Move Over Boys First published in Personnel Today, 2 July 1998 ©Reed Business Information 1998

©Reed Business Information

With a chronic skills shortage in the construction industry, it is surely time for this male-dominated sector to encourage women into its ranks. But has the macho culture changed and what can employers do to attract a ready-made workforce? KATRINA FOX reports

Page three pin-ups wolf-whistling and language more fitted to a stag night - these were the just some of the less unpleasant aspects a woman on a building site 10 years ago would have had to deal with. Never mind sexual harassment bullying and being shunned by workmates. No wonder it was rare to see women working in this sector back then.

The UK construction industry is busier now than it has been for a decade and is suffering from a skills shortage in both craft - manual trades such as bricklaying plumbing and painting and the professional level - engineering quantity surveying and estimating. Construction is also the most male-dominated of any industry. The latest Labour Market Trends survey shows that there are 845 0 men employed full time in construction compared with 96 700 women. And according to Eurostat figures for the UK from the Labour Force Survey of all women in the sector only 0.8 per cent work in manual trades and 2.5 per cent in the skilled engineering trades.

Surely then it is logical for the industry to be proactive in tapping into the talents of the other half of the workforce by opening its doors and encouraging women to pursue a career in construction? Senior lecturer in social policy at Loughborough University Dr Barbara Bagilhole believes so. "The construction industry is conscious that it is losing talent as the best graduates coming out of universities are often women " she says.

In the mid-1990s as the industry came out of recession attention was focused on promoting equal opportunities. Industry body the Construction Industry Board set up a working group on equal opportunities to implement recommendations for best practice made by Sir Michael Latham in his 1996 report Tomorrow's Team: women and men in construction. The working group was chaired by construction consultant Sandi Rhys Jones who has just been awarded an OBE for services to the promotion of opportunities for women in the construction industry. "There is a need to promote the opportunities available for women," she says. "I know of one woman who wanted to be a surveyor but no one encouraged her - in fact they put her off - so the closest she came was to becoming a secretary on a building site."

There is some dispute however over whether such attitudes have changed over the years. "The construction industry is made up of the old boys' network bad HR methods and bad management " says Dr Clara Greed a reader at the Faculty of the Built Environment in the University of the West of England who has spent the past year conducting research into the industry.

Dr Janet Drucker business school director of research at the University of Greenwich agrees. "There is still much hostility in the industry. I know one woman who had her bicycle tyres slashed " she says. "Management techniques are very primitive. If people are worrying about whether bricks are getting cold in the winter they are not going to worry whether their employees are too."

But Dr Andy Gale senior lecturer in the building department at the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology sees the start of a culture shift in the construction industry. He has just completed a research project in north-west England in partnership with Rhys Jones Consultants and Building Positive Action an organisation set up to monitor equal opportunities in housing associations. The aim of the project Building Equality in Construction was to bring housing associations and contractors together to encourage the participation of women in the industry. Best practice guidelines for contractors and housing associations have just been published which are an extension of the Latham report's recommendations. "The climate is now conducive to the BEC project " explains Gale. "People's aspirations are changing - a lot of men have daughters who are encountering problems in pursuing a career in the construction industry." Gale and his partners aim to extend the BEC project nationwide and are applying for funding. The project's guidelines will also become a formal part of the Equal Opportunities Commission's information pack for employers.

Another initiative which shows that a culture shift may be taking place is the setting up of an Equal Opportunities Taskforce at the Construction Industry Council a division of the CIB which represents professions in construction. Among the aims of the EOT which consists of 20 members of the CIC's representative bodies are to provide cross-disciplinary mentoring support systems and help to change the culture of the industry. It is also worth noting that a Considerate Construction scheme is in operation on many sites where contractors must undertake not to heckle women or wolf-whistle at them.

The fundamental reason for employers to change their attitudes and encourage women into the industry is the business benefits. "Targeting only half the workforce is not a rational decision about major resources " says Gale. "The housing associations' charter stipulates that they must implement equal opportunities so they is more likely to employ contractors which do the same." Contractors recognise the importance of housing associations as a client group adds Gale. In the North West spending in the sector is about 1bn over five years. There is also the advantage for housing associations for their tenants to be trained in craft trades so they can carry out repairs themselves.

