stories and articles that are relevant to our readers.

To begin with we asked participants to give their opinion on what they thought of the newsletter content in general:

‘’The newsletter has greatly improved with the redesign, however it could be improved further by shortening the articles and giving readers a "read more" option - there is so much great content but it can look overwhelming at first glance.’’ – Anonymous. 

This is a very positive response; 96% of participants were happy with the general content of the newsletter. The 4% that selected ‘other’ simply expressed their opinion towards the presentation of the newsletter; an issue that is being dealt with currently with the design team and the host website.

Participants were then asked to be more specific in what they like to see in the newsletter, the following results were found: 

The most popular sources of information are news, case studies and best practice examples. As a result of this we have identified a need to increase the amount of best practice case studies that are featured in the newsletter each month. We are now taking a more proactive approach to ensure that at least two industry best practice articles are included in every newsletter.

As part of this process we try and cover a wide range of case studies from a vast array of different organisations within the sector. It is for this reason that we encourage organisations and individuals to send in case studies that they feel will be of benefit to the industry and the reader alike. 

One important issue that we are currently working towards a remedy for is the format of the newsletter. As some people may know, Constructing Equality Ltd. went through a re-branding later last year and as part of that re-branding we also changed the layout and design of the newsletter. Although we have had some technical difficulties the overall feedback of this has been very positive.

The additional comments around length of articles will be addressed in the next newsletter by shortening the length of articles and including a ‘read more’ option as suggested. It has also been agreed that articles will generally be around 250 – 300 words in length and must not exceed 400 words.

In addition to providing the industry with construction specific equality and diversity news, resources and opportunities, one of the reasons the newsletter is created every month is to provide people and organisations with beneficial sources of information that they may not know about previously; this can range from providing people with job opportunities to making organisations aware of funding prospects.

To better understand what resources people consider to be the most beneficial, we asked participants to select how they feel the newsletter benefits them:

As part of the newsletter we have a monthly quiz that allows readers to answer three short questions that are topical to the newsletter articles of that month. The quiz also offers participants a chance of winning a £20 high street voucher. Just like the newsletter itself we understand the need to continually improve the quiz, one way in which we intend do this is by improving the content quality.

                    

Those that answered ‘no’ provided responses that generally followed a pattern of wanting the quiz to count towards some form of continual professional development (CPD). This is something we are taking very seriously and currently we are in talks with various institutes to see how we can improve the quality and value of the quiz questions so that they prompt research and investigation by the reader but also provide a degree of CPD. We aim to have this firmly in place by September 2013. If you would like us to get in touch with your institute to include the quiz as CPD then please contact Kyle.

Overall we are very happy with the feedback and positive responses we received around the newsletter and would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every person that took the time to fill out the survey; all feedback received is taken very seriously and used to develop our services further.

If you disagree with the changes we are making or would like to add your own feedback the survey is still open via Survey Monkey. Alternatively you can email Kyle with any feedback you feel that will improve this resource.  

Construct away,

Kyle 

What is the business case for diversity in the built environment?

There are a number of reasons why considering diversity is good for your business these include:

• To prevent legislative costs,

• To reap the benefits of employing a diverse team,

• To increase success on public sector tenders,

• To create a more supportive working environment.

When considering the business case you really need to think about what area of the business you are focusing on and what the business case means to you for example do you value the bottom line, employee retention or productivity as a priority?

The research is stronger in some areas than others for example women on strategic boards is an area currently receiving a lot of attention due to the Davies report and the direction France, Spain and Norway have taken with regards to quotas. The wonderful catalyst has also been doing great work for 50 years this year looking at the benefits of gender equality.

Yet diversity isn’t all about gender, what about people from different ethnic and religious communities or those who for some other reason experience life in a different way to the majority? In construction there hasn’t been too much research looking at a tangible business argument though there is research from outside of the sector.

The current research suggests that there is an argument for diversity when it is well managed and understood. Unfortunately a badly thought through strategy can have a negative impact on your business which is why I would always advise clients to avoid undertaking a tick box approach – it’s likely to cost you more in the long run.

The idea behind the business model is that you should be attracting a diverse workforce not to predominantly “do the right thing” or “ensure fairness for all” but in fact to strengthen your productivity and bottom line. Here are some examples of how diversity can be a positive to your organisation.

Become an employer of choice.

For minorities in construction, the support they will receive from their employer is an important factor in choosing who they will work for. It therefore stands to reason that if you can promote high retention rates and support services, you will find more interest from not only minorities but the top end of the workforce in general. A series of surveys by Target Jobs in 2008 into construction found work life balance and development opportunities to be the most important factors in deciding upon an employer.

Improve business performance

Here it’s important to note that the research suggests that a well-managed group of diverse employees will improve your productivity and profit in a number of ways which include mirroring your client base, having a wider pool of experience and creativity and being able to tap into more networks. But if the group is not well managed, the same cannot be said.

Change appears to happen at strategic level when there are more than three women on a board; in fact a US study of fortune 500 companies found that those with 3+ women on the board all reported significantly stronger than average profits.

At tactical level research has found that diverse groups outperform more capably homogeneous groups, which backs up the theory that different experiences provide us with different viewpoints and solutions.

Retain knowledge and experience

Research into diversity in construction suggests that more could have been done to stop the majority of women leaving the construction industry. What’s more compelling is the amount of money that could have been saved if we had. A 2009 government report “Engaging for success: enhancing performance through employee engagement.” put the cost of replacing an employee roughly equivalent to their salary, once training, corporate knowledge and intellectual capita are considered. The same report found that committed employees are 87% less likely to leave their organisations than those less engaged; they also perform 20% better. Instead of thinking can we afford to support our staff? Isn’t it time we started to question if we can afford not to?

Skills Shortage

The latest skills survey from the CIOB finds 72% of respondents felt there was still a skills shortage. Without recruiting from the entire selection pool we are not only failing to meet demand for numbers but also failing to find the best candidates for the roles available. Increasingly a number of smaller studies have found that young men are also avoiding construction due to its macho image and male dominance. In short, to ensure that we encourage the best recruits, we need to offer the most appealing, diverse and professional environment.

Meet procurement standards and stakeholder requirements

Public authorities need to meet the equality duties of The Equality Act 2010 and more importantly, so do their subcontractors. With 60% of current work coming from this sector that’s big news for contractors. By being able to align your organisation to the needs of your client you are putting yourself in a solid position to win more work.

With a large percentage of women and minorities now making procurement decisions for public sector work they want to see themselves represented in your workforce, so if all you have to offer is middle aged white men, it might not be enough.

Happy building, Chrissi

For all things construction and equality, get yourself over to the Constructing Equality Ltd. website.