How do I find out which companies have good maternity packages and after care?

"I am currently working at a Construction Consultancy firm based in England. I find I am doing a lot of traveling and my company only offers the minimum statutory maternity pay.

In the next few years I don't plan to have a child at all, but in the event that I do, do you know how I would go about finding out which firms are flexible working friendly and/or offer better maternity leave benefits? This is obviously a question I do not want to ask during interview with other companies (if this ever comes about) so I really wanted your advice if possible."

Asks a reader from the UK

This is an area that the industry is still finding its step in. We recently wrote an article for construction manager highlighting some of the issues.

In the case of being proactive in this area when looking for a job I would offer the following advice.

1. Look at the Building guide to good employers

This shows the % of women in non support roles within each organisation. Whilst this does not tell you everything it gives you an indication of the fact that if a high number of women are working there it could employ more friendly working practices.

2. Look at the boards and senior managers - whilst not always a good indication the main reasons a company has flexible working is if it is important to board member and senior staff. So if they are reflected you are in with a better chance.

3. Network as much as possible and ask people what their working conditions are like when you do. Good employer guides can be manipulated but if you build up trust people are more likely to be honest - just don't make it the first thing you ask them!

4. Do your research company website often hold a lot of this information.

We are working very hard to change practice across industry, and whilst we have made some massive strategic strides lately I don't expect to see massive change for around 3/5 years. In the next 3 years though we are looking to develop a benchmarking platform for diversity in the built environment to provide a way for individuals to understand what a company really has to offer.

Employer Question; We recently had an employee who has come out of the closet.....

We recently had an employee who has come out of the closet. Should HR take a role to make this person feel welcome? I have heard a lot about equal rights issues and do not want to create any problems that do not exist?

Avoiding the issue can sometimes create a bigger problem. The best thing to do would be to engage with the individual and find out their needs and views. As a valued member of staff you wouldn’t want to lose them for the sake of a conversation. If you find it a difficult subject to broach or are wary of legal issues here is a wide range of support and advice available to help you understand your responsibilities as an employer. Stonewall the Lesbian, Gay and bisexual rights organisation has a wealth of in-depth resources for you to look over.

Try to remember that your sexual orientation has a much bigger affect on your life than what happens in the bed room. People who are fearful of a negative response to their choice of partner will usually feel the need to create a double life to avoid talking about the places they visit, their partners, people they socialise with and those they respect. This can be draining and stressful meaning that individuals can’t put as much focus into their work as they would like.

Also be realistic about the fact that some people are still not open to a gay or lesbian life style and there may well be circumstances that need to be dealt with sensitively. Put some guidelines in place so that everyone knows what to do if a situation occurs.

We look forward to reading your comments and questions below or via email.

New Year New Intentions

My New Year resolution is to keep the blog up to date on a monthly bases, which is the easy part. The difficult bit is deciding what to write about; Equality, inclusion, fairness and respect is a massive area in the construction industry alone so finding something to focus on often leads me to procrastination. I have therefore decided that since the blog is for you, you can do the thinking.

I shall answer questions put by yourselves either through comments below (preferable), email, website or things that people ask us when we are out and about. 

To keep it simple here are some rules, so we all know where we stand

Rules

• ·         We will answer as many questions as possible – but we do not guarantee we will answer your question.
• ·         There is no such thing as a stupid question
• ·         You don’t have to be PC perfect, just try not to be offensive
• ·         Credit us if you use our responses or resources – if you don’t we will name and shame you.
• ·         Too embarrassed to ask in public? Its ok email me Chrissi@constructingequality.co.uk and let me know, I’ll post the response but not your details.

Right I hope that’s clear, I look forward to your questions and will put a link in the newsletter each month to let you know the new blog is up.

How people in construction see each other

How people in construction see one another.

Inspired by @matushiq’s “how people in science see each other” we have come up with “how people in construction see each other” for the following reasons

• ·         We thought it would be funny
• ·         We thought it would help people understand the complex nature of the industry
• ·         We don’t have children – which means we have more free time at the weekend than most

Please feel free to share, leave comments and suggest improvements.

Construction Knowledge Circles For Women – What they are and why you should attend.

For the past four years we have been running management and leadership courses for women in construction and whilst our blog on why women need separate management and leadership training can tell you why the training is important this blog aims to look at why you should consider not only attending Construction Knowledge Circles but paying for them yourselves.

Whilst I have adored delivering training for women around management and leadership in construction the day long, employer led  nature of these workshops caused me concern for a number of reasons.

