Part two – Why shouldn't women choose construction 5 reasons across the career path.

Following on from last week’s blog where we answered the question “Why women should chose construction?” we are continuing to answer a stream of questions sent in by Becky in the following order: -

·         Why should women choose construction?

·         Why shouldn’t women choose construction?

·         Why are men hostile about women being in construction?

·         If the industry is so hostile to the idea of women being in construction, why would / should women choose it?

·         If men don’t even like the construction industry, why would women?

·         What do women have to gain by going into the construction industry instead of another industry that is already accommodating to her needs?

·         What are the risks and what are the potential gains?

·         Is it worth it in the end?”

The blog inspired a lot of comments via twitter, email and the comment section below and we would encourage even more for this one, as we feel it’s a tricky subject.

Firstly if you have a passion, interest or aptitude in an area I would always encourage you to explore it (within reason) and that’s true of construction. I am a massive fan of the industry for all the reasons stated in the last blog and more. If I had my time again I would still make the same career choices. That being said there is evidence that the experience of many (though, of course, not all) women working in the sector is not quite what they had expected and whilst the scenarios discussed below are not faced by all women, and are not necessarily reasons to avoid the sector, it is always best to know what you might be getting yourself into.

I do think that for every problem there is a solution so I have tried to provide some examples of how to overcome these challenges where possible.

It should be noted that different sectors of the industry face different challenges and so I am going to try and highlight if you are likely to experience this under “trade”, “site management”, “consultant” for ease.

1.    Recruitment.

Trade - Many women working in the trades have reported that they have faced challenges when applying for roles many having been asked to interview and then subjected to unacceptable comments.

Solution - Companies that work for the public sector are subject to different legal requirements and therefore are far more likely to provide a positive experience, so apprenticeships with councils and housing associations should always be high on your list. Also, look out for employers using positive action to publicise roles (this is where they have comments like “women are encouraged to apply”); these are companies that are actively looking to diversify their workforce and therefore likely to be professional and positive about employing you.

2.    Employment

Site Management – There can be a tendency of men who have never worked with women outside of a traditional occupation to become paternal and try and protect the woman from what they perceive as things that might be harmful. These often include things like “raucous men” “dirty sites” and “physical work”. The issue here is that although the intention is good the outcome is not favourable for women looking to progress in their careers. Women who are protected from these things often miss out on valuable opportunities that mean their careers slip behind those of their male colleagues. The fact that construction work is project based means that this often happens every time you work with a new team, therefore having a serious effect on your career.

Solution - When placed on a new site take your site/project manager aside and talk to him about what you expect from the job, be plain about the scope of your role and your ambitions and encourage them to feel ok about asking questions regarding how you personally feel about working in a site environment. Whilst the majority of women working on site know and enjoy the site environment, we should never forget our managers sometimes aren’t aware of that and whilst their actions to protect us  can be damaging and discriminatory they come from a good place; which means it only takes a little education to avoid this becoming an issue.

Please note this is not to imply this behaviour is ok, only that it exists and can be easily changed if the individual is genuinely looking after what they perceive to be your best interests.

3.    Development

Consultant When we look to improve ourselves we usually look up and find a role model to imitate, this can be difficult in the construction sector if you are looking for a woman up there as there is a bit of a gap. That’s not to say such women don’t exist, just that it can be tricky to find them if you don’t know where to look. This can be a problem for some who feel they need to see someone like them in the role they aspire to in order to achieve.

Solution – Find someone, really do. Read the trade papers and scour LinkedIn until you find someone in a position you aspire to who reflects your values and, if important to you, your gender. When you’ve found them, write to them, with consideration, and ask them to mentor you. Outline what you feel it will entail e.g. a meeting a month and explain why you have chosen them (flattery is a persuasive line). The worst you will get is no response, if you’re lucky you might just get a direct line to the top.

