Female workforce on the rise at Aggregate

30 Nov 2017

Aggregate Industries has announced it has seen a 50% increase in female graduates and over ten times an increase in its female apprentices since 2015.

As part of an ongoing commitment to nurturing new industry talent and greater diversity, the industry player has operated an extensive apprenticeship programme, which has undoubtedly contributed to these positive statistics.

Every year, the business holds a host of different programmes to give young people the chance to take on new skills and try them out in a live environment, a great way of providing invaluable career experience.

Aggregate Industries’ Head of Learning and Development, David Butterfield, commented on the good news.

“It is great to see our commitment to promoting careers in construction to the next generation pay off with an increase in uptake of our courses, especially from females, which we see as a very positive step in creating a more diverse workforce,” he said.

“However, there is no doubt that there is still a big job to be done in raising awareness about the rewards of working in the construction industry and breaking through the misconceptions that jobs are mainly for men and, in a lot of cases, low-paid and low skilled, which is simply untrue.”

Inclusion & Diversity Lead at Aggregate Industries, Joanne Hankinson, talked about how this work can continue.

“When it comes to women in construction, we need to work harder to publicise the great career opportunities that exist for them, as they not only have the potential to be well paid but can also take advantage of greater flexibility,” she said.

“As an employer we recognise the value of having diverse teams to foster diversity of thought, innovation and creativity.”

Details of the higher apprentice and graduate programme for 2018 can be found in the link in the opening line.

Visit the Aggregate Industries website