How to get more women in Utilities
Women make up 47% of the overall UK workforce. Although, there are certain industries which have been dominated by male workers. Construction and utilities for example, where female workers take up 12.5% (1) and 24% (2) respectively.
Diverse workplaces can improve work culture and productivity. Gender stereotypes can exist in workplaces even when there is a conscious effort to dismantle them. Business’ within the utility industry have a duty to ensure women feel welcome and encouraged to work at their company.
When Thames Water removed ‘masculine’ terminology from one of their job advertisements and found the number of female applicants increased from 8% to 46%. Words such as ‘competitive’, ‘confident’ and ‘champion’ were replaced.
Allow NSUSL to discuss what steps utility companies can take to increase the number of female workers and applicants for roles.
Start from the top
According to a survey (3), women make up less than 18% of the utility workforce. Less than 25% of managers and engineers are female. Female workers also leave twice the rate as their male counterparts, despite the lower number of workers. If utility companies were to employ more female workers in senior roles, this could increase the number of female workers for a number of reasons.
First of all, if existing employees see female employees are given the same opportunities as male employees in terms of job progression and responsibility, this will improve employee retention with female workers. Retaining workers is also cheaper and more efficient than hiring new workers. Attracting women to utilities isn’t enough, companies must be able to keep them too.
A higher percentage of female employees in senior roles could also have a snowball effect on recruitment throughout a business. Employing female senior employees could prevent a situation as Thames Water experienced. Having only male employees create job advertisements can result in subconscious ‘male’ language being used, which can inadvertently dissuade female applicants from applying for the role. Having diverse seniority within a company ensures more employees and applicants will feel represented for. This can attract a wider pool of talented employees and help with employee retention.
Senior female employees can mentor younger employees, improving their confidence and drive in the industry. If a young female worker sees all of their seniors are male, they can think those roles and even the industry isn’t for them.
Change the mindset
As well as changing the mindset of female employees and applicants, the same must be done for male employees. Workplaces have been attempting to eradicate sexism, discrimination and stereotyping for several years. Yet, this should be the bare minimum.
Policies should be in place which makes working at a company a more attractive proposition for female and male workers. These include equal pay and progression opportunities as well as family-friendly policies.
It shouldn’t solely be down to female senior workers to encourage and mentor less experienced female employees. Male employees must also work to encourage and assist female workers in enjoying and progressing with a career in utilities.
This mindset of equality and diversity can only benefit a company. This will attract a more diverse workforce, which results in more productive and innovative personnel. A meeting full of people who are the same age and gender may think alike and struggle to see problems and solutions from various perspectives. Yet a more diverse group can encourage flexibility of approach when it comes to decision making and problem-solving. Challenging the norm and being innovative is how business’ evolve and prosper.
Sources
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/women-power-utilities-industry/519877/
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2019/08/27/breaking-barriers
Image from flickr CC credit: www.twpinc.com
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