Wedding rings – “To wear or not to wear?”

“I have spoken to people who have said they'd remove engagement or wedding rings before going into a job interview.

Has it become so bad that we perceive ourselves as having to almost lie in order not to be judged as falling into a certain stereotype? I.e. She is engaged and will therefore be married and have kids within a year so she’s not worth employing?”

In an ideal world the answer would be to wear your rings; the law is in place to protect you and make sure that you will not be discriminated against so you should have nothing to worry about.

The problem is we don’t live in an ideal world.  And whilst if you did face discrimination in a job interview because your prospective employers suspected you were newly married and about to start a family you could take legal action, but first of all, you would have to know that was the reason for their decision.  

Secondly, you would need to be able to prove it. Neither of which are particularly easy to do.

Even if you could prove it, the expense of a court case, in terms of finance, time and mental well-being  is high and the pay-outs are low - if you take away the few big pay-outs that are awarded, you find an average of £3/4k.

So what then should you do?

If you need a job, don’t care what job is and just have to pay the mortgage now…then it might be best to leave the ring at home. You see, it’s not just that some people do not employ “women of child bearing age” (a phrase we have heard more often that we would like to admit) or those who are recently married.  Although this direct discrimination is common, it is not the only thing you need to worry about; there is also the problem of inherent bias - subconsciously a lot of people think mums will take more time off, not be fully committed and generally fall short of the work a man can do. It doesn't matter that research has found the opposite to be true and it doesn't matter that you don’t want children; you look like you might have them and, to the under-educated, that makes you a risk not an asset.

If, on the other hand, you have a bit more choice and don’t need to take the first job that comes towards you; wear the ring . You see if you take a job with an employer who does not understand the business argument for equality and supporting working parents, it is likely that you will eventually find out about it (even if you never have children). If you do, this may be made apparent by being given lesser roles and responsibilities and possibly being made to feel unwanted if, and when, you do conceive. If you have the luxury of being able to take the risk let the employer self-select. This will enable you to find yourself an employer who “gets it”, one who knows the importance of supporting and retaining key talent – and don’t just do this because you’ll get extra maternity pay.  It goes further than that - a supportive working environment is more likely to retain key people which has a positive effect on profit; meaning that this is the company more likely to be around in ten or twenty years’ time.

The changes in law mean that men can now take paternity leave so the risk is there - male or female - and with an increasing number of men becoming the main or sole carer, the point should be that the questions and assumptions are made of all or none; failing to do this is denying someone an opportunity because of their gender, not because of their family status. A company deciding to discriminate is doing so despite the fact that it is illegal; whatever your moral position, they are in the wrong.

Happy Building,

Chrissi x

What did Margaret Thatcher do for women?

The recent demise of Baroness Thatcher has prompted much discussion and debate across the globe, both positive and negative. However, we can mull over the various things she did, or didn't do, for the country during her time in office until we are blue in the face; but what I’m sure we can agree on is that she was a charismatic leader that proved women have a voice, even in an era where business was still very much considered to be a ‘man’s world’.

She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and is the only woman to have held the office. However, what did she actually do for women? Some would say not a lot. A recent article written by Jenni Murray, a journalist at the Guardian newspaper, gave the opinion that she did nothing at all – an opinion that is contentious in itself.

And while you may disagree with this opinion of “The Iron Lady”, she had some pretty stern views on the promotion of women in her cabinet - Baroness Young, a close friend of hers had been the only female elevated. She was leader of the House of Lords from 1981 to 1983, but had never been elected to Parliament. If you read through Thatcher’s autobiography, there is no mention of any woman apart from Young, her daughter, her secretary, Indira Gandhi and the wives or daughters of other statesmen. No Edwina Currie, no Virginia Bottomley, no Gillian Shephard, no Angela Rumbold.

Upon facing Thatcher for the first time in the mid-1980s, Murray explained that she would dismiss apprehensions regarding low pay, lack of childcare facilities, and poverty in old age and would scorn the idea of feminism – a term that simply wasn’t in her vocabulary.

