Back to the future

By Sally Kerr, HR Director for Selco Builders Warehouse

The builders merchant sector faces a pivotal moment. As the HR Director for Selco, I’ve witnessed first-hand how the traditional approach to workforce planning, using full-time roles and rigid structures, is no longer sustainable.

At Selco we’re actively reshaping how we think about talent, diversity, and what it means to build a workforce fit for the future.

Recently, our CEO Frank Elkins sat in a room with 74 Selco store managers and it struck him that only seven of them were female. For the senior leadership team across our business this was a stark visualisation of the challenge we all face.

Despite having strong female rate of employment at 33% across the business vs our sector, we do have a glass ceiling problem. This isn’t just about fairness; it’s about survival in an increasingly competitive talent marketplace.

Breaking down the gender barrier

The challenge in front of us is not about simply ‘hiring more women’ – we need to build pathways to leadership and to identify and dismantle the invisible barriers that prevent talented individuals from progressing.

When we gathered our female store managers together for a forum supported by the Construction Inclusion Coalition, their lived experiences were sobering. These women spoke candidly about feeling that any mistake would be judged more harshly than those of their male counterparts, and to experiencing isolation as one of the few in a male-dominated environment.

Many hadn’t actively pursued the store manager position but needed someone to tap them on the shoulder and say, “You can do this.”

In response, we have created a mentorship network, leveraging the insight of these seven remarkable women as ‘change agents’. We’re providing our female deputy managers with both formal and informal support, giving them access to role models who’ve successfully navigated the path they’re considering.

It’s not a silver bullet, but it’s a recognition that we need to actively build the support structures that might come more naturally in a gender balanced workplace.

Rethinking the concept of work

This work has also included a fundamental rethink on how we approach workforce planning. Employment in the construction and merchant sector has been traditionally seen as full-time, but data demonstrated the benefits of part-time roles which made us start to think in terms of ‘hours to fill’ – not headcount.

When we started advertising more part-time vacancies, the results supported the insights. We saw three times the volume of applicants per role vs that of a full-time opportunity – capturing more talent!  Female applicants increased from one in five to one in four. But the benefits extended well beyond diversity metrics. Our engagement survey data showed that part-time employees have higher levels of engagement, and they demonstrate longer length of service, improving our retention rates.

The generation game

As if the gender diversity challenge weren’t enough, we’re now grappling with the reality of a five-generation workforce. For the first time in history, we have more generations than ever – Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, Gen Z, and—from this summer—Generation Alpha all working side by side. Each generation brings different expectations, different values, and different needs – as well as diverse thought, experience and knowledge.

Generation Alpha is going to join a workplace where their great-grandparents’ generation might still be contributing valuable experience and skills. This unprecedented age diversity means that flexibility can no longer be viewed as a women’s or parents’ issue, it is a universal need that spans caring for elderly parents, managing health conditions, pursuing education, or simply achieving better work-life balance.

Furthermore, we need to recognise and accept that the expectations of younger generations towards full time employment have shifted dramatically. If we can’t demonstrate that we’re an employer that values diversity, flexibility, purpose and vision, we simply won’t attract the best people. Crucially, if someone joins us and their experience in the first few weeks doesn’t match what we’ve promised, they’ll vote with their feet. The younger generation isn’t afraid of leaving.

This shift puts enormous pressure on businesses to ensure their culture matches their messaging.  The Workers Protection Act 2023, which requires employers to take reasonable steps to prevent harassment, including from third parties like customers and suppliers, has prompted us to think deeply about drawing lines between acceptable banter and unacceptable harassment. In an industry that values camaraderie and humour, we’ve had to educate our teams about where that line sits and how to recognise and report behaviour that crosses it.

Inclusion starts with… an open conversation

Our work with the Construction Inclusion Coalition, of which we are a strategic partner, has been key to this journey. Access to their resources, webinars, and training has equipped our senior leaders with new perspectives. One of our regional directors recently attended Inclusive Leadership training and was so humbled by the experience that we’ve given him a platform at our business conference to share his learnings. These moments of authentic engagement from senior male leaders are powerful catalysts for cultural change and allyship.

Looking ahead, our challenge is clear: we must continue breaking down barriers, challenging assumptions, and creating pathways for diverse talent to thrive. And frankly, we don’t have a choice. The only question is whether we’re going to lead that change or be left behind.