Selco Builders Warehouse’s famous radio jingle is: “It’s where the trade go,” but statistics show that you are more likely to see a female member of staff in a branch than a female customer.
Back in 2016, close to 13 per cent of the construction workforce were female. However, only 4.2% of these women were self employed i.e bona fide tradespeople.
Meanwhile, Selco has recognised that the female workforce is full of amazing talent and is a relatively untapped resource.
Selco have already made inroads when it comes to gender diversity. In its 66 branches, Selco has one female branch manager and 11 assistant branch managers. This may not seem a lot but it is bucking the trend when we look at women in merchanting, more specifically females in a management position.
Assistant branch manager, Sylvia Herring works each day against the tide as she battles Systemic Sclerosis (or Sclerdoderma as it is also known) with secondary Raynaud’s, a non-curable condition which affects just 10,000 people in the UK. She is positively representing women at home and at work and everyone at Selco couldn’t be more proud of her.
Women are also represented on the senior leadership team. Marketing director Carine Jessamine is fully aware of the challenges facing the builders merchant industry.
She added: “I’ve never felt my gender has been an issue wherever I’ve worked and I’m glad to say that. Whilst the builders merchant industry is very male dominated it’s nice to have the chance to make a difference.”
