Viewpoint
Suki Sandhu, Founder & CEO of INvolve explains why diversity is good for business in engineering
The world is finally waking up to the fact that diversity and inclusion is an issue that cannot be ignored. In society we’ve seen progress being made on issues such as the legalisation of same-sex marriage and more diverse representation within the media. However, there remains a fundamental problem within business with the engineering sector being no exception – companies are not doing enough to address the issue of diversity and inclusion within their own workplaces.
Other than the obvious point that having an inclusive workplace is fundamentally the right thing to do, the business benefits are also clear. A diverse workforce brings insight into different socio-economic groups, awareness of different cultural sensitivities and values, and increases innovation and new idea generation. This all gives diverse companies a clear competitive advantage. For the doubters the numbers speak for themselves. Research done by INvolve and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) shows workplaces in the top quartile for overall diversity are 45% more likely to have financial returns above their national industry mean than those in the bottom quartile. Companies would be foolish not to recognise these business benefits.
Crucially for engineering, building a diverse business also means opening the door to more talent. It is well documented that engineering is a male dominated industry which means missing out on a large percentage of the population’s talents – before we even delve into other diversity areas.
The sector is facing a skills crisis like never before, and measures need to be taken to help the leaders of the engineering industry fill the jobs that are integral to the field. According to the government’s own study, for the engineering sector to gain enough candidates to reduce the skills shortage, they would need around 186,000 skilled recruits each year until 2024. Encouraging women into engineering and retaining them within the industry can only help to plug this skills gap.
However, true diversity is about much more than just gender. A survey published by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) showed that 87% of UK engineering firms have no diversity initiatives in place for LGBT+ or ethnic minorities.
Christina Riley, Senior Construction Planner at Kier Group comments, “My experience of being LGBT+ in the engineering sector is that the culture still has a long way to go before it is fully inclusive. I remember a person talking to me at an LGBT Engineering event two years ago and saying that they had worked in the engineering sector for their whole lives, and still couldn’t be authentic in the workplace. They had kept their sexual orientation a secret for their whole career, and you could see the emotion that had built up from keeping this secret for so many years.
But progress is being made. The Royal Academy of Engineering have produced a number of resources on diversity and inclusion in the sector over the last few years, and this year the sector celebrated #LGBTinSTEM day in July with the hashtag going viral across the world. More companies than ever are beginning to take part in Pride Season, and this is now filtering through to the sector. There are a lot of positivity starting to happen.”
To build on this progress and support diverse staff within a truly inclusive engineering sector, companies should look to focus on the following:
- Support role models – Making role models from minority groups visible and vocal is powerful. Never underestimate the importance of being able to look up and see someone who ‘looks like you’; showing that minority groups can succeed in business while being authentic to themselves. Creating these role models will help to secure a future talent pipeline and help build employee led networks who can support minority communities and increase their visibility within the organisation.
- Conscious inclusion in management/leadership teams – Everyone has ingrained biases, but if we don’t learn to manage them (particularly the harmful ones) then it will only be detrimental to our workplaces. Regular diversity and inclusion training should be held at all levels – particularly around conscious inclusion – to help to shift perceptions and improve company culture.
- Inclusive policies to support specific needs – e.g. parental leave for same sex couples and medical cover for transition related procedures. Companies need to review their policies regularly to ensure they are fair, equal and inclusive for all. Society is moving fast – business needs to keep pace.
- Develop an equal opportunity recruitment policy – Diversity takes conscious effort to achieve. Becoming an equal opportunity employer will show minority candidates that they are welcome. Put together a hiring committee who will ensure the policy is observed, brainstorm ideas for attracting more diverse candidates, and consider where you are advertising for jobs and the language you’re using to find candidates. Diversity needs to be made part of the company’s core values so everyone knows that inclusivity is not a one-time initiative.
If you know someone who has been an inspirational role model in promoting and championing LGBT+ rights within the engineering sector, nominate them for the annual OUTstanding LGBT+ Role Models 2018, presented by the FT here: https://www.out-standing.org/nominations/
Most of us involved in Engineering and in business are focused on the best person for the job. Just like lady justice we are blind to the individual’s religion, colour, sex, or race.
I think concentration on merit, irrespective of any other driver remains valid for all cases.
If you are LBGT+ or BAME makes no difference to most people, who are seeking the most capable.
Well said Rod couldn’t agree more.
The lack of replies to this article may indicate many things-a lack of interest in that the vast majority don’t see a problem with diversity or understand what’ inclusion’ actually means. They spot a set of initiatives that are top down (willing spurred on well meaning individuals and often well funded organisations)– where dissent is not tolerated, and consequently avoid having an opinion which might be considered ‘wrong’ (unconscious bias)- even if they are in broad agreement and may have ideas to contribute to say bringing more women in to engineering. I’d be keen to know what others have to say on that.
Diversity and inclusion initiatives have to ask themselves if they are contributing to actually putting minorities off working in engineering? For example:
‘A survey showing that 87% of UK engineering firms have no diversity initiatives in place’ could be read as implying that these firms (and employees) must be really backward. An article in the Engineer from last year was interesting in that the young female engineer (from Brompton cycles?) who was answering questions from school girls about working in engineering was asked by the children something along the lines of ‘how can you work there with all the sexism etc’ – something she had never experienced at work.
Well said on all counts, it’s very easy to say you don’t see an issue when one is a white male in engineering and you have seen one or two diverse faces around the office. Unconscious bias is a common behaviour many people don’t know about or refuse to acknowledge in themselves (i.e: “I’m not racist, I don’t even see skin colour…”)
What do my sexual preferences, religion, or skin colour have to do with my ability to design the next wind turbine? It’s all entirely irrelevant. These sort of articles just end up generating friction.
STEM is already as close to a meritocracy as it is possible to find.
You’re correct. All of those factors are irrelevant to engineering ability, hence the importance of ensuring that no-one is put off pursuing a career in engineering by outmoded perceptions that its somehow not for them. UK engineering’s lack of diversity – in particular the relatively low proportion of female engineers – suggests there’s still a long way to go.
It’s absurd to suggest that in the Western world, females, LGBT++, or minorities are dissuaded from pursuing an Engineering career during education.
Given that in the West, females are given all the same opportunities as males, then the low proportion of female engineers simply draws us to an inevitable conclusion. One which many people are unable to accept – that females are just less interested in or less adept at engineering tasks – but more adept at other tasks.
If you have ever been to a nursery, you will see for yourself that on the whole, boys will naturally spend more time playing with the trucks and blocks, and girls will spend more time playing with dolls. There’s always a bell curve distribution for both males and females, which of course means many females will be more engineering-adept than many males, but when you deal with large scale averages, then the differences show up.
Girls shouldn’t be put off engineering, and I don’t believe they are in the Western world.
But this whole debate needs an injection of honesty – and acceptance that the vast bulk of the differences occur due to inherent differences in natural aptitude in any given arena – which normally means an abundance of aptitude in other arenas.
Work with nature instead of fighting nature – and everyone’s life will be so much easier.
There is a very real danger that these above kind of positive-discrimination initiatives mean that children from outside the selected minority group are themselves overlooked and ignored.
The only conclusion is to stop caring about gender, race, etc., stop being selective, and allow talents to rise to the top naturally.
Not just in Engineering but in all arenas.