AM, Queensland Government Customer & Digital Group

THE NAWIC QUEENSLAND WOT 11% STRATEGY

- equalising the Queensland building plan

by Radmila Desic AM

Senior ICT Investment Consultant, Queensland Government Customer & Digital Group & NAWIC Chapter WoT Committee Member and 2004 Crystal Vision Award Winner (QLD)

In 2015 NAWIC Queensland invited a variety of stakeholders to discuss and strategise ways to improve engagement with apprentices and tradeswomen, how to better support them and how to attract more women and girls to trade careers. As a result, the Women on Tools (WoT) Advisory Committee was formed and within a year had developed a strategic plan for attraction, engagement and advancing the interest of women in trades. In 2016 the WoT Committee wrote a white paper to the Queensland State Government proposing several initiatives including a target of 11% participation of females in frontline roles on all state government building and construction sites. The State Government agreed to potentially review the procurement policy if the WoT Committee could develop a strategy to support the industry with creating a pool of female applicants, improving the culture and supporting the existing tradeswomen workforce. As a result, the 11% Strategy was born, which is a holistic strategy focusing on six key priorities: 1. Attracting and retaining women in apprenticeships and traineeships. 2. Developing industry pathways for women in paraprofessional and professional careers. 3. Repositioning women as employees of choice in non-traditional careers. 4. Passport to Diversity. Changing the industry culture. 5. Industry commitment to gender equality and accessibility to the trades. 6. Recognising the skills of women already working in the industry. A recent update to the Construction Skills Queensland - Women in Construction Report1 has seen a 50% increase in apprenticeship uptake since actions from the 11% Strategy were implemented in Queensland. The WoT Committee has reached many key milestones and achievements, some of which are: • The launch of an online Diversity and Inclusion

Awareness training module which was created by tradeswomen in partnership with TAFE

Queensland Skills Tech and with input from a Bond University professor and industry stakeholders. We encourage you to jump online and have a go. This training can be delivered as a toolbox session on site. • Development and implementation of the Male

Allies Program, in partnership with emberin, which is an online structured mentoring program for men. • Development of the Diversity and Inclusion Kit to support employers’ recruitment strategies and provide targeted information to female applicants wanting to get into the industry. • Engagement with hundreds of school students providing them with a range of activities including

1. CSQ 2021, Women in Construction - A Rising Trend 2021, CSQ, <https://www.csq.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Women-inConstruction-2021.pdf>

‘Speed Careering’ events, ‘Career Advice’ webinars and the ever popular ‘Try a Trade’ days. • WoT toolbox-style breakfasts which attract hundreds of participants and who receive industry-specific, current and femalerelevant information from our amazing group of industry stakeholders and supporters.

We gave away hundreds of freebies such as

Bolle’ safety glasses, Shewear boots, Eve workwear and gift cards. During these events we have been able to match applicants with employers and apprenticeship opportunities.

Our committee absolutely loved seeing our tradeswomen bring their children to these events too. We feel it is important for our children to know that there are great opportunities in our industry for both men and women. • Supported the Queensland Government’s

Housing and Public Work’s Exemplar

Project with advice and resources to help dispel myths and demonstrate benefits of implementing a diverse and inclusive workforce on a construction site. As the success of these early actions continue to deliver results, we are already focusing the journey ahead with the ‘Next Steps’ initiative.

NEXT STEPS

Employer Engagement Strategy. The WoT Committee will host round table events with industry leaders to build on the conversations started and ensure the strategies being implemented are collaborative solutions for changing the culture of the building and construction industry. We will target organisations who employ a direct workforce of apprentices, trainees and existing workers to offer support and provide them with the new suite of resources developed to help them embrace a cultural change of employing, retaining and developing women. We will continue to promote and encourage employers to participate in the Male Allies Mentoring Program. We will expand on the delivery of the Diversity and Inclusion Awareness training to be delivered at toolbox meetings. Provide a state-wide delivery of the Diversity and Inclusion Training in collaboration with TAFE Queensland. The WoT Committee will host events to support the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of finding, hiring and retaining women in frontline roles in the construction industry.

The Male Allies Program launch

A ‘Speed Careering’ event held for students in Cairns

NAWIC QUEENSLAND WOT COMMITTEE MEMBERS Heather Russell: 2015-2017 Laura Madden: 2015-current Juanita Mottram: 2015-current Helen Paddon: 2016 Radmila Desic: 2015-current Helen Fedoruk: 2017-current Penny Cornah: 2017-current Rachael Price: 2019-current Rachael Kiely: 2019-current (current Co-chair) Carlie Low: 2018-current (current Co-chair) Rachael Price: 2019-current Amanda Nicolo: 2020-current Cassandra Rowan: 2021

The toolbox-style breakfasts attract hundreds of participants

We will create a pool of female applicants by partnering with community-based organisations to provide education, advice, support and mentoring for Skilling Queenslanders for Work (SQW) programs that focus on women in non-traditional such as the Certificate I in General Construction. We will develop infrastructure to support linking employers with SQW, and other entry-level training, with female participants looking for work experience. We will also expand the NAWIC Queensland mentoring program so it is delivered as a structured program to SQW and entrylevel training participants. Furthermore, we will provide WoT toolbox-style breakfast infomation sessions at schools (initially in South East Queensland however, if it is successful we would look to expand to broader Queensland) where industry stakeholders can provide live demonstrations and the female students can engage with tradeswomen and female apprentices face-toface. We will continue to promote trade pathways to secondary school students via: • Speed careering events across Queensland • Presentations at schools • Participation at career expos • Site tours (including virtual site tours) • WoT breakfasts hosted on school premises • ‘Try a Trade’ events The WoT Committee will continue to expand the NAWIC Queensland mentoring program to include and focus on tradeswomen and apprentices by growing the number of mentors who are qualified tradeswomen, particularly those that operate their own trade-related small business. This will ensure that mentees are partnered with a mentor who can relate to the experiences they face in their day-to-day site culture. Finally, the WoT Committee will continue to advocate for change and to secure the 11% target on Queensland Government funded infrastructure projects and maintenance work and we will work with other NAWIC Chapters, and the National Board, who are looking to achieve similar momentum across Australia.

If you’d like to register for the NAWIC Queensland WoT Diversity and Inclusion Awareness training, visit https://inscope.edu.au/nawic