1.       The majority of the courses I ran for women around management and leadership were funded, this meant that only certain women could attend and once they had used their funding allocation they were no longer viable to attend further courses. Whilst something is  better than nothing and many women did benefit , we also felt that this excluded groups of  women and let down others who needed more support.

2.       The training usually depended upon how enlightened the employer was. It was usual to encounter individual women asking me to deliver this training in their organisations only to be told by the HR department that it was not relevant to their staff. This lead to some women feeling the right support was not being provided and their voices were not being heard. It’s important to say that some HR departments were the opposite encouraging women who were at first apprehensive about attending*

3.       The funding was dependent upon what the provider wanted and not always what the individual needed, there’s a lot of presumed barriers in the industry which sometimes lead to a lot of women feeling patronised and misunderstood – further isolating them from the support that should be helping them excel.

4.       When the funding stops –it all stops. I have seen many wonderful organisations set up to support women fold due to lack of funding. This not only leaves a hole where advice once was but can leave people feeling let down and unimportant.

5.       Most funding stipulates training must take place in the day – yet as women in construction we know how difficult it can be to get away from work especially if the training is seen as a fluffy women only event.

These reasons plus the many many emails and messages we have received over the years asking for more advice, support and guidance to achieving great careers in construction inspired us to set up Construction Knowledge Circles. Whilst we know that £20 can be a lot have a look at our reasons for charging you and not seeking funding.

1.       By paying as an individual it ensures no one else can pull the funding – as long as enough women are interested we can continue to provide the workshops.

2.       Because we are not at the mercy of a funding provider we can deliver the training you need. Whilst it’s not possible to please everybody all of the time we endeavour to consult and work with members to achieve what is best for them.

3.       By paying for the CPD this means we can ensure each workshop is of high quality and designed for your needs, we want to give you what you need, not what we can get on the cheap.

4.       Having worked in the sector for over ten years and spent a further four researching the management and leadership barriers that women face we really understand what might be holding you back and what you need to do to move forward.  We will not patronise you or demand you do everything we tell you, we will simply tell you what we know and help you make choices that suit you – we are well aware that every individual and workplace is different.

5.       With your buy in we can run courses regularly so you know when they are and can plan your lives around them.

6.       Last but not least. We think it’s important we are paid for our time and would be a little insulted if you didn’t think so too!

If your interested in finding out more please get in touch or go straight to our website and book yourself on to the next course!

Happy Building

Chrissi x

NB For those men who wish to attend, let me know I’m looking into the idea of holding mixed workshops alongside female only ones if the need is there.

*A strange occurrence, the apprehensive women usually left the best feedback after the sessions.

How will the new equality duties affect me as a construction firm? Five things construction firms should know about the new legislation.

From the 5^th April the new equality duties come into force.  I know that for some of you the idea of additional legislation is not an attractive one, whilst for others diversity is something you have been looking to improve for some time.  Personally I hope that the legislation helps organisations to see the benefit of a well managed diverse workforce.

Given that your day jobs are mostly in construction not equality I am going to write this blog for the layman in an attempt to give you a running start.

So here are my five things construction firms should know about the new equality duties.

1.       Whilst all the equality legislation is under one banner now (Equality Act 2010) there are parts of the legislation that affect everyone (More familiar as the old Sex discrimination act, Race relations act etc) and parts that only affect the public sector and its subcontractors these are known as the equalities duties. When the equality duties came in (around 2007) they only affected Race, gender and disability. The main change to the duties that comes in on the 5^th is the fact that the duties will now cover eight of the nine protected characteristics (things that by law we cannot legally discriminate against) these are Age, Disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation*.

2.       It is the duty of the public sector to tell you as a subcontractor that you are required to comply with the equality duties. If they don’t make this clear you do not have to comply and they can be held to account for that.

3.       The purpose of the equality duties is to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment, and to actively promote equality. The main point of the equality duties is that you should be being proactive and this is what the public sector will now be looking for in your tender documents under E&D. Where traditionally you will have seen questions asking what you have done the duties will push public sector to ask you what you will do.

4.       What should you do? No one is expecting you to have a diverse and equal workforce by the end of the week, the aim is more to get you moving by showing this is an area that you are taking seriously.  Of course some of you will have very little budget – again don’t worry a lot of the initial work can be done with relatively small resources.  The two most important things currently that tenders will be looking for (please note this is open to change dependent upon the client) is that you are following their recognised processes. This means that you monitor your workforce and that you implement Equality impact assessments on your policies and procedures. Information regarding both of these areas is available on the web; we have links under resources on our website and have previously written a blog regarding equality impact assessment within construction. If you need further help feel free to send us Blog Q.

