At the Inspiring Women in Construction Conference, it was heartening to see how we as an industry continue to shift the dial and move towards a more diverse and inclusive environment. For the Vantage team the conference was affirming. Here are three trends towards greater gender diversity from our Vantage point.
The business case for gender diverse leadership has been made time and again. McKinsey (2019)
found that the leadership behaviours most effective for addressing future challenges are applied more frequently by women. The Pipeline (2020) found that FTSE companies who have >33% female executives have a net profit margin over 10x than those with no women at this level.
For Gen Z entering the workforce, a culture of diversity and inclusion is a basic expectation, so if organisations want to attract the brightest young and diverse talent, they need to address their culture.
Business case made. We know increased representation of women in leadership is a good thing, and at Vantage we know how to achieve it.
This Vantage insight focuses on women in construction, but we recognise the diversity conversation is bigger than gender and acknowledge the complexities and nuance of intersectionality of every kind.
We are hearing it every day from our clients: recruitment and retention is the problem. Women are overrepresented in leavers in the built environment, and research shows only 23% of women remain
in their construction job for more than two years. How can we convince people, and more specifically women, to stay? The short answer: create a culture of inclusion. If people feel they belong, they’ll stay. This is a challenge for women in a predominantly male industry, but it is possible if there is focus and investment in creating a culture of inclusion.
All organisations will have a diversity initiative or pledge, but converting words into action is challenging, especially in an industry with such a significant legacy of male centric culture. At Vantage our focus is always on embedding a culture of inclusion and that requires buy in from the entire work community. Culture is lived every day, initiatives rarely are.
Change isn’t all about disruption, it’s also about evolution. We need to instigate change from within, encouraging men in positions of power to advocate for the DEI agenda and use their influence to support women. Advocacy is infectious, and with senior leadership and client buy in the whole work community will come on the journey.
At Vantage, we empower advocates and allies working with the understanding that this is not a women’s issue, it’s a cultural issue. Our programmes are designed to welcome men into the conversation, to improve their awareness and demonstrate how and when they can use their influence to support their female colleagues. A common example of this is helping men recognise when a woman is being spoken over and teaching them how to proactively hold the space for their colleague to express herself. We also focus on the sponsorship model over mentorship. Sponsorship requires direct action, it takes the relationship from guidance to public support, and it is powerful for junior women leaders to have someone from senior leadership proudly in their corner.
Women, more so than men, are looking at the value an employer brings to their life beyond salary. According to industry research, 11% of women ranked flexible working hours as the top factor to prevent them from leaving a role and 50% said that the need to maintain a work life balance had “a lot” or “some” impact on their career. Maternity leave and childcare are only one part of this flexibility piece, and conversations around flexibility for women are often erroneously reduced to these factors. Flexibility reflects a wider culture of trust and empowerment, and for an organisation to be inclusive it needs to be able to flex to the needs of the individuals its hoping to retain and attract. If construction organisations can be more dynamic and empower their people to make the right decisions, it can improve retention without competing in the salary arms race.
As an industry we are working to improve representation of women at every level. This is not a women’s issue – this is a cultural issue. Our Elevate programme is a leadership programme built by women leaders, for women leaders. It is designed to help men support women, to empower women, and to ultimately create a psychologically safe environment for all. If you want to carry on the conversation, please don’t hesitate to contact Jessica at [email protected].
All material © Blayze Vantage 2024.
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