Most, if not all, conversations around the global crisis we are currently facing come back to people. Whether it’s a discussion about health, friends, family, travel, business or economy, people are ultimately at the centre of the response the world over.
It is this focus on people and ‘the power of human’ that has become an increasingly important linchpin on which real estate operates. Diversifying its workforce has got to remain top of property’s list of priorities, even in tough times. A sector that has traditionally struggled to attract a diverse range of people, it is missing out on key talent as a result. So, what can it do to improve its reputation and continue in its quest to become more inclusive?
“There is no denying that real estate has not been particularly fast to change,” said Kelly Bream, chief operating officer of Navana Property Group. “There’s a huge amount to be done around gender and equality still, as well as a whole host of other things including age, background and skill sets.”
She added that a new, enforced approach to flexible working could help the sector in the long run as companies are more comfortable with the concept of remote working and a flexible approach to business. “I hope it will become less about presenteeism and being in the office 9-5 and more about a more flexible work/life balance to create a naturally more inclusive sector. That will be a huge factor that we need to adjust to as we move forward.”
Widening the talent pool
The Greater London Authority’s deputy mayor Jules Pipe agreed. “We are about 50 years behind where we probably ought to be today, certainly in terms of diversity in the sector. We have been woefully slow, and we need to make sure that all levels have good roots in a diverse range of people so that there is a pool from which to draw. If we take the construction side of the industry, we’re doing a lot of work on that at City Hall through the Construction Academy, but then there’s a whole piece as well around the consultancies where the make-up is overwhelmingly white and male.”
In terms of bringing more diversity into the sector from the get-go, Ghislaine Halpenny, director of strategy and external affairs at the British Property Federation said the industry is in a very different place to what it was a year ago. “We have a government with a much stronger mandate and a will to get things done,” she added. “It’s an ideal opportunity for the sector to work hand-in-hand with government. You can start to see a world where, in 12 months’ time, we have a shared objective for a 50:50 split between men and women in the sector.”
Landsec group corporate affairs and sustainability director Caroline Hill added that this focus on diversity was not only the right thing to do but made sense commercially to ensure the business’s workforce reflects the profile of the communities where their assets are located. “Last year we set some really ambitious targets on diversity; 50% female representation across the business, and 14% BAME representation. There is a lot of work to do to hit those challenging targets… One practical step we’ve recently taken at Landsec is to review our shared parental leave policies. And so now we’ve extended those to six months for men, women or anyone on our workforce who is entitled to parental leave.”
Jonathan Branton, head of public sector and EU competition at DWF added that the legal sector has also come up against its fair share of “accusations” around not being diverse enough. “It’s time to deal with this,” he said. “We think it makes for much better advisers to have the most rounded workforces and sets of skills and experience… It’s not something you can do overnight and you’ve got to put steps in place to achieve these things over time. We think it starts with young people. We do outreach programmes in schools, and particularly in disadvantaged areas, in order to open the eyes of children to the possibilities of pursuing a career in sectors that they might not have thought were open to them.”
Mind the skills gap
The conversation moved on to address some of the skill sets that the real estate sector desperately needs but is sometimes failing to attract.
“At City Hall there are a number of schemes that we’ve brought forward,” said Pipe. “These are both in the digital sphere, but also in construction as well. There’s a large £7m programme to skill up people on the digital side. We’re encouraging that and talking to industry about how we can accelerate this.”
“I think modern methods of construction are going to be huge for our sector,” added Hill. “That’s something we’re looking at very heavily at the moment. How can we create a lot of our work off site? How can we use Building Information Modelling technology more actively? It all comes down to upskilling and attracting fresh talent. We do mentoring schemes and one of the things that’s coming up quite regularly is the younger people mentoring some of our workforce on digital skills.”
DWF’s Branton pointed out that while it is inspiring to hear tales of mentoring, upskilling and attracting fresh talent, a big challenge arises when it comes to public funding. “Training programmes for upskilling adult employees are very expensive now,” he said. You’ve got all the costs of the materials, the trainers, the facilities. But, most importantly, you must factor in the downtime from the day job. That’s why companies have to think twice before investing in particularly expensive and far-reaching upskilling programmes.”
The public sector’s role
This point was put to Pipe. “City Hall recently took over London’s Further Education budget which stands now at some £318m. We have set about taking to it a wide range of industries that were vital to London to determine how that would best be spent.
“It’s like turning a large, slow-moving tanker really and we committed not to throw things up in the air and destabilise the further education sector. But our priorities are those areas that we need to backfill, not least because of Brexit. There are the obvious ones, social care and hospitality. But the construction industry is way up there at the top.”
And on the subject of how improving skills will improve the UK’s productivity Pipe added: “The UK’s productivity has been at its lowest over the last 10 years than any time in the last century… But it’s clear that we have got to improve. I think digital skills will help.”
Halpenny added that digital skills reflect a renewed excitement within property along with sustainability and wider ESG programmes as people, including fresh talent, are starting to see where they could make a real difference in a real estate role. “It does feel like the discussions with governments have changed and we’re no longer having to stand there and jump up and down and announce that we’re here.”
“Improving skills is clearly going to increase the UK’s productivity,” added Hill. “But I think it’s about a lot more than that. It’s also about economic inclusion and bringing along people who have been marginalised and left behind. One of the programmes I’m most proud of is our work with Bounce Back in prisons across the UK, particularly in London where we work with Brixton Prison. That’s to train offenders on skills we have a shortage of in the construction sector and then we find these people employment in our supply chain on release.
“So, when we are looking at skills shortages, we have to try and think of different ways that we can include people that previously been excluded from society.”
Click here to listen to the other sessions that EG recreated in the studio during the postponed MIPIM week.
