Just 14%. That’s the percentage of U.S. construction workers who are women, according to research conducted by the Washington Post in August of this year.
And the industry remains heavily white — though this is steadily changing — with Zippia reporting that 58.7% of construction workers are white, while 24.5% are Hispanic, 10.7% African American and 2.7% Asian.
Improving this diversity, both by recruiting more female and minority workers, on construction projects throughout the Twin Cities was the focus of Knutson Construction‘s Nov. 9 Diversity in Construction Event held in Minneapolis. Ramona Wilson, diversity director with Knutson Construction, hosted the event, with the goal of giving the subcontractors that work with Knutson the information they need to boost the percentage of females and minorities on construction sites.
The meeting included panelists Trina Bolton, from the Met Council; Rosemary Dolata, from St. Paul Public Schools; Pat Dotter from the Minnesota Procurement Technical Assistance Center; Hector Martinez from US Bank; Igbal Mohammed from the State of Minnesota; Gilbert Odonkor, Hennepin County; Keisha Powell, from Children’s Minnesota; and Elaine Valdez, from the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.
Minnesota Real Estate Journal recently spoke with Wilson about the event and her hopes for creating a more diverse construction industry throughout the Twin Cities market.
What kind of feedback did you get from the diversity event?
Ramona Wilson: I lot of attendees said that they couldn’t believe Knutson would do this. It’s not common for general contractors to do such a thing. They wanted to know why we did this. They aren’t used to someone taking that time and showing how much they are invested in making sure we all understand what the workforce goals are in the state and Twin Cities market for the percentage of minorities and women on construction projects.
Why did Knutson hold this event?
Wilson: We did a similar event like this in 2015. We thought it was time for another event to really show how important diversity is to us on our construction sites. We want our subcontractors to focus on diversity, too. There has always been this theme that contractors and subcontractors must demonstrate a good faith effort to increase the diversity of their workforces. I’ll be honest: That frustrates me. Saying that they only have to make a good faith effort is almost a cop-out. What are good faith efforts? Does that mean sending out an email saying you are looking for more minorities or women on the job site? Is just talking on the phone to people about this?
Let’s get away from good faith efforts and let’s talk about what it takes to actually meet the goals on these projects. Let’s get a better understanding of what that means. There has been a lot of change and turnover in our industry since 2015, so this seemed like a good time to hold another event. Our audience consisted mainly of non-diverse and diverse subcontractors. We were all on the same page of saying that it is time to actually work to meet the goals, not just display a good faith effort.
What were some of the more interest results from the event?
Wilson: One of the things that we heard was that without setting goals, diversity and inclusion is not possible. If we don’t have goals on these construction projects, we will not get to a place where we will increase diversity.
Attendees also said that the goals must be realistic. The good news is, they are realistic. A lot of folks are under the impression that the diversity and inclusion goals are something that organizations pull out of the air. No. They do their research. They look at who is in the marketplace and who is available to work. It’s not just a number that they throw out there. They do the research to make sure that the goals are achievable.
Are subcontractors coming closer to meeting these goals?
Wilson: Some are good about it. Some are more willy-nilly. As general contractors, we have to hold them accountable. We have to make sure they understand that diversity and inclusion are important to us. We will meet with subcontractors on projects and talk about where we are on the goals. Can subcontractors do better? Absolutely. And that is what we are looking at. How can we get them to understand that this is important and that we expect this from all our subcontractors?
We monitor our construction projects monthly to see how we are doing overall as a company and how our subcontractors are doing. If we see that they are not living up to the same standards that we have at Knutson, we will reach out to them. Our project teams meet with our contractors probably every week. They will reinforce the need to meet these diversity and inclusion goals. We are here as a resource for them. We don’t leave them to work on this blindly. We can help them identify some of those avenues and individuals to help them meet these goals.
Why has it been such a long struggle to boost diversity in this industry?
Wilson: We are used to the status quo in the construction industry. People are not used to change and don’t like change. We have to recognize that the world around us is changing. To continue to grow in our business, we must change with that. We can’t just rely on what we traditionally have had to rely on in the past. We can’t just have all white males in this space. Demographically, we are changing not only in the country but in this state. Who is available to work in this industry today? We see a diverse population available to us. We have to educate and inform those individuals about the opportunities in this industry. We have to make sure this industry is a place of belonging for everyone, not just for white males.
Have you seen positive change on this issue during your career?
Wilson: When I started doing this work and was working with the Association of Women Contractors, that organization had maybe 100 members. Today, it has close to 300, all female contractors. There has been substantial growth in female and minority representation in this industry.
It has to start at the high school level, if not before. We have to educate and bring awareness of the industry to young people. We are behind in that. We are making some inroads in partnering with area schools. We need to be in front of the young people and tell them that maybe they don’t want to pursue that four-year degree. Maybe there’s another option, especially for those who like working with their hands.
What has your experience been like as an African-American woman in the construction industry?
Wilson: I started with Knutson almost 10 years ago. I came from a Fortune 500 company that was more progressive with diversity and inclusion. Walking into the building for the first time was almost like going back in time. Back then, if we had around 10% minority representation on a job site and 4% women, we thought we were doing good. Now we are seeing about 25% to 26% minorities on our job sites and about 15% women. We have seen progress. Is there more work to do? Yes. We are plugging along at that.
Being both African American and a woman, I’ve often been the only one who looks like me in the room. It’s something I’m used to. You understand it and you try to learn from it. My goal is to be able to make a difference within our communities overall and to demonstrate to Knutson from a business model that these goals are achievable, that we can be a successful business by having women and minorities as part of our workforce.
How does having a diverse workforce help a subcontractor?
Wilson: If you want your business to grow, if you want to see future growth, you should be invested in diversity and inclusion. That is your future workforce. We want every project we work on to have 32% minority workers on the job site and 25% women. If we want to be around for the next 100-plus years as a company, we have to meet the needs of our customers, and that means having a more diverse and inclusive workforce.