Increasing the Job Pool Will Require a Perspective Change
It bears repeating: The construction industry continues to face a workforce shortage. About 650,000 workers were needed in 2022, in addition to the normal hiring pace, to meet demand.
“With women comprising only 14% of the construction workforce, there is a tremendous opportunity to leverage this untapped pool of talent,” said Maribel Scarnecchia, director of consulting at Deltek. “The industry needs to adapt and change to attract more women – from creating more schedule flexibility, to improving conditions in the field, to highlighting women in leadership positions and creating mentorship opportunities.”
A project and information management software company serving a variety of sectors, including many companies in infrastructure, Deltek, in addition to offering quality products, is seeking to add value to their clients via their educational webinar series, which recently included an Empowering Women in Construction installment.
The event, which can be viewed on-demand here, was attended by hundreds of women and men in the construction industry and featured panelists Rhonda Nebgen, National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) South Central Region Director; Lori Koopmann, Director of Finance at MHS Legacy Group; Natasha Engan, SVP of Global Sales at Deltek, and Maribel.
The panel shared insights on challenges women face in construction and ideas to overcome them, best practices to hire and retain women in the industry, and opportunities for companies to hire more women as builders, professionals, and tradeswomen.
“There is still such a struggle for women on the job site,” said Rhonda, a senior project manager at Emerson Construction Company Inc., during the webinar. “It took a while for me to find my voice and do so in a respectful way.”
The Power of Role Models
“The challenge is to get rid of the stereotypes,” said Maribel. “My mother, being a Latina, didn't want me to have a career – she wanted me to be a mother and wife. This was also back in 1992, so things have changed. We now have more media coverage showing women in the field, providing those role models that I didn’t really have growing up. But there’s still a gender stereotype surrounding going into the field.”
Educating Youth
Even as more women are being showcased, young girls in school are still unaware of their options. “When I visit school counselors [on behalf of NAWIC], they think construction [is] landscaping and architecture,” said Rhonda. “There are so many more facets. We need to educate on available career paths. [You can be an] estimator, controller, in business development…Construction doesn’t run without all those components.”
“It’s an industry where you can start as a laborer and work your way up,” said Maribel.
Flexible, Family-friendly Work Hours
Although there is increasing consensus within the industry that flexible work hours would attract and retain more women, and likely more applicants in general, there remains a blockade – how to execute.
“In my experience, it’s still a face-to-face business,” said Lori. “What needs to change is what’s going on in the field. But that is controlled by owners and unions. You have construction schedules. It’s easy to say what we have to do, but hard to make it happen.The labor shortage is going to force this…[and] the younger workers are going to demand this flexibility.”