4.    Promotion

All - There are a number of factors that can hamper a woman’s chance of promotion in a male dominated industry. Such as: -

• ·         Women tend to hold out till they are 100% qualified before going for a promotion, whereas men will on average apply when they are 70% there. Further to this, because women know they are qualified they will sell themselves less at interview stage and expect the qualifications to speak for themselves.
• ·         We tend to promote in our own image, so we employ people like ourselves which means in all male environments women are at a disadvantage.
• ·         Sometimes in industry, especially on site, soft management is not recognised and rewarded as a skill whereas a more aggressive style is. This can mean women miss out
• ·         Traditionally women are judged on what they have done, whilst men are judged on their potential to do.
• ·         Subconscious bias is very important in how we select for any role. Personally, I work on the basis that I might be biased and work around reducing it. This article provides a really good example of how this works.

If you look up and you see a fair gender balance or a group of people saying we get there are equality issues and we are working to overcome them you should be ok. If though, you see only one gender or comments such as “diversity doesn’t matter” or “I treat everyone equally” you might have cause for concern.

Solution – Read up a bit on subconscious bias; understand what it is you might be up against and work around it by challenging commonly held views and pulling people up if they express them – even about someone else. Also, consider your own approach to promotion; do you put yourself forward enough? Try and network as much as you can and tell people about how well your projects are going so when promotions come up you’re in people’s minds.

5.    Maternity.

All - Yep I said it, apparently women have babies and sometimes it makes people reluctant to carry on employing them. Sounds a bit old fashioned, but unfortunately it’s still common in our experience. Returning to work, maternity leave, long hours and confidence are all part of the mix which makes this a troublesome area. Read this article to get a better idea of some people’s experiences.

Solution – It’s a difficult one and will depend upon your employer so you need to test the water; you are of course protected by the Equality Act 2010 but we know this has, at times, just made employers more paranoid. Try to talk to your employer, stay in touch whilst you’re away and get support from other women in your position. You can also put together a business case for a good maternity policy, which would include how it would help retain staff (really), inspire loyalty and pave the way for the new paternity laws.

Obviously we have only outlined some of the experiences women have had in industry, if you have had an experience you would like to mention, or if you disagree with the points we have raised,  please comment below or email us if you would prefer confidence.

Why should women choose construction? 8 pertinent questions from a woman that did.

Part one - Why should women choose construction?

Following on from the “business argument for diversity in construction” blog that we wrote back in April 2012, we recently found this comment hidden in our approval archives.

Chrissi - I was searching for some answers about women in construction when I came across your blog. I'm so glad to see a blog about women in construction. I've been in the industry for 4 years and am only now reconsidering my choice. I never imagined it would be such a struggle. Now I'm trying to answer some questions that I've realised since facing adversity. Perhaps you could answer these with the research and knowledge you have already done. Why should women choose construction? Why shouldn’t women choose construction? Why are men hostile about women being in construction? If the industry is so hostile to the idea of women being in construction, why would / should women choose it? If men don’t even like the construction industry, why would women? What do women have to gain by going into the construction industry instead of another industry that is already accommodating to her special needs? What are the risks and what are the potential gains? Is it worth it in the end?”

Becky, the writer raises some important points so; I shall do my best to answer them.

There are 8 questions here which I shall look to answer over the month so that you are not swamped with too much information at once.

Why should women choose construction?

That’s a question that really is determined by a number of factors, first you need to consider the reasons why people choose any job; we thought of nine -

• ·         Financial

• ·         Greater good

• ·         Leaving a mark

• ·         Passion

• ·         Progression

• ·         Parental influence

• ·         Existing knowledge

• ·         Peers

• ·         Chance

Then we need to consider how construction motivates these decisions -

Financial - the construction industry is often a well-paid industry, obviously at the moment in the midst of the recession that’s a difficult point to haggle; but that’s because we have a traditional boom and bust cycle. What’s important to understand is that roles dominated by women (known as the five Cs Catering, Caring, Cashiers, Cleaning and Clerical) are the least well paid and in a recession they suffer even worse. So from a financial perspective you are better off as a woman choosing a  a non-gender-traditional career – so why not construction? (I’ll cover that in the next blog post)

Greater good - Women are often linked to what’s called greater good roles, such as nursing. This is a big nature / nurture debate and I’ll admit I’m not sold either way especially since most people look to achieve greater good later in their worklife, so I think it would be a mistake to tar a whole gender with this brush (and un-tar the other at the same time). I would argue that working in some construction roles such as environmental consultant could be seen as greater good but it would be the individual who decides if that’s the change they want to make in the world.

