Watts was the first firm to sign up to Property Week’s Inspiring Diversity in Property campaign pledge. Its managing director Corrina Ralph spoke to Stephanie Denton about why it signed up and what the pledge means to it.
Why did you decide to sign the Property Week Inspiring Diversity in Property pledge?
As a female in charge of a male-dominated company, it is quite important for me to push forward and try and level the playing field. I’ve always worked in a very male-dominated world, so I’ve always been very conscious that people do what they can see. If no one sees me or other females in strong leadership positions, they don’t know they can do it.
I feel I have a responsibility to show the next generation what I wasn’t shown. We joined to increase visibility and show the next generation they may not be able to change the current cohort, but we can start levelling the playing field for those coming behind. That’s where my passion lies; making it better for those coming behind, so they don’t have to go through some of the stuff we did.
How important is it to have a diverse company?
It’s hugely important, because we all bring different skill sets, ideas and ways of thinking. If you just hear from the same voice continually, you will continue to do the same thing and will never change or improve. We all have different experiences and different ways of doing things, and no one way is the right way. I’m a big fan of collaboration, consensus building, and hearing from people.
Are there any areas of the pledge that you have already addressed or think will be easy to address?
One thing that’s easier for us as a company, and that maybe the sector should be able address relatively easily, is the gender pay gap and making sure it doesn’t exist. We’ve done a full review and thankfully, we didn’t have too much disparity, but where there was, we’ve levelled it up.
Also, just making it possible for people to work is important. When I joined we had a very fixed nine-to-five, suit-and-tie environment. Covid-19 helped me accelerate some of my plans around flexible working, but we now have a flexible working, hybrid working arrangement.That makes things a little bit more convenient for everyone, so it’s anyone with responsibilities outside of work.
You can come to work at 10am if you need to, or finish early. We trust and respect our people to get the job done. They also don’t wear ties anymore either. These things are small, but they make a difference.
What areas might be harder to tackle?
Increasing females at senior level or in positions where they have influence is going to be hugely important. That’s a little trickier to do, because unfortunately, the candidate pool is just not there sometimes. There needs to be more visible females at senior level.
Representation and getting more female voices out there is going to be harder. That’s a longer play we must help to shape.
What else are you addressing?
We’re looking at our recruitment and we’ve got training programmes in place. How we advertise is key; we make sure our adverts don’t exclude, consciously or unconsciously, anyone. Also, we are seeking out apprentices and not necessarily just going to universities. Our first apprentice is on her way to becoming chartered in the next couple of months.
Coming from a background other than property, do you think there’s anything the sector can learn from other sectors?
We should always look for ideas from outside of our own sectors, because if you spent too long in one, you kind of become institutionalised - in other words, you think that that’s the only way. I’ve brought a different way of thinking. You can recruit from outside and I’m very glad our board took a punt on me. You can’t really hire a building surveyor from outside, but a project manager, for example, you can. For me, it’s about aptitude and attitude, you can teach the rest.
However, I can see some other industries are trying to rush the journey. They’re doing a lot of initiatives, but they’re not really thinking it fully through. The intention is good, but let’s take one bit at a time, because if we go too grand or too lofty in our ambition, we won’t get there.
Is there anything other firms can learn from Watts?
There are things that maybe we might have tackled slightly differently. For example, our menopause policy. I just dropped this into a meeting one day, and maybe some training beforehand for the board might have been good. The board is very mindful and just making small accommodations for people can make a big difference.
I’m also a big fan of making sure that our line managers are picking up on non-verbal cues. We’ve just finished two days of manager training. There has been a tendency in the past just to do the technical piece, and not the pastoral. People need to be happy and healthy and supported. It also important to introduce career conversations and not be afraid of this.
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