Written by Sam Millson, HR Business Partner in the East
International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity, has been marked in some form since 1911, and is something I’m really passionate about supporting.
Over 100 years ago women were fighting for the right to work and the right vote. Thankfully things have moved significantly since then, but the uneasy fact is that women are still not always paid equally to their male counterparts and women are still not present in equal numbers in business or politics.
Since joining Morgan Sindall Construction in 2018, my experience has been enlightening
My name is Sam Millson, and I’m an HR Business Partner in the East region of Morgan Sindall Construction. In our industry, efforts are being made by men and women to increase the number of females across the industry, to improve diversity, and meet the skills gap challenge.
Since starting at Morgan Sindall Construction in 2018, my experience has been enlightening. There has always been an inclusive culture, but momentum has accelerated rapidly in the last 18 months.
One thing I have noticed is that many of my female colleagues, like me, entered our industry by chance. But, once in the industry, we’ve spoken about how glad we are to be here. We’ve talked about how it is an exciting, diverse and enriching place to be, and that every role plays a part in making a difference to people’s lives and communities.
It is however, with the former in mind, that I’ve been questioning just how do we ensure more women specifically want to work in construction, rather than just leaving it to chance?
The answer seems to lie within an overall ‘brand perception’ of construction. Some women (and many of the non-construction population) typically see construction as a dirty, physical place to work, with only a narrow selection of job roles. Perhaps just a place for brick-layers and carpenters?
I’m all for advocating women in trades, but to progress inclusivity in its entirety, we must dispel this myth that construction still wrestles with.
Trades are a hugely important part of the industry, but there is so much more to it than that.
Celebrating its range of careers, diversity of work, excellent facilities, staff benefits and the professionalism of its people, to anyone and everyone, will be so important in moving the needle on our branding conundrum, which will help to create a more diverse workforce.
I recently heard a colleague say in one of our GenZ forums; “How do we even get people to ‘click’ on construction, let alone Morgan Sindall Construction?” A question I’m sure that rings true to many organisations in the industry.
It was only once I was in the industry that I learnt about the fantastic career opportunities available. Our challenge clearly is in promoting the art of what is possible.
The profiles of these women who are carving out their careers in a male dominated environment, and leading the way for other women to follow, is one important role model showcase that can help illustrate what a varied place construction can be to work in.
Our team is also making a difference every day in supporting early careers at work, in schools, colleges and universities, and in the communities we work. We’re also working to improve the culture, benefits and policies for the women already with us as well as those who join us in the future, and our Group-wide diversity and inclusion survey is already moving us forward in how we address imbalances.
By encouraging a diverse blend of people who will hopefully one day become our leaders not only reflects the society we live in, it is proven to ensure a sustainable and successful business model. At Morgan Sindall Construction, we’re always encouraged to challenge the status quo – it’s one of our values – and this subject is a challenge we are definitely facing head on.
It’s not always perfect, and I don’t think it ever can be, but I’m grateful to be in a business that sees this as an infinite journey. There is a clear passion and strategy here to achieve a more inclusive workplace and my experience is we are continually getting better at ‘doing’ as well as just ‘saying.’
As part of International Women’s Day, we took the time to share some of the talented profiles of the women in our East business, we catch up with Katie Klaveness in the North West on the progress of her career and also took some time to speak with Jamie Shearman, Area Director for Cambridgeshire , who shared his thoughts on where we are now, and how we can move towards becoming instinctively inclusive…