Should you get a mentor at work?
Barbra Carlisle • February 26, 2026
The unspoken advantage to advancing in your career - getting a mentor
A Sector Under Pressure
The UK construction industry is slowly diversifying which is great news.
BUT
the data shows progress is still painfully uneven.
Women now make up around 14.7–15% of the overall UK construction workforce based on recent ONS and industry reports, but only 1–2% work in on-site trades, and just 7% hold senior leadership positions.
Even when women enter the sector, they are disproportionately funnelled into administration, design or management support roles rather than operational or technical tracks. Industry surveys show 81% of women are in admin/design roles while only 1% are in skilled trades, highlighting the structural gap in visibility and progression.
Why mentoring matters and why it’s missing
Women repeatedly point to lack of visibility, sponsorship and informed guidance as barriers that begin as early as secondary school.
Studies report that young women still receive outdated or discouraging advice about construction careers from school mentors and advisors.
Even once inside the industry, women may find it difficult to find the right mentors who understand the cultural terrain: navigating male-dominated teams, bias (one in three women experience workplace gender bias), and the isolation of being the only woman on a team or site.
Formal mentoring programmes like Construction for Women
have shown measurable benefits like
- increasing confidence
- improving retention
- widening access
- access to new opportunities
- better understanding on how to navigate a career in construction
BUT
uptake across the broader sector is inconsistent. We need more active mentors who show up for their mentees.
The commercial case for mentoring
The push for more mentors isn't just a touchy feely nice thing to do - it makes absolute business sense.
- Diverse teams make better decisions and solve problems more effectively.
- Companies with strong inclusion practices see higher productivity and retention.
- A wider talent pipeline protects the industry from skills shortages.
Evidence from diversity and inclusion studies shows that representation boosts performance, innovation and workforce stability.
Practical steps construction leaders can take now
1. Build structured mentorship pathways not informal “tap on the shoulder” systems that favour those who look like current leadership.
2. Integrate mentoring into apprenticeship routes especially for young women entering technical roles.
3. Champion internal female role models as visibility is fuel.
4. Track progression data by gender: eliminate blind spots in promotion and training.
5. Equip male leaders to mentor women effectively as this isn’t just “women supporting women”; it’s about shared responsibility.
6. Use an external specialist like a qualified coach or mentor to support your male and female mentors, providing a safe space for them to learn and share their experiences of mentoring, and gaining practical skills like listening as well.
Mentoring isn’t a “nice-to-have”. It’s the infrastructure that enables women not only to enter the sector but to stay, grow and lead.
If you want to find our more about mentoring programme support email barbra@gleecoaching.co.uk
Ideas and thoughts on how to lead well through complexity and change
The Intergenerational Advantage: Why Construction Firms Who Blend Ages Will Outperform Everyone Else
If you’re worried about not having enough young people, including women coming into construction, you’re asking the wrong question. The real risk is what happens when you don’t use the people you already have properly. The Crisis No One Is Solving Properly Across the UK, the construction workforce is ageing faster than it’s being replenished. There are 20% more workers aged 55+ than under 25. And it gets worse: 35% of the workforce is now over 50, and only 20% is under 30. Yes this presents an industry risk, but closer to home we see organisational risk. Leaders worry about recruitment, apprenticeships, T levels, Skills Bootcamps all useful, but none of them address the real issue: Experience is walking out of the door every single day, and new capability isn’t being integrated fast enough. This is exactly what my conversation with Colin McEllin MCIOB of Clan Contracting highlighted. When a 21 year old commercial graduate joined Clan Contracting, Colin didn’t roll his eyes or think, “another kid who’s never been on a site.” He leaned into it and welcomes thoughts, ideas and advice from 'young Aaron'. Massive benefits for him, and Aaron, and the wider team. Why Intergenerational Leadership Is Now a Strategic Priority The construction sector is staring at a workforce cliff edge: • 140,000+ vacancies lie unfilled. • By 2036, 750,000 skilled workers will retire, stripping the industry of vital capability. • The UK will need nearly 1 million additional construction workers by 2032. Yet recruitment alone isn’t enough. You cannot hire your way out of this crisis. We must integrate generations on purpose, not by accident. What Younger Workers Bring (That Leaders Ignore at Their Peril) Younger talent offers: • Modern thinking around sustainability and digital tooling • Analytical approaches and better documentation habits • A willingness to question processes that haven't been updated since the 90s • A commercial lens shaped by newer training systems In Colin’s words, their thinking “took him right back to when he was 21” eager, energetic, ideas driven. You want that energy before they lose it. What Older Workers Bring (That You Can’t Replace) Your experienced people have: • 30+ years of instinct • Pattern recognition that no textbook teaches • Quiet influence that stabilises teams • Technical fluency on heritage, concrete, structure, sequencing, conservation, problem solving These people are your institutional memory. Once they go, they’re gone. And currently, UK engineering employers admit they only retain knowledge effectively from 57% of retiring staff. That is a crisis hiding in plain sight. Leadership Actions That Works 1. Create deliberate two way mentoring (not hierarchical mentoring). Younger staff teach digital skills, new processes, sustainability thinking. Older staff teach technical judgment, site sense, risk spotting. Both feel valued. 2. Give young people actual responsibility, not token tasks. The CITB plans 40,000+ industry placements a year. It means nothing if leaders hide young people in the corner. Let them make decisions, with support. 3. Systemise knowledge transfer. You cannot afford to rely on “ask Dave if you need help.” You need processes, templates, technical walkthroughs, shared documentation. 4. Remove the “that’s not how we do it here” reflex. 76% of construction workers say current training doesn’t adequately prepare people for the job. So your way probably isn’t the best way anymore. Your Competitive Advantage Is Sitting Right Under Your Nose When generations work in isolation, capability leaks. When generations work together, capability compounds. The firms who win over the next decade won’t be the ones who grab the talent, it will be the ones who blend talent. Listen to the full episode of the podcast here or watch on You Tube here About me I write about topics that my podcast guests bring to the podcast. They have years of experience with challenges and opportunities along the way, highs and lows and are in the thick of leading with purpose and passion, faults an'all. As a coach and trainer I work with leaders and their times to help them thrive, laugh, enjoy their work, be productive and to build teams of all ages.
We love what we do so we grow in that role, we end up as leader with people around us but we want to stay doing the thing we love doing. Balancing leadership is hard.