5.       Get your staff up to date with the changes, after all this isn’t just about playing lip service well managed equality and diversity improves profit and productivity – this is the message that you should be sending out to your staff from the top down. Make sure you can provide training that understands the concerns of your staff and takes them seriously; this can be a scary area for some and if these initial reservations are not dealt with the message will not be embedded.

We have put together a small survey to find out what solutions you need to meet the duties, if you enjoyed this blog please take a few minutes to fill it in so we can continue to help you meet your objectives.

Chrissi

* Marriage and civil partnership is the only protected characteristic not covered by the equality duties.

Women on board, The 30 by 15 challenge.

You may or may not be aware that Lord Davis published his review into women in the board room last Thursday.

Though the report was across all sectors as always we shall be looking at this with our construction hat on, it’s true that construction needs more women at board level, that’s my opinion of course but I did form it after reading a shed load of research so I consider it an informed one.

I have never been able to get over the correlation between the challenges identified by both Egan and Latham and the changes that occur when increasing the number of women in the workplace especially at board level. That and the tiny fact that more than 30%  female representation on boards increases profit and productivity (Catyalyst), significantly too, 42% higher return on sales, 66% higher return on invested capital, 53% higher return on equality (Mckinsey and company 2007)

And whilst I still hear from companies that they cannot find the right women, women don’t  put themselves forward and women don’t have the skills, women keep telling me that they don’t get offered the opportunities, cant see how they would fit on an all male board and are held back from gaining the required skills.

It looks to me that somewhere in all of this we have gotten ourselves into a right muddle. Of course there are solutions, but we feel there is also huge opportunity for industry. If we worked as a whole to not just take up the challenge set by Lord Davis to achieve 25% representation by 2015 but to try and beat it by making construction the first industry to achieve 30% this would not only bring the business benefits of a well represented board to organizations but raise industry profile and show a move away from the outdated stereotype of construction as a man’s world.

It’s a lot to ask but I think we could do it; after all we manage to navigate PQQ’s, client expectations and framework requirements. This should be a walk in the park right?

If you decide to adopt the challenge let us know so we can let everyone else know, and for those with a budget for these things why not find out more about our balanced board program to help you on your way, for those without read our top five tips.

1.      We promote in our own image because we usually think our views are right. Oh don’t get me wrong some are less vocal about it (not everyone has time to write a blog) and others do try and seek new knowledge to ensure fully rounded opinions, but on the whole we like the people that agree with us. We shouldn’t think this is a conscious decision either, it’s usually not and unless we are aware of this and have been trained in how to realize when it is happening it’s likely that we will continue to repeat the same patterns and consider different viewpoints as weak when making appointments. To move forward ensure your boards and recruiters are aware of the right agendas when undergoing the recruitment process.

2.      Whilst the pot isn’t currently over flowing, at the moment there are women looking to take the step to board level, especially if we get in first and find them. Many are in your own companies, it’s just that something has gotten in the way be that confidence, workplace barriers, caring responsibilities etc. With the right systems in place you can find and up skill these women. What’s more it’s very likely that the confidence boost will have a knock on effect to their performance in their day to day jobs too.

3.      When looking for Non executive candidates its worth examining your contacts, and looking to see how diverse they are. With the majority of appointments never advertised women often don’t get a look in due to the male centric experience that is construction networking. I would urge you to expand your networks, not only to other sectors that have a stronger representation of women at senior level but also to consider the huge number of talented individuals who could not achieve their goals within a traditional construction firm and have started up on their own, you only need to look to the recent presidents of ICE, IstrutE and RIBA to see my point.

4.      Research has found that when there are less than 3 women on a board they are still likely to be considered tokens, often by themselves as well as their fellow board members. This is regardless of how they got there quota/no quota. Only once 3 women have been appointed will numbers outweigh the tokenism issue and you can start to see real change happen.

5.      Appoint what you need to, not who you want. Look at the areas your board currently lacks if you have 12 Senior directors will another bring anything fresh to the table? Might there be some benefit in bringing in some one at middle management or even operational level to gain a more rounded view of the company? Please note if you chose to do this individuals should undergo an appropriate period of training to ensure they are able to deal with boardroom situations.

I look forward to hearing from those of you brave enough to undertake my challenge!

Happy Building

Chrissi x