Leaving a mark - Find me a builder who hasn’t dragged a poor uninterested spouse / friend / stranger half a mile out of the way to look at a warehouse / office block / bus station to say “I built that!” and I’ll insist they show me their CSCS card as proof of their profession. The feeling of building something is remarkable and a biological attraction for humans; we seek to be remembered once we are gone and whether that’s through our children, our ideas or building a great, big, chuffing building is pretty much just gravy.

Passion - Sometimes people just really, really, really love building stuff

Progression - The construction industry is great at many things and one of them is progression; day release programmes and apprenticeships, whilst not what they were, are still options. It’s an industry where you can leave school with basic qualifications and end up a director. Personally it’s one of my favourite things about construction; the way that it transforms lives, and I credit it for transforming mine (though in a slightly roundabout way I will admit)

Parental Influence - It used to be that 60% of people in industry made their choice because someone close worked in the sector, but this number is estimated to have fallen.

Existing knowledge - The careers we often choose are those we know of or have heard about, though this is a barrier to most people without a family or friend in the sector. I once asked a room of 15 connexions officers (careers advisors) to name careers in the built environment; they could only name Brickie, Plumber and Architect – I kid you not.

So no one really knows about the wonderful career choices available in the sector, which is a pity as I am a firm believer that construction holds a career for just about everyone. I cannot think of a general discipline that can’t be catered for -

Maths               Site engineer, structural engineers, civil engineer

Art                    Architect

Psychology      Site manager (I stand by that)

Science                        Geotechnical engineer

Finance             QS

History              Restoration and heritage

English             Contracts law

This lack of knowledge is something that is seen as a barrier not just to girls, but to boys as well.

Peers - Most people at 16 don’t want to be too different; they want to do what their friends do. So whilst this is usually a reason why women don’t pick a career in industry, I have seen examples of where it has worked the other way with groups of girls embarking on joinery courses together.

Chance - Sometimes we just need a job, and somehow we get one.

Personally I chose it as I simply loved building things, figuring out puzzles, working with teams and, of course, saying “I built that!” 

The word in the blog

Women on boards, Anna Stewart and Quotas.

Whilst the news of Anna Stewart’s appointment as CEO Laing O’Rourke from April 2013 is not unexpected, it is certainly welcomed.

Especially since the statistic regarding women on FTSE 100 boards show that whilst numbers have increased from 12.5% in two years up to 17.4% the majority of these have been non-executive appointments, with only a 1.2% rise in executive roles.

Some papers have taken the notion that Stewart's appointment will bring equality to the sector, but we should not be blindsided by such simplistic views, whilst I have every confidence that she will make a fantastic CEO; putting the weight of industry diversity on her shoulders might be a little too much for anyone to deliver.

We should rejoice that there is a woman in a prominent board room position with an industry background (she is MRICS) at exec level; because whilst there are a number of women in non-exec positions, exec positions in SME’s or exec positions in HR roles there are very few role models for women working in construction roles within large organisation

Why is why if I was still a site manager I know where I would be sending my CV.

Back to boards, Maria Miller the minister for women and equalities  has announced that she thinks the proposed 40% quotas from Brussels are “dreadful”, here’s why we disagree,

The majority of people I know are concerned about talk of quotas for women on boards. There is a worry that they will water down skills, give a leg up to people who don’t deserve it and undermine the achievements of those that have worked their way up on their own.

