practical diversity

the background

Construction and the need for change

Construction is booming - and is struggling with an acute skills shortage. It also has fewer women than any other major industry with only 3.4 per cent of construction professionals and just over one per cent of the craft and trades being female. Fewer young men and women are studying construction related courses and more and more building and engineering students are choosing other careers once qualified. Respect for crafts and trades as a career has diminished, eroded by the emphasis on university degrees and 'manual work' becoming a job of last resort.

Meanwhile, according to figures from Labour Market Trends, by 2010 there will be 1.7 million new jobs created in the UK, of which 1.4 million will be taken by women. This means that not only are there more women entering the workplace (both as employees and employers) but they are also becoming a powerful force as consumers and purchasers.

Construction needs to change in order to attract and retain a properly skilled workforce drawn from the whole working population to meet this demand.

RhysJones delivers cost-effective training and support programmes to increase diversity in the workplace. We devise innovative and practical solutions to the problems caused by skills shortages by unlocking the resources in communities, colleges and businesses. We have extensive experience in change-management, producing workable policies and strategies for businesses and delivering bottom-line benefits.

RhysJones Consultants offers:

• a wealth of experience in the housing and construction sectors in recruitment, retention and training
• training in practical equal opportunities programmes for management and staff, on and off site
• internal and external communications consultancy
• equal opportunities and diversity audits
• career, personal development and presentation courses at all levels
• lively speakers for corporate events
• developing and living the brand training
• customer satisfaction surveys

In addition we provide:

• the corporate sector (eg. contractors, consultants and recruitment companies) with statistics, guidelines and latest news.
• government and the public sector with examples of good practice, details of active participants in diversity initiatives, statistics and general information.
• the media industry with statistics, role models, anecdotes and updates on initiatives.
• individuals with advice, support and information about mentoring, career development and training.
• students with latest news and help with theses and dissertations. This includes help in finding the relevant websites and available information sources as well as in depth consultations.

By clarifying jargon and untangling preconceptions, RhysJones helps people to identify the real benefits of equal opportunities in day to day business.

The aim of our training workshops is to equip participants with the confidence and knowledge to address and communicate the issues of equality and diversity within their organisations, at all levels. We help to make the move from simply having an equal opportunities policy, into implementing an equal opportunties plan, beyond simply conforming with legal requirements into developing the management tools for competitive edge.

Most recently RhysJones delivered the Managing Diversity workshops as part of the Construction Best Practice and CITB Learning By Doing training programme for Rethinking Construction.

RhysJones also devised the Change the face of construction website in 1999 and has sustained it independently since June 2000 as a communications network for changing the construction industry. Please visit the site to find information on recent initiatives, tools and case studies for diversity training and links to relevant websites.