{"id":156409,"date":"2025-10-24T14:24:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=156409"},"modified":"2025-10-24T14:26:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:26:01","slug":"measuring-fairness-inclusion-respect-construction-workforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/hr-skills-news\/measuring-fairness-inclusion-respect-construction-workforce\/156409\/","title":{"rendered":"Measuring fairness, inclusion and respect in the construction workforce"},"content":{"rendered":"

Launched in 2013, the Fairness Inclusion & Respect (FIR) programme<\/a> at the Supply Chain Sustainability School<\/a> is committed to empowering organisations in the construction and built environment industry to attract, retain, and engage a diverse workforce. Dana James-Edwards discusses the latest research on its impact<\/h2>\n

The FIR programme helps tackle workplace cultural challenges, enhance innovation and productivity, and create environments where all people, regardless of background, are able to thrive at work.<\/p>\n

It has over 550 free resources<\/a>, from short and snappy Toolbox Talks<\/a> to longer e-Learning modules<\/a> and videos<\/a>, case studies<\/a> and guides<\/a> showcasing best practice. We also produce regular workshops, webinars and conferences. But the FIR programme isn\u2019t just about resources and events; it\u2019s also about assessment and measurable impact. Our Diversity Data Benchmarking Report<\/a>, the largest in the construction and built environment sector, provides insight into the industry\u2019s makeup and trends in representation across demographic characteristics. This is incredibly useful and valuable information, but the team behind the programme wanted to know more.<\/p>\n

We set out to build a picture of diversity and inclusion the industry beyond demographics. We wanted to understand the perception and sentiments around FIR across the sector and to measure how these changed over time. We wanted a way to hear about people\u2019s experiences of diversity and inclusion at work<\/a> to understand how we could better support. We also wanted to track and understand what was changing, across time, and evaluate the impact of the FIR programme in helping to create and sustain positive change.<\/p>\n

This curiosity resulted in the launch of the complementary FIR Culture & Impact Report<\/a>, now celebrating its 10th year.<\/p>\n

The 2025 survey & respondents<\/h3>\n

This year\u2019s survey was launched in February and closed in April, against a backdrop of strong anti-diversity and inclusion sentiment coming out of the US, which was filtering through to the UK.<\/p>\n

One of the earliest responses to the survey gave every question the lowest possible score and left a single comment: \u201cDEI is dead, and you won\u2019t have this survey in a year\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the initial days after the launch of the survey, we regularly checked the responses to see if it was a trend, but while we did get a few more responses in that vein, they represented a very small minority overall.<\/p>\n

When the survey closed, we had 990 responses from active programme users, providing rich, relevant and insightful data. This year, the survey had strong engagement from traditionally underrepresented groups in the industry. Women<\/a> made up 54% of respondents, despite only representing 24.6% of the industry overall. In addition, 10% of respondents came from minoritised ethnic backgrounds and 12% identified as having a disability.<\/p>\n

Over half of respondents were employed by larger firms with over 250 employees, and in management roles in the industry.<\/p>\n

This broad cross-section offers valuable visibility into how FIR principles are being lived out on sites, in offices and across supply chains.<\/p>\n

What did we learn this year?<\/h3>\n