When asked about her proclivity to improve equal opportunities she would recurrently reply with the view that none of the women were good, or proficient, enough to rise through the ranks.  She would dismiss positive action with an authoritative: "But no, a woman must rise through merit. There must be no discrimination." While this may be extent valid point for some, you would have thought she might have found some qualities of leadership in at least one female in her cabinet.

Furthermore, her empathy for other ambitious women, who were not as lucky as her in terms of finding independent wealth through marriage, was entirely absent. So while it is wrong to take joy from someone’s death, as we have seen people do in the media, especially in areas of the country most affected by her decisions regarding some traditional industries, it is understandable that people may feel negatively towards her and how those decisions affected them and their communities she made during  the ‘80’s.  

Construct Away,

Kyle

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

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 

Welfare, construction and why it’s not about scroungers…

Between the bedroom tax, cost of living and the media showcasing of extreme examples of people taking advantage of the system, welfare has developed a bit of a bad reputation at the moment. People who are struggling to make ends meet, whilst holding down jobs, are questioning why others only have to sit in front of the telly all day and receive benefits that, if you read the daily mail, will keep you in the lap of luxury.  

Between political infighting, using benefits as a weapon to showcase how badly the last party dealt with things and the media’s recognition of public hunger for people to name and shame, I can’t help but feel it’s all gotten a little out of hand.  That maybe we need to step back, take the emotion out of it and consider why benefits exist in the first place – and what value are they to those of us that work in the construction industry.

Firstly, I support the benefit system - I know that 0.02% of claims are fraudulent and whilst I would prefer that that number was zero, no system is perfect and constantly flouting small flaws as a means of undermining an entire system won’t get anyone anywhere. 

Whilst the media has encouraged us to look at those who claim benefits as work-shy scroungers there is a bigger picture and it includes me and you. In a transient, project-based industry that is now predominantly dependent on self-employment, labour gaps in employment can be frequent and, occasionally, long. Many save for the low periods but that’s not always enough to get by, especially when there are commitments and dependants to keep. The benefits help to cover that gap; they mean that you don’t fall at the first hurdle in the down-period, but instead, have the chance to pick yourself up and carry on.  They mean that people do not have to sell the tools of their livelihood to get by and that makes it a little easier to get back to work - it also means that when we, as an industry, need the workforce they are ready to start.

I know a few people who feel they are owed a living by the state, but the majority of people I know will avoid benefits till the last moment, only to find that when they do claim (out of necessity not apathy) they are vilified and made to feel somehow unworthy, which is not conducive to raising self-esteem and helping people to win work.

Let’s try and appreciate the scaremongering of Benefits from a different perspective -what if it is simply a political smokescreen to stop us talking about Starbucks not paying tax, or the media taking advantage of our desire to prove we are better than other people. If these things are true we need to fight for, and protect, our benefit system by refusing to further accept the myths that are sold alongside the welfare state.  Instead we should be proud of our heritage of helping those most in need and look at ways of getting people back into work. 

Make no mistake, if the system is allowed to degrade in this manner, it is not just the fabled work-shy scroungers that will suffer; it is society as a whole. 

Happy building, 

Chrissi

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

Site Managers - What they and I think I do........

As it is the Easter Bank Holiday this coming weekend we thought that we would take a slightly different approach to the blog this week and celebrate the long weekend with a dab of construction related comedy.

Whilst we have a lot of work to do around the image of construction, its healthy to have a little laugh at the current perceptions. My personal bug bear was always - "so your an architect....."

Not to exclude anyone planners, QS's, drylinners, ground workers and architects we would love to see your versions.

Happy building 

Chrissi x

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. 

The middle management minority; using the 6 principles of project management to progress your career.

This blogs borrows from the PRINCE2 seven principles of project management blogged about by projectmanuk; it shall attempt to put the emotional aspects of your career to the side in order to help you progress and achieve your ambitions and goals. It is particularly aimed at minority groups, as they are significantly more likely to face challenges in their work life.  But that being said, the principles can also be applied to a career less likely to face these challenges - quite often the people who would be best placed to lead organisations don’t do so because they place organisational improvement before individual politics; in this circumstance nearly everyone misses out.

