Read background details on the survey鈥檚 key findings, plus graphs and data

Methodology 

In November and December 2017 Hays surveyed 936 individuals 鈥� 628 women and 293 men, (15 preferred not to disclose their gender) 鈥� working in the construction industry in the UK. They were asked a series of questions under five headings: your career, your job, equal opportunities, family and career development. The survey was also available through building.co.uk. More than half of overall respondents noted they were in the 鈥淕eneration X鈥� age group (born 1961-82), with 33.5% Generation Y (born 1983-95); 31% said they worked in Greater London, with the rest spread fairly evenly across the rest of the UK apart from 3.5% who worked outside the UK 

A majority of respondents (71%) worked in the private sector, with 29% saying they operate in the public sector. 19% said they worked in architecture, 18% in commercial construction, including quantity surveying, planning, estimating and buying, and 18% noted that they worked in on-site construction.

Key findings 

Career

  • 65% of men versus 57% of women said construction was their first choice of career
  • 27% of women were discouraged from entering construction, compared with 12% of men

Job satisfaction/career development

  • More women than men feel secure in their job, at 79% compared with 73% 
  • More men than women believe they have the opportunity within their role to sufficiently promote themselves and communicate their ambitions, at 37% compared with 26% of women 
  • Slightly more women than men are confident that their line manager is supportive of their career ambitions, at 31% compared with 29%
  • More women than men have a personal development or career plan, at 62% versus 52%
  • Over a third of women (34%) said they had been promoted within the past year, compared with 21% of men. 
  • More than a third of men (34%) said their last promotion was more than five years ago, compared with less than a quarter of women (24%)

Equal opportunities

  • Over a third (34%) of women think pay is unequal, compared with 13% of men
  • Over half of women (56%) said they had experienced harassment or victimisation during their career, and 36% of men. For 64% of these women, it happened within the past five years

Family

  • Only 15% of all respondents said having children does not affect a woman鈥檚 career in construction; 46% of women think it does so very much, compared with 32% of men 
  • 44% said men in their organisation take their full parental leave entitlement, while 34% said male parents take very little of their leave allowance, and 8% said none take the allowance
  • 43% said an adverse financial impact was the reason men don鈥檛 take their full parental leave, while 29% said men who take parental leave may be viewed as less committed to their career 

Results

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