Supporting Women in Trades

Brian Godfrey Allied Concrete’s National Training Manager and industry representative to the BCITO National Advisory Group for Concrete recently attended the BCITO Skills Summit in Auckland, the summits theme was Your Team, Find. Train & Retain. 

At the conference celebration dinner BCITO recognised 15 individual companies who had demonstrated the development and growth of woman in the trades. Brian on behalf of Allied Concrete accepted an award in recognition for the growth of female employees in what has been a male dominated industry.

The increase of female employees within Allied Concrete has been reasonably rapid, rising from 20 female employees in 2015 to 55 in 2018. The roles being filled are across the entire range of the company’s operations from management trainees to drivers, quality technicians, plant supervisors and managers.

This increase can only be attributed to the acceptance of the staff and management that women can do anything. Brian is sure that the presence of company directors, Shona Richardson and Joc O’Donnell throughout many of the company’s concrete plants, and Joc’s ability to be able to demonstrate that she can do anything her staff can, have contributed to this acceptance. 

Brian believes further increases in the female workforce within Allied Concrete are only hampered by building awareness and understanding that a career in the Concrete Industry exists for women.