The recruitment of women and ethnic minority groups into the industry remains very low. Dave Rogers discusses the problem and how your company will benefit from the employment of a diverse workforce.
In JTL's recent assessment by the Training Standards Council (TSC), we were awarded inspection grade 2s for the Occupational, Management of Training and Quality Assurance categories. Grade 2 denotes good provision and is a very high grade to be awarded. I am very proud of this achievement and, in particular, the testament it bears to the hard work and commitment of our staff.

However, we also achieved a satisfactory (grade 3) rating for Trainee Support and Equal Opportunities. The latter was initially perplexing. After all, we do a lot in terms of marketing and promoting our apprenticeship to young women and people from an ethnic minority background and we were surprised not to get at least a grade 2.

What became clear in discussion with the TSC was that we were not going far enough. More was expected in the way in which we work directly with under-represented groups, employers and their apprentices on equal opportunities. I have to acknowledge that the justification for this is substantiated when you look at our recruitment figures.

The latest statistics show that only 0·5% of the industry's workforce is female, 0·8% are from an ethnic minority group and 0·2% are disabled.

Such low levels are now being questioned by many in the industry as well as government, whose policy of social inclusion and cultural diversity is a key objective.

The inherent danger to society of ignoring the issue of equal opportunities is well established and has been manifest in the racial tensions that have exploded recently in some of England's northern cities.

Without positive action from the industry and its employers we will never capitalise on the benefits of a diverse workforce

On top of this, there is growing evidence that companies that do not attract staff from the wider community do themselves a disservice because, by so doing, they exclude many suitable candidates and fail to adequately reflect their customer base.

Customers will be attracted to an organisation's services where they feel the staff have an understanding of their needs. Older people and lone mothers may feel reassured to be offered a female electrician, and ethnic communities may request an electrician who understands a particular language. The business benefits of employing a diverse workforce are outlined in a new JTL brochure, which uses case studies to effectively illustrate these benefits.

These problems are recognised within the broader construction industry where targets have now been set to increase female and ethnic minority recruitment by 10% in 2001 to 50% by 2005.

JTL is working hard to further promote the take-up of ethnic minority and female apprentices. We will soon be launching an equal opportunities video that will be used to promote discussion on this issue with and amongst apprentices during their induction period.

We have also submitted equal opportunity project bids to a range of organisations; these will target schools and develop case studies for use within our industry. But we can only go so far. We cannot force an employer to take on a particular apprentice and we would never wish to do so, but without positive action from the industry we will never capitalise on the benefits of a diverse workforce.