January 22nd 2024
Huge diversity survey reveals ongoing challenges for the built environment sector
Results from the survey revealed that the representation of ethnic minority groups in the workforce decreased year-on-year.
Last week, on 16th January 2024, the Sustainability Tool, in collaboration with the Supply Chain Sustainability School’s Fairness, Inclusion and Respect (FIR) Programme, exposed the outcomes of the largest-ever employee diversity survey in the UK.
The survey, which involved more than 526,000 individuals, revealed a variety of positive outcomes regarding inclusivity in the built environment workforce. Experts found that there is a noteworthy surge of women in the industry, rising from 23% in 2022 to 29.1% in 2023 – this marks the most significant increase within the last seven years.
However, findings, which can be found in full here, also discovered that more work needs to be done in encouraging people form ethnic minority backgrounds to join the industry. Researchers found that the representation of ethnic minority groups in the workforce decreased year-on-year slightly to 13.6%, trailing 5% below the ONS UK population average.
In addition, the application to hiring ratio was a lot higher for ethnic minority groups (90:1) compared to white applications (28.4:1), making it three times as harder to secure a job this year. Depending on their background, the survey, which has been a crucial annual fixture in the built environment sector’s progress tracking since 2016, showed that ethnic minority groups found it between 1.2 to 6.4 times harder to be hired than their white counterparts.
Belinda Blake, senior policy advisor – equality, diversity, and inclusion at National Highways, said: ‘By assessing our workforce against sector benchmarks and ONS UK population statistics, we gather valuable insights that enable us to create a targeted roadmap for improvements.
‘This annual data capture exercise is also instrumental in reinforcing the built environment sector’s dedication to diversity, equality, and inclusion. The report offers essential data, serving as a foundation for setting benchmarks and driving progress across the industry. Together, we hold the power to ignite positive change, guiding the sector towards a future that is more equitable and diverse.’
Researchers likewise discovered that persistent data gaps exist around disability, with 35.2% of respondents’ data not being collected. The ‘prefer not to say’ option increased from 3.2% to 6.5% this year. In addition, while disclosure is increasing only 2.04% of employees identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community, below the ONS UK population average of 3.14%. As a result, the survey now includes pansexual, asexual, and queer categories to align with census data.
Cathryn Greville, head of fairness, inclusion, and respect at Supply Chain Sustainability School, said: ‘The survey demonstrates the critical importance of quality data in addressing equity, diversity, and inclusion issues across the built environment sector.
‘Without relevant data, organisations simply cannot identify, understand and address the real issues they face in their businesses and supply chains, and they cannot track the success of any initiatives put in place to make the workplace more inclusive and successful.’
The Diversity Survey is set to reopen in March 2024, allowing anyone in the built environment to participate anonymously for free.
Image: Gorodenkoff via Shutterstock
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