Building a Strong Industry for the Future: Workforce Diversity in Construction
Date Posted: January 28, 2019
Posted In: Ideas, Workforce,
by Scott Wittkop, President & Chief Operating Officer, McCarthy Holdings, Inc.
How will the construction industry address the ongoing shortage of talent at all levels? One answer is as simple as it is compelling: tap into a broader and more diverse pool of candidates. There is no shortage of opportunity with U.S. construction activity heating up. The demand is certainly there. Along with this opportunity, however, is another potentially even more powerful benefit of expanding the talent pool — the evidence shows that more diverse companies outperform other companies, delivering more creative solutions for clients and strengthening business performance.(1) That’s a win-win for our industry.
While women have a strong presence in other industries — nearly half of the entry-level workforce in 2017— the construction industry lags behind at just over 9 percent for all categories combined, from entry level to the C-suite.(3) As one of the nation’s premier building companies, McCarthy is dedicated to reversing the “diversity gap” in our industry and expanding opportunities for all. One example of how we are putting this into practice is through the McCarthy Partnership for Women employee resource group, which has a coordinated national/local approach to develop and support a culture where the best women want to come and stay for their careers.
Here are several other best practices McCarthy employs to broaden diversity in our own organization, as well as supporting the construction industry as a whole:
Our strategy for the future
- Gaining a broader perspective: By bringing in a wider variety of viewpoints and experiences, we more effectively address challenges, strengthen relationships and make more innovative and informed decisions. An important part of this is actively training our leadership to seek out diverse opinions. After all, if we don’t encourage and act on these perspectives, they can never help us grow as individuals and as an organization.