Opinion piece by Cathryn Greville, Head of Fairness, Inclusion & Respect (FIR) Action Sustainability

Ensuring we have the right people with the right skills to deliver sustainable environments fit for the future is a critical component of addressing climate change. Diversity in our talent pool accompanied by a culture of inclusion are essential enablers for achieving Net Zero ambitions. And we are well aware that we have a long way to go to reach those ambitions.

Put simply, we need diverse and innovative thinkers who look at the world differently to enable us to move forward from our current way of operating.

Current workforce

We are not currently drawing from the full talent pool or retaining skilled workers:

• Only 24.5% of applicants are women (50% UK population) and 1.8 % are disabled (17.8% UK population).
• 5% of applicants come from an ethnic minority background, however they find it 3 to 5 times harder to get a job than white candidates and comprise only 13.6% of workers (18.5% UK population).
• Women face an average 18.8% pay gap (double the UK average), and an even higher bonus pay gap.
• Of those leaving the sector, 46% of women and 49.5% of ethnic minorities do so before age 34.
• Only 54.2% of companies monitor diversity, and many do not collect data across all diversity metrics.
• Only 62.5% of employers have reasonable adjustment policy for disability (37.5% don’t meet this legal requirement).

Yet currently we face:

• A widely recognised skills shortage – needing 225,000 extra construction workers by 2027 to meet demand (particularly in infrastructure, repair & maintenance).
• An ageing workforce – with just 10% of workers aged 16-24 (in 1990 that was 22%) and 25% due to retire in the next 10 years (in 1990 that was less than 10%).
• Image and perception problems – with most industries considered more attractive than construction and only 2% considering it preferred industry.
• A legislative context that is driving demand for skills – with the introduction of the Building Safety Act, Future Building Standard etc.
• Difficulties in finding workers with construction workers more likely to find jobs through word of mouth than competitive application.
• 83% of Gen Z candidates rate commitment to diversity and inclusion as important, and 56% would hesitate to accept a job in an organisation without diverse representation in senior leadership.

Clearly, we need to address our talent and skills challenge to ensure people see the sector ad relevant and desirable to work in.

What does this challenge look like?

It’s about more than just attraction and recruitment, although these are key initial components. Along with getting people through the door, we must develop, invest in, retain and promote workers, supporting them to establish and build careers within the sector that reduces the risk of a revolving door across various roles and workforce demographics.  

Culture is key. To attract and retain good people we must offer workplaces that demonstrate principles of fairness, inclusion and respect, commonly referred to as ‘FIR’. Ultimately, this plays a key role in why people join, how effective they are, and whether they stay. People choose to work in FIR workplaces and are looking for more than diversity alone. Workplaces should foster attitudes of respect, empathy, and openness. They should encourage collaboration, celebrate diversity, and value individual perspectives. By meeting the needs of workers, businesses stand to achieve the greatest benefits.

Challenges across career stages

Businesses should consider their workforce and potential workforce at various career stages and hold up a mirror to their practices, asking questions such as:

• Emerging Talent/Early Career – How inclusive are your hiring practices? Can those without social capital/connections get their foot in the door? What barriers are you creating through your job requirements themselves? Do you prioritise transferrable skills rather than for experience? Do you give your new entrants opportunities and a voice?
• Mid-career – How are you assessing performance? Are you tracking attrition, and what is the data telling you? Is ‘presenteeism’ impacting your business? Are you incorporating people’s needs as all stages of their career through flexible work, sponsorship, family friendly policies, menopause, work-life fit, equal parental leave.
• Late career – How are you catering for those in the later stages of their career? What flexibility is available for older workers? What are your retirement policies? How is knowledge and experience valued and shared?

Additional benefits of FIR

The good news is that getting this right has many additional benefits – FIR environments positively impact wellbeing, safety, innovation, teamwork, as well as helping businesses win work, improve proactivity, meet customer expectations, minimise risks, provide financial returns and retain their social licence to operate. Inclusive workplaces have been proven to enable better and quicker decision-making, organisational efficiency and enhanced profit.

Far from a ‘nice to have,’ FIR is an essential part of businesses operating at their best, and intrinsic to meeting the challenges of the future.

How can businesses build better cultures to attract and retain talent and be more sustainable?

Firstly, businesses need to recognise that FIR is critically important, and ‘walk the talk’ by taking proactive steps to identify and address issues.

2. Understand the starting point – Leaders first need to understand where the business sits in terms of FIR maturity.  The free, online FIR Growth Assessment enables businesses to track their FIR journey, identify blind spots and receive a 10-point action plan for progressing FIR.  
3. Commit to action – Business leaders must embrace inclusion as critical to success and act on it. This involves reviewing practices, policies and governance structures, and considering where the business could be more inclusive for workers, clients and stakeholders.
4. Measure – Leaders should ensure their business collects and analyses diversity data, which is critical to identifying issues, targeting solutions, and tracking progress and success. The Diversity Tool captures essential diversity data to benchmark businesses against the sector, interrogate data and help identify impactful initiatives.
5. Learn – Leaders and workers should upskill across FIR subject matter to enhance their knowledge and leadership capabilities. With free resources such as the FIR Toolkit, FIR Case Studies, events and workshops, there is something for everyone. Individuals may consider upskilling as a FIR Ambassador and managers may set learning pathways for their team.
6. Improve – Leaders should implement proactive improvement measures. Informed by performance data, ongoing evaluation and amendment with input from diverse stakeholders is critical, along with utilising the depth of resources and support available through the Fairness, Inclusion & Respect Programme to build positive culture.

References:

Diversity Survey Findings 2023; What workforce diversity means for Gen Z (Monster); What are Gen Z looking for in their future workplace (DiversityQ); Rethinking Recruitment (CITB)