Gleeson celebrates Women in Construction
March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day where women celebrate and raise visibility of their achievements; and this year, it coincides with Women in Construction Week, dedicated to celebrating and promoting the role of women in the construction industry.
This year’s theme for Women in Construction Week is 'Keys to the Future', aimed at celebrating and recognising the strength and knowledge of women and the vital role they play in shaping the future of the construction industry. For International Women’s Day, the campaign theme for 2024 is Inspire Inclusion.
At Gleeson, we are proud to have such a talented and passionate female workforce across all departments, with many different areas of expertise.
To celebrate International Women’s Day and Women in Construction Week, we asked several colleagues to share their career journeys and experience within the industry. At Gleeson, we’re committed to recruiting and developing a diverse workforce and are conscious of the need to challenge gender bias and stereotypes, especially within the industry in which we operate.
Paula Clark, SHE Manager
Paula Clark, Health and Safety Manager for the North Eastern division, shares her passion for the role and her experience working at Gleeson so far: “I'm very passionate about my role and encouraging people to work safely and get home safe. I haven’t always been in the construction industry and when I first joined, I did feel like a “woman in a man’s world”, but never once have I felt like that at here at Gleeson.”
Paula adds: “Diversity comes naturally at Gleeson, and it has never been something I’ve thought about. We all simply do our job and are equally collaborative, passionate, respectful (and fabulous) as each other!
I can walk into any of the regional offices or head office and see people I know; you see people’s faces on the walls that you’ve never met but you feel you know them. That’s because we’re all passionate about where we work, championing each other’s achievements. Health and safety needn’t be scary or boring and neither is it only a place for a man. We are simply passionate about achieving the collective goals, every day.”
Tammy Keating, Assistant Site Manager
Tammy works as an Assistant Site Manager, based at our Pinfold Park development in Bridlington. With over 15 years’ experience in the industry, Tammy shares her journey since starting her career in construction at the age of 25.
“I initially joined Gleeson as a Trainee Assistant Site Manager, following a career in ground works where I specialised in block paving, resin and paving. Since joining Gleeson, the opportunities have been great, and I was delighted to be promoted to the role of Assistant Site Manager.”
“In the earlier days of my career, I did sometimes feel that I had to prove myself, but I have noticed a shift in this mindset and it’s encouraging to see more females joining the industry. Prior to working at Gleeson, my working days were physically demanding, with a lot of heavy lifting involved, which naturally took a toll on my body. I decided I wanted to make a change and Gleeson gave me the opportunity to do that and I haven’t looked back! Some days are challenging, and every day is different with new challenges, but we all work as a team supporting each other.”
Kaila Whitehead, Forklift Truck Driver
Kaila is a Forklift Truck Diver based at our picturesque Saltom Bay Heights development in Cumbria. Kaila is proud to be celebrating almost a year of working at Gleeson and since joining hasn’t looked back.
On discussing her role and choice to start a career in construction, Kaila commented: “Construction is a great industry to be in, it’s fast-paced and the people are so welcoming. I thoroughly enjoy doing a job that people wouldn’t expect me to. A passion of mine is driving, so a driving job is highly suited to me. This is my first full-time job based within the construction industry and I am incredibly grateful that Gleeson is so supportive of me within my role and treats me equally within my peer group.”
Looking ahead to the future, Kaila is passionate about developing her career within the industry, with a keen interest in exploring Health and Safety opportunities, while also developing her management skills.
Sam Knight, HR Director
Finally, Sam Knight, Gleeson’s recently appointed HR Director, shared her thoughts on specific goals and milestones that she would like to see achieved in terms of gender equality more broadly.
Sam commented: “I would like to get to a place where all our early career roles have a more normalised gender split for each intake which will help our gender balance longer term. A key step to achieving this is to work closer with schools and colleges to promote opportunities in the construction industry. I want to show that young people can choose Gleeson as an employer knowing that we have a diverse and inclusive culture and will invest, nurture and support them throughout their career, no matter what their gender, identity, or background.”
Sam also explains some of the ways in which workplaces can better support the professional development of women.
“There are lots of things that we should be consistently doing to support women thrive in the workplace. It’s often the little things that really matter; praising great work, giving structured feedback, being flexible in our approach and taking an active role in supporting female talent around the business. We should be offering career chats as part of our annual performance review cycle and in so doing that, understand personal motivations and aspirations. That can then help to create a bespoke plan to help support career development and provide opportunities for women to learn skills that support their chosen career plan. We already do lots of great things, but discussing talent regularly and matching opportunities with individual aspirations is the key to keep talented women motivated and moving along their career journey at Gleeson.”
To find out more about career opportunities with Gleeson, visit https://gleesonhomes.co.uk/careers/.
