Construction needs diversity to sustain and develop growth. Competition for young talent is increasingly fierce at a time when the need for high quality committed recruits is greater than ever.
In addition to skills gaps, there are other business benefits to recruiting a diverse workforce. Client expectations are changing, and contractors can improve their competitive advantage by responding in kind.
The industry already needs to demonstrate equal opportunities recruitment for public sector contracts. This can range from setting targets in the contract to planning for equal opportunities recruitment.
There are also an increasing number of women working in public sector client management. A quarter of managers in housing associations alone are women.
In addition, research indicates that women make 80% of consumer decisions at home – a significant figure in light of the repair and refurbishment sectors.
Many companies are already reaping the business benefits of recruiting a diverse workforce. However, the majority of the construction industry is missing out on these opportunities.
Women represent only 10%, and ethnic minorities 3% of the construction workforce. Although there has been a slight upward trend in the percentage of ethnic minorities in the construction workforce in the past 10 years, the percentage of women has remained static over the same time-period.
We are committed to helping the industry recruit a more diverse workforce. Around 83,000 people are needed year-on-year for the next five years. To cope with this demand, we have developed a number of initiatives and positive action projects to support and encourage companies to have more women, Black and Asian recruits.
“When we need refurbishment jobs in people’s homes we find that elderly and lone parents prefer to have a woman in their home.”
John Bryson, Notting Hill Housing Trust – a construction client
Supporting materials
Browse our supporting materials for further information on diversity in operation, statistics on diversity in construction and research from CABE into the representation and experiences of BME students.
Deconstructing Barriers – a research report exploring institutional discrimination in the North West construction sector focusing on age, race and disability
Qualitative and quantitative data in the North West was collected via employers, stakeholders, employees and potential entrants into the industry. The information obtained assisted with exploring the nature and effect of discrimination in construction with specific reference to race, disability and age issues. The report and recommendations identify key areas for industry action, and place diversity issues on the construction agenda.
The research project was part funded by ESF (Objective 3).
