How to build a naturally diverse organisation, without political correctness, quotas or box-ticking.
The construction industry is under constant pressure to demonstrate diversity, often ahead of genuine experience and capability. That pressure leads to political correctness, tokenism and box ticking rather than real change, and it doesn't grow the business or build a culture that lasts.
More and more construction companies are being defined by the number of women or people of colour on their team, rather than their ability to deliver. Clients, particularly in the public sector, seem to be weighing diversity more heavily than quality, experience, or capability. Good companies are being rejected for bids and contracts because they don't appear diverse enough, regardless of the work they can actually do.
This creates a real risk. Organisations trying to hit certain targets can end up breaching the law around positive discrimination without realising it. And when hiring decisions get made to satisfy a number instead of finding the right person for the job, the business suffers for it.
CPR has created a CPD Accredited course on EDI, specifically for the pressures construction industry businesses are facing right now.
This course helps you recruit and build your teams without political correctness, without hitting quotas, and without ticking diversity boxes. It teaches you what the Equality Act actually requires, explained in the simplest terms, so you understand exactly where you stand and how to stay on the right side of the law.
For the industry to keep thriving, the best person for the job needs to get the job. This course shows you how to build a genuinely diverse organisation while holding onto that principle.
A clear, practical understanding of what the Equality Act requires, without the legal jargon
The confidence to recruit and promote based on merit, without falling into tokenism and positive discrimination
A way to grow diversity that happens naturally, as a result of strong leadership, not forced targets
Protection for your business against the legal and reputational risks of getting this wrong
I'm Dee, founder and Managing Director of CPR. I've spent over 40 years in the construction industry, and in that time I've watched it grow steadily more diverse. There's still a way to go, but it's heading in the right direction.
I co-owned one of the most diverse construction consultancies in the UK for its size, and we got there without ever resorting to number crunching or positive discrimination. It happened because we built strong leadership and let diversity grow as a natural result of that.
Since leaving the industry, I created CPR to give something back with what I care about most: strong leadership teams with organic diversity embedded into the culture and how they work.
Within the industry my background is leadership training and development, HR and recruitment.
This course is made for construction professionals, including consultancies, contractors and developers, and specifically for:
Senior leadership and directors
HR and people teams
Hiring managers and recruiters
Anyone responsible for building or growing a team
Businesses preparing for public sector tenders
If you want to build a genuinely diverse organisation without the risk of getting it wrong, this knowledge is non-negotiable.