CHANGING THE MINDSET

Helen Gawor explains how valuing different skills to encourage diversity not only benefits businesses but helps increase profitability

I’ve always struggled with the ‘women in construction’ movement because if not handled properly it puts us in a ‘subset’ of the workforce rather than addressing the diversity of skills, capabilities and experience women bring as equals.

Attracting women into the industry starts with attracting these diverse capabilities, not just targeting by gender. When this experience comes from other industries, we should organically attract more women into our businesses.

I started working with GKR over four years ago as a management consultant. Scaffolding businesses were not a category of client I would typically work with as my background and therefore my client base was digital media businesses and tech start-ups. In fact, I originally said I couldn’t help them.

However, when I met MD Lee Rowswell, I realised that the challenges and aspirations of GKR were not too far removed from the other businesses I worked with. Having a very entrepreneurial mindset similar to the tech founders I worked with, he wanted to strengthen their market positioning, structure GKR for growth and build a culture that drives innovation.

So, when I later joined the business permanently as Strategy Director, I felt very much at home despite my original belief that scaffolding was not an industry I could add value to. I got to enjoy the challenge of an industry that needed change and GKR got an instant injection of experience from a faster-moving industry.

When a business is open to bringing in people from different backgrounds or with different skills, you will create a more diverse workforce.

HOW DOES THIS WORK FOR FEMALE SCAFFOLDERS?

I must caveat my comments here with the fact that I have never worked as a scaffolder nor have the skills to become one. But I do want to find ways of attracting people of both genders into scaffolding roles because we are currently not finding enough new entrants into the industry.

ATTRACTING WOMEN INTO ON-SITE OPERATIVE ROLES IS A CHALLENGE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY, RECRUITING MEN IS HARD ENOUGH!

Construction in general has approximately a 12% female workforce. However, only 2% of these are site operatives. Like other professions that struggle to appeal to women, the issue is around identifying the pool of the right women with the right capabilities and skills who want to work in a technical environment.

The physical capabilities are often seen as a barrier for women coming into labouring or scaffolding roles. Just as there are many men who do not have the physical capabilities, many women won’t have either. But some women do.

We would give an opportunity to a male school leaver who doesn’t look physically fit or strong. So, we should be openminded about women too.

However, this is not the only way we should be assessing core capabilities of the work.

I worked with a Project Manager who had spent a few years scaffolding in Canada. He commented that there were more women scaffolders, and those that weren’t as physically strong made up for it in technical competence. He stated they were more meticulous, meaning less time spent snagging, improving quality.

This is simply an anecdote, but it does suggest that we should measure performance across the broad range of capabilities so that we can better evaluate what having women in teams of operatives would bring.

INCLUSION WITHOUT TOKENISM

Including women when we are in the minority requires businesses to have very open cultures where diversity of thinking and skills is welcomed.

With the whole construction industry being challenged to adapt and modernise, having more women in our businesses will be proof that we are attracting and nurturing the right people, with the right skills to take our businesses into the future.

I must stress, however, that equality is what we are looking for. Women being treated equally, not as the token woman.

But we do need to think about what we are measuring if women bring something different that benefits how we work. We shouldn’t put quotas on gender either. Positive discrimination is real, and no woman wants to feel they are in a job because the business wanted a female to reach targets. I’d want to know I’m in a job because I’m the best candidate – better than the men I was up against.

But we will create more opportunities for women when we measure and value diversity of skills and capabilities.

This only benefits our businesses. Research into the most successful businesses has proved that more diverse businesses are more profitable.