Equality and Diversity in the Energy Sector
Posted: Tuesday 11 January 2011
The number of women working in the energy sector, particularly at a senior level, is disproportionately low. Encouraging a gender balance is a challenge for many sectors, but it seems to be taking longer to redress and proving more difficult to achieve in the energy sector, than in other areas.
In 2009, research by the UK Resource Centre indicated that women made up just 21% of the oil and gas workers in Britain, with the majority of that 21% working in sales, admin, catering and service positions. Why should that be, given the evidence demonstrating that girls do better at school than boys and that female graduates outnumber male graduates?
Intrinsic sectoral problems
It follows that it is likely that there is something intrinsic within the organisations and/or work in the energy sector which discourages women and means that many businesses in the sector are missing out on the expertise and differing perspective they could bring.
Perception could be part of the issue. The energy sector maintains a masculine image, with the oil and gas sector particularly suffering from the image of weeks spent offshore in a male dominated enclosed environment. This is not helped by the largely (albeit not exclusively) male dominated boardrooms at the top of the large businesses in the sector. For ambitious female graduates, the perceived lack of opportunities at the top must make them think twice about entering into the sector.
But the problem is not only one of perception. Flexible working arrangements are often key to attracting female employees. Leaving aside the rights and wrongs of the issue, it is a fact that more women than men work flexibly due to child-caring arrangements. The reality of work within the energy sector is such that many women who are considering entering or furthering their career in the sector will be concerned about its compatibility with childcare. Anecdotal evidence indicates that flexible working requests beyond office based roles are rarely put forward and even less likely to be granted given the nature and requirements of offshore working in particular.
In many industries, there remains an assumption that dedication to the role (and therefore success) equates to full time working, a lack of other “distracting” responsibilities, such as children, and no career breaks. Although, on the face of it, the most basic family friendly rights such as maternity leave and pay are met by most employers, career advancement is likely to be affected in many cases by an inability to be mobile and to work on field sites either offshore or abroad at short notice for what might be extended periods of time.
So how can this be tackled?
The solution
Think first about why is it important to try to achieve a gender balance. A bit of persuasion might be required to depart from the way that things have always been done. Aside from the legal implications of potentially uncapped sex discrimination claims, a balance of men and women, particularly at senior level, is good for business. In a number of studies, a gender mix has been demonstrated to improve profitability which is thought to be due to the different perspective and approach women bring to business. There is also a skills shortage looming and with female graduates outnumbering male graduates, employers cannot afford to be unappealing to the majority of the talent available.
It is important to take a long term view in terms of supporting good people through the years in which they have significant childcare responsibilities. This is with a view to those people being in a position to dedicate their time more completely to their career once their children are less dependent on them. A bit of give and take towards employees at a stage in life which is stressful enough anyway engenders feelings of loyalty and dedication which might not otherwise exist. You will also reduce the need to incur recruitment fees if you can retain talent within the organisation longer term, so not only do you keep good staff but you save money by doing so.
Offering flexible working will be key to attracting more female candidates. The encouragement of such arrangements is key to fostering an environment that is welcoming to women who wish to start a family or already have child care commitments. Whilst it must be recognised that there are a number of areas where flexible working, part time working and job shares are going to be much more difficult to accommodate (given the specific operational requirements of the industry) that is not a good reason to rule out serious consideration being given to flexibility. Try to be more creative about your workplace arrangements and if it is genuinely impossible to accommodate flexibility, then requests to work flexibly may be refused on entirely legitimate operational grounds.
One area where there are clear difficulties in implementing flexible working is offshore. Yet working on rotation is, itself, a flexible working arrangement insofar as it departs from the “normal” working week most of us are used to. Consider whether or not the rotation can look different to how it has always been. There will be implications (probably cost-implications) but will they be outweighed by the benefits? There are women who work offshore with childcare responsibilities at home. Some women view working on rotation as a benefit because it allows them to spend extended periods of time with their children when they are on their field break. It does require supportive family arrangements back home, as well as a degree of creativity around childcare arrangements, but using women who manage this already as examples and raising awareness of how this can work well is key to persuading more women to consider it as an option. This type of arrangement will not be for everyone, but it is clear that the opportunity to do that type of work, with a family, is possible and it is up to the industry to make this clear to prospective female employees
Diversity management also extends to harassment prevention, gender awareness, diversity-sensitive recruitment and childcare and summer care options where feasible. Think about how you might change your recruitment practices. Other sectors have addressed this, with successful results, for example at Pearson, an international media company; they have put together a preferred list of recruitment consultants to be used with a view to producing more diverse shortlists of prospective candidates. In addition, they have also worked with specialist search groups to increase the number of women and minorities shortlisted for higher level appointments. At Vodafone, recruitment consultants are instructed to put forward at least one credible female candidate for interview for management vacancies at group level.
There is no point in introducing diversity management policies without also taking time to ensure that they are applied effectively. Time and resource will have to be invested in training for managers and making sure that they are aware of what is and what is not acceptable. Changing a mindset takes time and won’t happen overnight, but the looming skills gap may mean that employers have no choice. Investing time and energy in this now is likely to change the gender balance at the top of organisations longer term. This will eventually feed into a changed perception of a more gender- balanced sector. In turn this will attract female graduates to the sector and ensure that the sector is not missing out on some of the best talent available.
Pamela Macaulay Senior Solicitor, Employment Team
Jillian Paton Solicitor, Employment Team