1. Business justification: 

Consider your career as a range of short-term projects

·         Undergraduate to graduate,

·         Traineeship to chartered,

·         Chartered to senior, etc.

Then work out how what is required to get you there, how much this will cost and what additional time you will need to put in. Compare this to the return on your investment - and by return I don’t just mean the average salary you are likely to make, but also the value you place on doing your job, the experiences it will give you and the opportunities it will open up. Keep a check on this at certain key points in your career as circumstances can change, ensure you’re are getting what you need and reassess if you are not. If your career is no longer worth the investment it might be worth finding out why and possibly moving firms or changing careers.

2. Defined roles and responsibilities: 

Find out exactly what your job role entails and what the job above you requires. Check yourself against your ability to undertake these tasks. Don’t wait for an internal appraisal be proactive so that when your appraisal does come around, you can justify why you think you are ready for that promotion or rise. If the promotion comes around before you have ticked all the boxes still put yourself forward if you have 60% complete. If nothing else it will give you good experience, but being able to show how you have taken hold of your own development, and the skills you have learned over a given period, can prove that you have what is required to do the job even if you’re are not 100% fighting fit. Also, find out the roles of your managers - I don’t advise that you poke a bear with a stick by pointing out where your managers are going wrong, but rather help where you can - show you are an asset that will move the company forward. In short, make sure you really are doing your job and push to achieve the skills you will need for a promotion. Most importantly, make sure people know about it otherwise there really is very little point - I don’t know about you, but I’m too busy trying to manage my own life to be able to notice every detail of someone else’s.

3. Manage by exception: 

Learn to trust your colleagues and sub-contractors whilst still holding them accountable for their work, in other words let go a little. No one will thank you for micro-managing, and at a professional level you shouldn’t have to. Rather, build relationships and trust and empower those around you to want to produce good work - you’ll be surprised how often people do when given the chance. This doesn’t mean you should be “soft”, if people don’t deliver hold them to account, ensure they redo work and let them know what is and isn’t acceptable – just don’t start a relationship with them as if you have already made up your mind that they will fail, or it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Make sure you record the results of your success; soft skill approaches like this can make managers seem “lucky” as there is no visible cause and effect - so show the long term gain in your approach by measuring how often your projects/contractors come in on time/budget/quality and present this to your managers at appraisal. As previously mentioned, they often only know what you tell them, so tell them more.

4. Focus on skills: 

Think about the skills you want to develop; realistically these should tie into your career plan. Working on the development of these skills can provide you with a way of talking about your development that avoids an emotional situation. For example, instead of talking about how you would have liked to have progressed further and feel unhappy that you haven’t, you can work to develop additional skills that will get you there and use the sum of these skills as evidence for promotion.

5. Learn from experience: 

Don't risk making the same again and again no matter how unfair the situation might be; consider why certain aspects went well or badly, then incorporate the lessons learned into your approach to your next project. Humans have an amazing capacity to learn, but when it comes to repeating errors made during previous projects, we all too often fail to learn the lessons. If you are not being taken seriously or getting promotions, consider the message you are putting across, learn to manage upwards and sideways as well as down and don’t expect that anyone will notice what you have done just because you have done it.

6. Tailor to suit the environment: 

Understand how your boss and colleagues work tailor your approach. That doesn’t mean changing your personality, rather working to help them achieve their agendas. It can be too easy to base the world of work upon our own ethics of what is right and wrong; how people should and shouldn’t act - in reality, this is rarely the case - we all have our own moral compass and it’s surprising how much they differ.

The biggest problem with discrimination that two-thirds of minority groups in construction are likely to face is that we will never know about it. From unconscious bias to paternal instincts, discrimination rarely makes a grand entrance these days preferring instead to sneak about in the shadows having a subtle, but important, impact on a career that we don’t usually notice until we feel like it’s too late.

By taking firmer control of your career you can at least be sure you are guiding it in the right direction, and whilst this will not always enable you to overcome discrimination and bias, it will at least give you a way forward. 

Happy Building, Chrissi. 

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