I can understand how people got to that conclusion but my experience has shown that logic to be a little backward and here’s why:

I sit on a few boards and talk to other women who sit on a few more and we have found the same thing. Quite often in meetings when we are the only women present we make a point and people nod and move on. Then 5 minutes later someone else raises exactly the same point word for word and it is applauded. Worse, it is then minuted as the idea of the person who repeated it.

Usually I’m happy enough that the point was being considered but there are times I feel it’s important that my contribution is seen as mine. When I have voiced this, I have been told I probably didn’t speak loud enough, or wasn’t forthright or confident in my opinion. Problem is, no matter how loud, confident, forthright or downright rude I am the outcome doesn’t often change.

But that’s not really the point, what I find interesting is this:

It has never happened to me on a mixed board and it has never happened to any of the other women I spoke to on a mixed board either.

Not once; not even a little bit.

And this makes me wonder why this happens.

When I’m the only woman on a board or in a meeting I do sometimes get conscious of that fact and have been known to wonder if I’m there as a token, even when I know I’m not. So if I’m thinking that and I know the reasons why I am there – what might the rest of the group be thinking; it’s not unreasonable that the thought might have crossed their minds?

It seems to me that whenever there is just one of someone we look at what they represent not who they are; one women will always be a woman in a group of 11 men no matter what her reasons for getting to that position in the first place. It’s all about numbers.

If you have three women, no matter how they got there, they stop being women and start being members of a board. Once we achieve a critical mass tokenism stops being an issue and we start to take the opinions of all board members seriously.

In layman’s terms, a woman on her own will be perceived as a quota even when she is not, conversely, a group of women will not be seen a quota even when they are.

Before we make the mistake of putting this down to good/bad, sexist/non-sexist people, in my experience, this is a subconscious action carried out by considerate, personable and usually supportive individuals. 

We cannot overestimate the extent to which we behave subconsciously, and until we get our heads around that notion it is likely that we will not appreciate the skills of women on boards, we will fail to see the benefit in appointing more and we will undermine the achievements of those who got there on their own merit by ignoring their contribution… …Exactly the things we are worried that quotas might do.

What do you think of our new site FAQ's? Any questions?

We have compiled a list of questions frequently asked to put on out FAQ section of the new site. We would really appreciate if you could take a look and let us know what you think and if you have and questions yourselves.

What do you do?

Our aim is to improve the Built Environments approach to the people it employs, we do this in a number of ways at a number of different levels for example.

Affecting change at strategic level by sitting on boards and responding to government consultations of behalf of organisations such as the CIOB.

Delivering training that understands the working lives, concerns and passions of your employees so that they can “buy in” to the equality agenda.

Not only raise awareness of the challenges faced by industry but of the successes it enjoys so that the industry can move forward and be celebrated as it does so.

Helping companies use equality, diversity, fairness inclusion and respect to build their businesses, retain their employees ad create a happier more diverse workforce.

We are a private business but we do try and commit 10% of our resources to helping the industry without cost, some of the things we do are visit school, give talks, help SMEs find support.

How will this make a difference?

As an industry we believe that construction is often led by clients and government who are not always aware of the challenges we face. Our work is aims to educate these groups and create initiatives that recognise the good work the industry is doing now, as well as working with individual firms to create something better for the future.

There is a strong argument for equality and diversity in business and we believe that by treating your employees with fairness, inclusion and respect you can save yourself improve bottom line, save on resources and employ the best people.

Do you expect to change everybody’s opinion?

Not even a little bit, and it’s not something we particular want to do either. Opinions are held deep and whilst we aim get you to think about your reasoning we don’t think a half day training course will change the socially ingrained views of a life time. What we do instead is explain what is and isn't appropriate in the workplace, how inappropriate behavior can have a negative effect on your business  and what you can do to manage it.

How would this benefit my business?

In lots of ways, from helping you to meet legal requirement, to strengthen your PQQ tender submissions. More importantly though we can help you create a inclusive and diverse workforce that attracts, progresses and retains key talent having a positive effect on your bottom line.

