黑洞社区

Survey methodology and key findings

Leader: Time's up

Gender pay gap reporting in construction

The fallout from the alleged behaviour of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has made crystal clear what many women have to endure in many different workplaces. The #MeToo social media campaign, under which women have recounted tales of the sexual harrassment and discrimination they have suffered, has revealed 鈥� largely to men 鈥� what many women have long known about their experiences in and out of the workplace.

Now a wide-ranging survey, conducted by recruitment consultant Hays for 黑洞社区 magazine, has laid bare the extent of this problem in the UK construction and engineering industries. Answered by more than 600 women and 300 men in the industry, it paints a stark picture of an industry struggling with the problems highlighted by the #MeToo campaign. And while it found a number of positives 鈥� women had much higher career aspirations and were more likely to feel secure in their job than men 鈥� there is no escaping the fact a majority of women responding had experienced harassment, victimisation and sexual discrimination, at a rate far higher than men. At the same time, just one in five women think they are paid equally to male colleagues, and continue to feel that they have to sacrifice their careers if they want to have children. So, what exactly do the findings tell us about the state of the industry, the kind of environment it creates for women entering the sector, and what can be done about this problem?

Sexual harassment

It is hard to think of a more powerful and assured woman in the construction industry today than Ann Bentley, chief executive of consultant Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) and a member of the government鈥檚 Construction Leadership Council. But she, like many other women in construction according to the survey, has faced numerous examples of unwelcome propositions by (then) more senior male colleagues. She recalls three instances from earlier in her career 鈥� one by a man in his sixties when she was in her early twenties 鈥� the first two of which she didn鈥檛 then have the confidence to report. The last one 鈥� from a man in another firm whom she gave a lift to after a meeting 鈥� was the final straw. 鈥淚 was driving,鈥� she says, 鈥渁nd he was being really, really unpleasant and trying to kiss me. It was horrible, utterly, utterly awful. Eventually I parked in a public place and swore at him and told him to get out the car, which he did.鈥�

"When you tell most well-meaning men about this kind of thing, they鈥檙e [鈥�] staggered. they say 鈥榥o, no, this doesn鈥檛 happen any more鈥�. Women know it does"

Ann Bentley, Rider Levett Bucknall

From Hays鈥� survey, conducted in November last year, it appears Bentley鈥檚 experience is commonplace. It found that 56% of women had experienced harassment or victimisation in their career, compared with just over a third of men (36%) (see charts overleaf). In addition, 55% of women said they had experienced sexual discrimination, nearly four times the proportion of men that had done. Even more shocking is when this harassment and discrimination happened. Quashing any assumptions that these figures reflect a historic problem, nearly a third (29%) of women who report experiencing harassment or victimisation said it happened during the past year. The figure is even higher (31%) for sexual discrimination. RLB鈥檚 Bentley is not shocked by the findings. 鈥淲hen you tell most well-meaning men about this kind of thing, they鈥檙e absolutely staggered; they say 鈥楴o, no, this doesn鈥檛 happen any more鈥�. Women know it does. It only takes a very small number of harassers to have this impact.鈥�

While Bentley does agree that the industry has improved as an environment to work for women in recent years 鈥� 30% of RLB鈥檚 workforce are female 鈥� parts of the industry lag behind. 鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely improved,鈥� she says, 鈥渁nd on the professional side there are more and more women involved. But I鈥檝e seen almost no change at all in site offices. The trade side is appallingly bad.鈥� 

Sarah Peers, vice-president of the Women鈥檚 Engineering Society (WES), says this sense that things used to be much worse can be used as an excuse for firms to avoid action today. 鈥淓ven 30 years ago people used to say that things were so much worse in the past. It takes so long for culture to change. When we keep saying that 10 years ago this or that happened, there鈥檚 a good chance that a lot of that culture is still here.鈥�

