As part of Armed Forces Week 2023, we spoke to a number of our Armed Forces Families across Morgan Sindall Construction. In this interview we spoke to Charlotte Wildman, Charlotte lives in Catterick, a garrison town in Yorkshire with with her partner Paul, who is serving in the Army, their two children and their dog Winston.
For me, and a lot of people whose partners are serving in the Armed Forces, having an employer that has the Armed Forces Covenant recognition means that they are open to you having the conversation about the unique requirements you may have in your working and home life as a military family.
There’s also the understanding of what a military career for the spouses of those serving looks like. When your partner is posted to a role or a location for 6, 12 or 24 months and you look like you’re moving around a lot – this is something that isn’t seen as a positive in civilian employment. But it’s just the reality of a military family.
It can be harder for the partners of those serving to find meaningful employment, it’s difficult to build relationships, arrange last minute flexibility and set your own career path when you know you’re going to be moving. That’s why for a lot of military spouses/partners just didn’t work historically, or they did roles that often they were over-qualified for to find something that was flexible.
The Armed Forces Covenant gives you the reassurance that you’re working for a business that appreciates your career development and homelife. It’s something people who are leaving the forces (often referred to as ‘signing off’), or those who are reservists or are the partners of those serving look out when they’re interviewing with an employer. Morgan Sindall Construction is currently accredited to the Bronze standard and working towards the Silver accreditation.
Work life balance for military families
We spent twelve months in Leeds, twelve months in York, six months in Shrivenham, two years in Bedfordshire, and we’re now in Catterick in Yorkshire! If you’re wondering, I’m now a pro at moving house. The range of locations that you could be based are all over the UK too, in this instance we requested – Greenwich, Nuneaton, Edinburgh or Catterick (in that order!). The good thing about moving though in the Armed Forces is that you know well in advance what’s happening (around 1 year) and you have access to services to pre-book moving days etc… It’s a lot less stressful than moving house in ‘civvy street!’
This is where working for a large, national company is actually really positive. One of Morgan Sindall’s values is ‘Talented people are the key to our success,’ and so, if we did need to move, and there was a role available, if the business is happy with my performance, I’m sure it would be feasible to move roles too.
For a period of time, I worked for myself as a self-employed civil engineer - I literally left school and fell into civil/structural engineering. But when the opportunities for work came up in Bedfordshire and we were in Yorkshire, it became apparent that leaving the house at 5:00am, swallowing the costs of the travel and juggling home and the requirements of Paul’s job at the time were not going to be sustainable. So I started looking for a permeant role with a large employer instead.
My husband Paul has been in the Forces for 13 years, he is currently a Major serving with the ETS (Education and Training Services), in the AGC (Adjutant General's Corps, we have two young children aged 2 ½ and 4 ½ and a dog called Winston. We live around 3-4.5 hours from the nearest family and friends so have learnt to be dependent upon one another. We could choose to put our children into boarding school and that does work well for some military families, but for us it’s not a route we want to take currently, and our objective is to keep our little family unit together.
In some cases, we’ve found that Paul’s flexibility around his role has been really good and for a period of time he might do more childcare than me, but we are consciously aware that this could change with at short notice.
It’s still sometimes the case that family-life can take a backseat to the job, as the partner of someone in the Armed Forces, you are referred to as a ‘dependant’ which doesn’t always feel great! You’re also tasked with attending briefings and events if it’s related to your partners role. But the Armed Forces have committed to the creation of Super Garrisons, like where we live now in Catterick, which is made up of military families from five camps. The Armed Forces vision is to keep people together, reduce moving and offer more opportunities for family growth.
They’ve also set up coworking spaces in the Garrisons across the UK, and it’s something that if we had it in Catterick I would probably use it, so I could combine working in the Morgan Sindall office, home-working and also co-working with those in a similar situation to me. That for me is sometimes another part of the life you don’t engage with, as I work full-time, apart from the leisure facilities we have and the garrison family events, there isn’t as much time to network and build relationships with other families. Saying that though, it’s very typical for families to assist those that have recently moved to the area and provide support that I guess would only be normal once you have known someone for a lot longer!
Morgan Sindall Construction has recently been awarded work to build or refurbish DIO estates in the North West and North East, and soon some of the team will be starting work at Catterick where I live.
Focusing on my own career has been great for me, and I’ve been offered great opportunities such as attending Council and task groups set up by the Institution of Structural Engineers. My line manager James has been fully supportive of this and sees the benefits that this can bring to Morgan Sindall. I just need to remember to share it on social media more so that other people can see that it’s possible to have these opportunities!
Construction and the military – the similarities and differences for those leaving the forces
I think there are a lot of similarities, but there’s usually just a very slight difference to them all.