More specifically the BE FaiR frame work which we have partnered with construction skills to design and deliver will enable you to develop your organisation in a way that understands your resources, fits in with your existing processes and provides a wide range of supportive documents to help you fill the gap. At the end you get an accreditation which you can use to strengthen your PQQ’s.

If this is proven to work, why isn't it put into other industries as well?

It is, some are much further ahead than construction especially those linked to the public sector, and unfortunately few are further behind. Our concern is that whilst other industries reap the benefits of a diverse workforce attracting and retaining the best talent we as an industry continue to fall behind in the race for employer of choice.

That’s one of the reasons why the sector skills council – Construction skill, commissioned us to design the BE FaIR framework to give the industry a “leg up”. We firmly believe that if industry gets behind this initiative we can become a future industry of choice, after all the work we do is amazing too often it’s the way we are treated that’s off putting.

Will there be negative effects to my business if I can’t provide E&D training to my workforce?

Possibly, more and more public sector clients are asking for management staff to be trained in equality. We know this can be a costly business and while we would love everyone to book training with us we know this is not always an option. This is why we are working with construction skills and the UKCG to develop toolbox talks around equality and diversity that will be made available to every site for the cost of the ink and paper. We are also developing online equality training to keep time and cost down – especially for the subcontract trades.

I own a small micro company (5 people) & we are a family run business that all get on fine and have no issues-do we still require E&D training?

We think so, equality can affect us no matter how small the business, but I think it’s important to understand that this does not mean you should be doing as much as the large organisations. Not just because you don’t have the resource but because it wouldn't necessarily be of any use to you.

The BE FaIR frame work is bringing out its micro strand next year which allows small businesses to benefit from the framework without being overwhelmed by it, in fact the initial feedback has stated it to be very useful giving access to policies, processes and feedback that would have otherwise been out of reach.

Our background in construction means we know where the majority of the risk usually falls and we are always on the lookout to protect the SMEs first.

What is meant by an E&D issue?

Usually this would mean that you have a situation in your organisation where someone has treated someone else less favorably because of something that is unrelated to their ability to carry out their work.

 

If I pay for E&D training this year will I be required to review this every year?

No, not legally at least. You should keep in mind though that different clients want different things so we can’t make an absolute statement.  We find that different approaches are required for different companies so we would always want to advise individually; there could be circumstances that require you to have additional training.

What is the difference between positive discrimination and positive action?

The most important difference is that positive action is legal and positive discrimination (except in the most rare of cases) is not. You cannot legally choose to employ someone over someone else due to a protected characteristic (race, sex, disability, religion and belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, age, pregnancy and maternity) but you can enact positive action. Positive action is where there is an under representation of a group in your work force (can vary with geography ) or in a set of roles and it works by trying to make things a little fairer. For  example if you had no women as site managers but lots of women in admin roles who were interested in finding out more you could set up a training day to find out if their skills were suited. Think of it as bridging a gap not crossing a line.

Do I have to have to have toilet/ changing facilities for both sexes on all sites?

No, you only need provide a lockable door; or if you are working on a temporary site access to toilet facilities. Of course if you have the means and the motive separate toilet facilities are always welcomed.

Where can I get help from to support in employing a new worker with hearing disabilities?

Have a little look at this site access to work  its funding from the government to help people living with disabilities pay for the practical support they need to help them do their job. 

The brilliance of construction

Its been a mixed month, on the one hand we have had a couple of Anonymous blog posts and a couple of telephone calls in that have reminded us that the industry can be a harsh working environment.

On the other hand though, we have had the joy of being reminded just how wonderful and forward thinking the industry can also be.

