In case you missed this in our July/August edition.
Gary Wilcox from MONIT explains why creating a gender diverse workshop could soon be a requirement in order to work for insurers and OEMs.
The conversation of employing female technicians in a traditionally male-dominated field deserves a closer look because when you scratch the surface, all is not what it seems. While there are numerous benefits, there are also challenges that need to be considered.
As a workplace health and safety professional working for Monit I am in a unique position with firsthand experience in the pros and cons of a mixed gender workplace across most industries allied to the repair and maintenance of motor vehicles.
Firstly, the notion that women lack the physical capacity to be effective technicians has been debunked by numerous ergonomic studies, occupational health reports, and the recognition of their excellence through various industry awards. So why are females underrepresented in technician roles compared to administrative positions in panel shops and why is the female talent pool overlooked in preference to employing more expensive foreigners with limited English?
To find the answer we need to delve a little deeper into the psyche of a typical panel shop, and more broadly Australia’s industry associations and community expectations. The hiring practices of panel shops tend to hold unconscious biases towards hiring female technicians which are driven largely by deep-rooted stereotypes, misconceptions about physical capabilities, and historical precedents.
Only when these biases are recognised and addressed will the industry be able to access this largely untapped talent pool.
Will insurers require change?
However, I believe the change will come from an unexpected source which will pressure panel shops into changing the makeup of their workforce. Every insurer and MSO in Australia is either directly involved with or closely related to a private equity fund through insurance contracts. This also includes independent panel shops with an insurance contract.
You see the majority shareholders of these funding institutes are now activist shareholders that are demanding, amongst other things, that every investment including the suppliers of the investment have a workforce with gender equity policies and practices or they will pull their support.
They have even given their activism a name; Environment – Social - Governance (ESG). If you’re not familiar with ESG then you will be as Paint & Panel is taking a deep dive into the subject.
The S in ESG
The Social in ESG is all about social sustainability and with gender equality under its umbrella the long expectation is that panel shops will need to have a higher female representation in their workforce to meet contractual requirements.
The collision repair industry has a limited time to shake off its reputation of having gender bias while they still have the freedom to do so. You will soon see ESG requirements creeping into your world as new laws introduced into Australia have already impacted fund management companies. These laws will require fund managers to ensure all businesses in the supply chain of their investments are being socially responsible with their health and safety requirements as well as their social responsibility addressing a more gender balanced workforce.
Benefits and challenges
Employing female technicians brings both significant benefits and challenges. On the positive side, it promotes creativity, improves team dynamics, addresses skill shortages, and supports gender equality requirements.
However, challenges such as workplace isolation, gender bias, harassment, and work-life balance issues need to be addressed to create a supportive and safe work environment.
Although these new ESG requirements are still a little way off we do have in place psychosocial laws which forbid any form of discrimination or harassment in the workplace.