Inspiring Women to Start Careers in the Built Environment

While celebrating the increasing number of women in the Building Controls industry should not be restricted to just one day, today being International Women’s Day means it’s more important than ever for the industry to not only celebrate this fact but also look internally at what more can be done to boost these numbers further.  

Indeed, while the percentage of women working in the construction industry stood at 15.3% between April and June 2023, up 1.2 percentage points on the previous quarter, there is still more that can be done to encourage more women to take up careers in the built environment.

One of the biggest challenges facing industry leaders is overcoming and overhauling the historically male-dominated culture, often the biggest barrier to women not only taking up senior leadership positions but also contractor and subcontractor positions.

Aside from that, women are often under-represented in the building controls sector because of a lack of flexible working options, few clear paths for career progression, and a perceived lack of menopause support.

So, what can the building controls sector, and the construction industry as a whole, do to encourage more diversity and inclusion and inspire women to take up careers in Building and Energy Management Systems (BEMS) and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)?

Provide flexible working

According to the Office for National Statistics, 38% of women work part-time, compared to 11% of men. With that in mind, considering what flexible working options you might be able to offer staff could not only increase the number of applicants for your roles but also appeal specifically to female applicants.

As most roles are advertised as full time, caring commitments often fall to women. By demonstrating that you have flexible working options available, you may be able to open roles up to more female applicants and take advantage of this gap in the market.

In fact, family-friendly policies often lead to better productivity and overall better economic performance, improved employee recruitment and retention, job satisfaction and reduced absenteeism.

Improve career path options

Often, women can be hesitant to take up careers in our industry because of a perceived lack of career progression. With that in mind, it could be prudent to formalise career progression routes, increase transparency relating to salaries and career opportunities, and introduce fair and objective evaluation when making recruitment and promotion decisions.

By doing so, you could not only discourage ‘social cloning’, the ingrained culture of recruiting and promoting people who fit the same demographic as decision-makers, but also open up opportunities for women to take a much more involved and important role within building controls.

Improve pay transparency

With Construction News revealing that there was a considerable disparity in hourly pay in favour of men in companies with more than 250 employees, there is plenty that the construction industry can do to close the gender pay gap.

In fact, the building controls sector, as well as the built environment, needs to look at improving pay transparency and focusing on not only employing more women but also retaining and promoting them.

Offer training, mentoring and apprenticeships

While encouraging more women into building controls, and the industry as a whole, is of paramount importance, doing so can often be tricky, with there typically being a small pool of qualified candidates. With that in mind, offering work experience opportunities, apprenticeships and training schemes to women will give them an opportunity to earn a qualification while they work.

This will allow you to nurture female talent from within your employ, rather than trying to hire them from a fairly small talent pool. Furthermore, having an established female employee as a mentor can help new female recruits feel less alone when they first start their career.

Raise awareness and improve education

When it comes to the construction industry, and specifically BEMS and STEM, many women aren’t aware of the exciting career opportunities it can offer. It’s therefore important to educate women and girls leaving education on the important and significant role that BEMS and STEM will play in the built environment in the years to come.

Aside from collaborating with educators to offer open days to young women and girls as a way of inspiring interest in construction careers, construction firms could look to send female builders and building controls engineers into schools and colleges to show pupils that the industry isn’t just for men. By doing so, this can help to raise awareness of the fact that thanks to advancements in technology, many roles don’t necessarily involve intensive manual labour.

We need to show our many shining examples of women in building controls and use their influence to encourage many more to join.

When it comes to diversity and inclusivity, our industry is in a far better place than many years ago. However, like everything in life, there is always more that can be done. So, it’s down to us all to ensure that the exciting industry we’re in is as attractive and welcoming as possible to both men and women.