As an employer, you need to be turning your attention to the current lack of female representation within the construction industry. This short 3 part blog series will explore how and why you should be looking to address this concerning imbalance, as well as how you can restrict hurdles and target inequality to retain women within your workforce.
The solution is not simply to employ a women into your next vacant role – the solution is not as superficial as that. For natural momentum to build, and for long lasting change to occur, there needs to be the correct support, information, and structure in place to make the field an appealing and feasible career choice for women…and it all starts with you!
Why You Should Want Women in Your Workforce
Women – your untapped resource!
The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data tells us that just 13 per cent of the construction industry in the UK is made up of women – what a wealth of potential the industry isn’t harnessing! This could well be the solution to the monumental skills shortage facing the UK construction industry. Skills are quite simply disappearing as the older generation retires, and the younger generation chooses not to enter into construction and retain the skills so desperately needed. According to Reuters, the UK needs to take on 400,000 new people each year to build all the new homes we need. There’s a growing shortfall in uptake to put it conservatively!
A loss of talent is catastrophic, yet there is a huge bank of unharnessed potential waiting in the wings – if only we could nurture it and show women how inspiring and financially rewarding a career in construction could be. But there’s no point in selling a pipe-dream, as an employer, you play a pivotal role in ensuring that construction really is a viable option for women.
In our next short blog – your role in attracting women into construction…
Support for Your Business While You’re Hiring
Hiring can be a headache of a task. There’s the advertising, trawling through applications, interviewing and then training. It’s unavoidably a labour intensive task, and rightly so if you’re to get the very best candidate for the job. If you need to free up time for members of your team to undertake recruitment, look no further than the services of a virtual assistant. At CSnotepad we have a bank of friendly and professional staff based here in Brighton that are ready to help you and your team with telephone answering, general enquiries, order taking, payment processing, call patching, ticket logging and more.
No breaks in our service for lunch or holidays, just a reliable service whenever you need an extra pair of hands. With virtual support from CSnotepad, members of your team can focus on areas of your business that really warrant their time like recruitment.
For more information on our services, visit our website here.
For more information on women in construction, read this great article by Construction News.