Pour exemplar

This month has seen us busy testing the new BE FaIR (Built Environment Fairness Inclusion Respect) accredited framework, a project we are working on with Construction Skills. A number of companies are helping us ensure that the framework meets the requirements of industry. These include

• ·         Vinci
• ·         Graham
• ·         Rothwell Plumbing
• ·         GM Jones
• ·         Lloyd and Gravell
• ·         Midland Heart
• ·         One Vision Housing
• ·         Highwire

In every case not only were the companies keen to help and refreshingly honest regarding what they felt would work and what wouldn’t but they were also doing a huge amount; From simple things like a zero tolerance attitude to offensive language on site to structured recruitment processes designed to ensure the best person for the job.

Even the smaller companies such as Lloyd and Gravel a main contractor with 67 employees have a remarkable 8 apprentices, with those in the trades chosen from a tough process designed to give everyone a chance but ensure the best succeeded.

The reoccurring theme was it often took an hour into a meeting before a company would mention one of these initiatives stating –“ its just what we do, you forget other people don’t know”.

My concern as ever is that companies do know what’s best for them and their staff but client demands, market conditions and quota based fads often mean that they are not able to implement as much as they would like.

There needs to be a greater understanding around what the industry needs to do in order to move forward to be seen as an employer of choice. Obviously I feel that the BE FaIR framework is a major part of ensuring that change but even more so it’s the industry’s ability to recognise and be proud of the good practice it already carries.

The Anonymous Blog

I was recently contacted by a woman working in construction with a proposition; she wanted to know if Constructing Equality would host an anonymous blog. The idea behind this had come from a series of recent experiences that she felt may have been detrimental to her career but she was unsure what to do about them. It wasn’t so much that she was looking for answers but more of a place to let of steam, talks about the behaviour she had encountered and interact with others who have had similar experiences. Whilst it is unfortunate that she does not feel she can do this openly without fear of reprisal, I understand the concern.

And so we agreed, from next month we shall be hosting the anonymous blog a place where people, and we do mean people of any age, sex, race, ability etc can write a blog post which we will host,  we  do have some rules and reasons though - here are five of each.

Reasons

• To create a space for people to talk about their experiences without fear of reproach - We will monitor comments and if you wish to comment anonymously you can email Matt@constructingequality.co.uk and we will upload your comments for you.
• To give companies greater insight – We don’t see this as a negative space rather a resource to find out how people are really experiencing industry so you can see if those experiences are occurring in your workplace.
• To give individuals greater insight – Its quite normal to misunderstand the affect we can have on people, a comment, joke or action may seem harmless to us but be a source of frustration or pain for someone else. By reading the blogs you can see the other side of the story and consider how you can be a better colleague/manager/leader. We are none of us perfect and can all stand to learn a little from empathy.
• To see how others experience industry – For a long time when I worked in industry I felt I was alone in thinking that certain things were not quite right. It was only when I left and founded Constructing Equality that I found many people in industry felt the same way and were seeking the same changes. The Anonymous blog aims to give individuals the opportunity to see they are not alone in their thinking or experiences.
•  To give a little bit of help – We will aim to signpost, give advice and links after each blog post to allow the writers and readers a chance to make better the situation. We know there will be times when there is nothing we can do, which is when we hope you the reader will provide support and encouragement.

And the Rules

• No Names – not your or anyone else’s, we don’t feel it’s fair for people to use anonymity to have a dig.
•  Many Anonymity – If you want to write a blog you can email it to us, we won’t release your identity and everything you say will be treated with respect.
•  Context – To make the blog useful it needs context, so try and tell us as much detail as possible without saying so much you give yourself away.
•  Understand our time – We would love to be able to spend more time supporting individuals in the sector, and whilst we give up 10% of our resource to none income based supportive initiatives we can’t guarantee we will be able to respond straight away or provide ongoing support. We will do what we can though – so please be patient.
• Be nice – writing the blogs or comments. Don’t insult or demeaned anyone. I do wish I didn’t have to write this but I’ve seen some fairly rude comments come off the back off my blogs in recent years so I feel I must. Anything offensive will be taken down.

We see this as a tool for industry and want you to use it as your own, if you want to add rules, groups or network through this please let me know and we shall do what we can to support you.

Happy Building

Chrissi