Richard Gelder, UK built environment director at Hays, says: 鈥淭his survey appears to show that steps really need to be put in place to address this issue. The light is being shone on it now, and yes, it might have been more prevalent in the past, but it hasn鈥檛 gone away.鈥�

Certainly, there is no shortage of anecdotes of women facing sexism in different forms, with the Huffington Post earlier this year reporting on the social media protest of a female electrician greeted on site by colleagues with 鈥淲ho hired a stripper?鈥� WES鈥� Peers relays the tale of a 鈥渢ough alpha female鈥� electrician who recently quit the profession completely after being publicly humiliated by her supervisor on site 鈥� run by a large major contractor 鈥� for leaving tampons at the back of drawers provided for personal items. Peers says: 鈥淚t was against a background of general harassment, but she always gave as good as she got. The supervisor told her he didn鈥檛 want to see her 鈥榝ucking disgusting sexual things鈥� in the site office. When the site manager who witnessed this didn鈥檛 back her up in public, this really was the last straw as far as she was concerned. She has just left the construction industry.鈥�

Of course, women don鈥檛 have to face overt harassment or victimisation for the workplace to become an uncomfortable place. Bentley says: 鈥淭here鈥檚 the day-to-day sexism which is often about language 鈥� saying 鈥淭hanks, darling鈥� 鈥� this language is really pervasive even with really well-intentioned people. On site it鈥檚 worse, it鈥檚 more unpleasant, sexually based. And then there鈥檚 overt harassment, touching. At one end of the spectrum it鈥檚 a shame, at the other end it鈥檚 breaking the law.鈥� 

Peers says many construction businesses just don鈥檛 register some of the less severe issues as a problem at all. 鈥淭here are small companies that you go into that still have girlie posters on the wall and then complain about the fact women don鈥檛 want to work there. They really don鈥檛 see it.鈥� Likewise, the organiser of trade show UK Construction Week was last year forced to apologise after allowing a stand with four women dressed as Las Vegas showgirls.

"There are small companies that [鈥�]have girlie posters on the wall and then complain [鈥�]women don鈥檛 want to work there"

Sarah Peers, WES

However, it鈥檚 not clear how far, if at all, construction lags behind other sectors. A recent poll by the Trades Union Congress found half of female workers across all industries had experienced unwanted sexual behaviour at work, a very similar proportion to that found in our survey. And there is some optimism that the current media focus on sexual harassment gives an opportunity to improve things. 

Theresa Mohammed, a construction partner at law firm Trowers & Hamlins, and chair of the National Association for Women in Construction (NAWIC), says: 鈥淭hese figures are terrible. This kind of behaviour is not acceptable in our sector and is something we actively oppose. We鈥檝e seen a huge public backlash against harassment in recent months and the mood across all sectors is that men and women are not prepared to stand for it.鈥�

Key to this, most agree, is the need for women to feel confident in reporting harassment, with a #MeToo style forum for women in construction to tell their stories also mooted by Mohammed. Sue Kershaw, now managing director for infrastructure project and programme management at KPMG, didn鈥檛 report her first construction boss 25 years ago, when he told her he hated women, and hated women engineers even more. 鈥淚 was so glad to have a job, and there was no one to report it to,鈥� she says. 

But the industry is now much more welcoming to women than it鈥檚 ever been, she says. 鈥淚t was a very different time. You鈥檝e got to call this behaviour out and generally people just stop in their tracks as they realise what hot water they鈥檙e getting into. Now women can call this behaviour out with confidence,鈥� she says. RLB鈥檚 Bentley, too, says that in her experience when she or others have reported harassment, it has been acted upon and taken very seriously. NAWIC鈥檚 Mohammed says: 鈥淥ne positive aspect of what鈥檚 happened after Weinstein is that people feel empowered to speak up.鈥�

"These figures are terrible. [鈥�] We鈥檝e seen a huge public backlash against harassment in recent months and the mood across all sectors is that men and women are not prepared to stand for it"