For serving personnel everything is very prescriptive, you’re told where to be and when, there’s a task to be delivered and you follow a process to get it done. There’s also a clear and structured hierarchy in the military. You could also say that that’s very similar to a site team, but what I do think is that in the military there’s less room for trying something differently, you deliver things the way they’ve been done before.
In construction, as part of a project delivery plan everything is very well timed, and the right people come in at the right time, but you can still be in charge of your own workload or career – I think that side of things would come as a shock to someone from a miliary background. Speaking up and saying “Actually I’d quite like to get involved in…” something that’s outside of your usual role or learning on the job rather than doing a course, is something that doesn’t happen as much in the Forces.
Similarities are also the lingo and the acronyms! Both sectors are terrible for it, but if you leave the armed forces you will know the references to PPP, E1, E2, SKE, SSE, Reg C, the difference between a CO and an OC etc… You will have developed a skill for decoding and understanding, the only thing you need to do in the construction industry is learn all the new ones!
Preparation and safety are also similar, you prepare your equipment and uniform, you must know exactly what to wear for the right circumstances. In the military where you’ll visit the quartermaster (QM) stores to replace your equipment, you’ll be visiting a site office or ordering online your Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for site. You see what I meant about the acronyms though… QM/PPE - never ending!
Finally, the similarities are the camaraderie on site and the forces. You’ve been tasked as a team to deliver something and the bonding (and banter!) that comes from that is very similar. We take part in family days at the garrison, where my husband pays into a mess bill to cover costs of bouncy castles etc… Equally on site, you might find a bacon butty to celebrate a mid-project milestone or an end of project celebratory BBQ.
The ever so slight difference from the forces to a construction site, is the hierarchy. In the Forces you will liaise with your line manager, but probably not as much with the people above them. On site, our labourers, supply chain, stakeholders, guests, site and project managers and directors all liaise with each other, yes there’s a hierarchy in roles, but you can just approach and speak to anyone, for some in the forces that flat structure is quite an unusual thing to get used to.
What roles in the industry do you think would suit the partners of military personnel?
Anything! In Construction you have such a variety of roles, often ones that people don’t know exist. The technical roles on site, such as quantity surveying, design management and site management are all options for people who are process driven. There are some great examples in the industry of people doing these roles flexibly, even on site.
Being in a military household means you have to juggle and sweat the small stuff, where you need to be to pick up your kids, is something in good working order, I take a whole day off to review all our accommodation options in full before we move… People who have those meticulous, organisation skills would make great document controllers! It’s the type of role too that could be done flexibly and possibly remotely too.
There are lots of roles off-site too that are critical to the industry, in our business we have people that work in HR & recruitment, communications & marketing, IT, finance, office managers & PA’s, procurement, health and safety and working in the community in social value roles. The list is endless, and with the rise in digital construction and a commitment to being more sustainable and the changes coming into place around the Building Safety Act there are new roles in the industry that didn’t exist years ago.
Having the awareness of armed forces families will help others too
In a military family, you also learn to adapt quickly, and I think this is a valuable skill in the workforce, problem solving and thinking on your feet! I would love to just see more people with caring responsibilities be a part of the industry and showcase how it can be done.
You find the little things that mean you get to make the most of your family time together. It’s such a small thing but having the food shop delivered saves us so much time (although in the past having a takeaway delivered to the garrison proved trickier than we thought…we had to have it passed under the fence like contraband!). We’re also hoping that the 30-hours childcare funding will free up some of the finances to support the household. After our various house moves, we’re starting to build up a stock of items such as furniture and equipment that are functional and make our accommodation feel more homely. The conversation of curtains is something military families always talk about when you’re moving – you might have none at all or you might be welcomed to your new home with a pair of retro ones from the 1970s!
We chose this way of life, and we very much learn to get on with things. We don’t like to see our situation as a burden, and we don’t like to feel we get ‘special treatment’ just because we’re a military family. There are times when it can be difficult when Paul has been deployed for a longer period, and equally it’s been nice when he’s been in a role when he takes on more of the childcare too. But, it’s just reassuring that I can go to my line manager and just ask if something crops up last minute that we need to accommodate.
I like to take that approach with the team too, when we book meetings, I try to make sure they’re at a reasonable time in the middle of the day. As even those who don’t have caring responsibilities would probably still like to leave work on time or enjoy a pastime such as golf or running! The awareness of working families and looking at how roles can be done flexibly, will support everyone in the future and even if it doesn’t apply to you right now – like me, you might end up meeting someone who is in the Armed Forces, it’s a tricky transition but we wouldn’t change it!
Find out more about Armed Forces careers
Charlotte's interview and others can be found in our Armed Forces booklet. Which also includes some of the advice compiled from our team for Armed Forces personnel seeking roles in the Construction industry.