"The benefits of having women in the company are that you get very capable and able people and it provides a balance " claims Denis Madden group personnel director at John Laing the only construction firm to be a member of Opportunity 2000 a business-led campaign to encourage women back into the workplace. It currently employs five women managers on a team of 13 working on an 18m four-star hotel project near Heathrow Airport.

Ray Porter chairman of Porterbuilders who also features in the television advertisement for the Government's New Deal Scheme agrees. In fact as far as his views on employing women in the industry go he is every feminist's dream. "My company would not have achieved what it did today without my wife " he says adding credence to the adage that behind every great man is a great woman. "Women have a different outlook " he continues. "As well as promoting fairness and understanding they tend to be loyal and committed to a firm."

But amid this air of political correctness pockets of sexist attitudes can still be found lurking. Neil Athorne managing director of the homes section of George Wimpey in Manchester does not think the construction industry needs to actively recruit women. "The benefits of having ladies laying bricks are minimal " he says. "The problem of skills shortages is a deeper-seated one which will not be solved by going towards getting women on site."

According to Umist's Gale while attitudes like this still prevail the craft level of the industry will remain male-dominated. Many female trainees in the manual trades go on to set up their own small businesses rather than work for large construction firms he says.

So what can employers do to entice a talented ready-made workforce into this industry that has such a poor image in terms of gender issues? "Senior managers need to become aware of HR management issues " says Drucker a view shared by Madden. "Support came from the top in our firm which was very important " Madden explains.

As part of an action research project Bagilhole at Loughborough University will be talking to HR chiefs during the summer about her findings. "Personnel does not usually have the power " she says. "It is usually in the hands of line managers who employ people who are like them and treat them as they have been treated so it is a cycle that needs to be broken."

Training is a key factor too. Women are more likely to remain with a firm that provides them with good and continuous training according to a survey of women working in 93 local authorities known as Direct Labour Organisations in London. The survey was commissioned by the New Opportunities for Women project and carried out by the University of Westminster and the Association of Direct Labour Organisation.

The Construction Industry Training Board set a target in 1995 to get 3 per cent of female trainees onto courses by 2000. So far it has reached 1.9 per cent. The CITB became a National Training Organisation at the end of last year and holds regular career events and talks in girls' schools.

Women's Education in Building provides free training to unemployed women and is an excellent source of skilled craftswomen at NVQ Levels 1 and 2. WEB is opening a second training site and has just secured the contract to deliver training in the greater London area for the Government's New Deal scheme. Last year 140 women took up places on its courses up 27 per cent on the previous year.

Groups such as London Women in Manual Trades which provide role models for girls from pre-teenage years through to school-leavers are a good way of introducing them to the industry at an early age as is allowing them to visit a building site. Both Tarmac and Porterbuilders do this. Tarmac also has a self-development scheme for its 3 0 female staff which allows them to network and exchange information on career progression in the company.

Flexible working and childcare schemes are another useful way of retaining women who because of the long hours tend to leave the industry when they have children. Bagilhole points out that such family-friendly policies are common and work well in Scandinavian countries.

The seven DLOs in the NOW survey which employ the highest number of women also provide these arrangements. And with seemingly ground-breaking generosity Porterbuilders allows its pregnant staff to take off as much time as they need for which they will be paid.

Equal pay is a must says Rhys Jones as pay is on average 30 per cent lower than for men especially for women at professional level. "It is one of the easiest things for employers to do " she points out. "It is not as if there are loads of women in the industry so it will not cost them much."

The need for a top-down approach to promote a more open and accepting culture is essential and HR and training managers have a large part to play in forcing a macho industry to soften its image thereby improving its efficiency and profit margin.

No one is under any illusions that the stereotype image of the laddish builder who heckles female passers-by will disappear overnight. But as Rhys Jones says "Change the behaviour first and foremost and the attitudes will follow later."

Personnel Today is the weekly magazine for human resources professionals. This article is the copyright of the publisher, Reed Business Information and appears here with their permission. For more information on the magazine, visit their website at www.personneltoday.com