Theresa Mohammed, Trowers & Hamlins

The pay gap

It is not only the findings around harassment and discrimination in the survey that are discouraging. Only 20% of women feel there is equal pay between genders at their firms, compared with nearly half of men (see charts page 32). Bentley says: 鈥淭his is hugely disappointing. And it could be a really significant factor in terms of women leaving their careers in construction. It might be as simple as they鈥檙e leaving because they feel they鈥檙e not being [properly] remunerated.鈥�

These findings are supported by government data showing pay gaps of anything up to 44% in various construction occupations (see Women in construction: the facts, page 32). There is scepticism too as to whether the proposed compulsory gender pay gap reporting for firms employing more than 250 staff will make much difference.  

At the same time, the survey finds nine out of 10 women in construction believe that having children harms their career prospects either a little or very much, and that while the majority of men go back to work after having children to the same job and the same hours, less than a quarter of women are able to do so (see graphs above). 

The project by project nature of construction is seen as putting a barrier in the way of more flexible forms of working better suited to parents. Hays鈥� Gelder says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 often not about specific policies but about what鈥檚 not said. There鈥檚 been a bit of a cultural problem with flexible working 鈥� many employers know they have to do it but don鈥檛 really want to. It requires them to lose the idea that they can only deliver by everyone working all the hours god sends.鈥�

Work in progress

Counteracting all this bad news, however, is a strong sense that the industry is, finally, changing fast. Kier is one contractor making efforts to address these problems, teaming up with the Women鈥檚 Engineering Society to set up a returners programme for employees who have been out of the workplace for some time, often after having a family (see panel on page 33), which it is promoting on websites such as workingmums.com and Mumsnet. 

And harassment is, of course, not every woman鈥檚 experience of construction. WSP鈥檚 head of structures, Jane Richards, says her team now brings in equal numbers of men and women at graduate level, something that has transformed the feel of the workplace over the last decade. Even on site, she says, being a woman has never been a problem. 鈥淚 did a year鈥檚 placement on site, during which time I was pregnant, but it was never an issue; there were no comments,鈥� she says. Likewise, Theresa Mohammed says all the construction companies she works with at Trowers & Hamlins have 鈥渧ery sophisticated policies鈥� allowing staff to report wrongdoing anonymously and ensure it is investigated: 鈥淥ur clients are  developers, contractors and subcontractors, and in my experience on site they all go out of their way to be respectful.鈥�

"There鈥檚 been a bit of a cultural problem with flexible working 鈥� many employers know they have to do it but [鈥�] It requires them to lose the idea that they can only deliver by everyone working all the hours God sends"

Richard Gelder, Hays

All those interviewed for this piece said their firms 鈥� Kier, WSP and RLB 鈥� give staff training in unconscious bias to avoid managers recruiting in their own image. WSP鈥檚 Richards says: 鈥淲hen people take time out of their career, we talk to them about their return and how we can be flexible. We find a work pattern that suits.鈥� She points out that male parents have taken advantage of the policies, too.

Gelder says: 鈥淭here has been an enormous amount of work done on this issue in the last year, a huge move to get to grips with diversity, led both by professional institutions and by companies themselves.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e seeing people appointed in roles to drive the inclusivity agenda, and these are people with the clout to get things done. It鈥檚 driven now at organisational level by the main board and the senior management 鈥� something that simply wasn鈥檛 in place a couple of years ago.鈥�

For Bentley, though, more work is still needed, starting with addressing really practical issues such as ensuring the availability of personal protective equipment on site in sizes that will fit women, and the stamping out of 鈥渆veryday sexism鈥� on site in the same way that the Considerate Constructors programme has largely stopped wolf-whistling to passers-by on the street. 鈥淥n harassment, there needs to be visible sanctions and reporting mechanisms, and telling people it鈥檚 their responsibility to report these things.鈥� Only when those things are in place, she says, can construction start telling a positive story about the great career opportunities the industry can offer women.