The specific objective of BUILDERS CODE is to improve the retention of tradeswomen who are already working in skilled trades jobs in BC’s construction sector by improving employer commitment to change through a business-oriented engagement focused on safety and productivity.

A key challenge facing the industry and the project is that benchmark data concerning the retention of tradeswomen is not available.  Some sources estimate that as many as 50% of women apprentices leave the trades during their first year: it is not clear how many of those departures are due to lack of cultural acceptance, versus simply finding out that they don’t like the work itself, or for other personal reasons.

The long term macro objective that BUILDERS CODE shares with many other projects across the sector is to decrease the number of unfilled skilled tradesperson jobs in BC’s construction sector (projected to be 7,900 by 2028) by increasing the number of tradeswomen in the workforce.   Currently it’s estimated that only 4.7% or 8,474 of the 180,300 tradesperson workforce are women: doubling the number of tradeswomen would literally erase BC’s projected skills gap.

The intended impacts of the BUILDERS CODE project are:

• Successful hiring and retention of tradeswomen in ICI construction
• Acceptance, implementation and enforcement of equality policies amongst construction employers
• Site supervisors, managers, and executive leaders set positive examples for crews
• Construction employers recognize equal and fair treatment of all employees is a good business decision
• Construction sites are safer and more productive

The BUILDERS CODE partners have set a goal that tradeswomen comprise 10% of BC’s construction workforce by 2028.

The Builders Code evaluation framework will help BCCA to assess the effectiveness of the program elements and will identify program successes and challenges during the  pilot period (December 2018-December 2020). The evaluation will focus on the attainment of short-term goals and project-specific outcomes, rather than long-term industry-wide outcomes, because of the two year time line.

Evaluation activities will include:

• Ongoing review of administrative data
• Baseline data collection (year 1)
  • Survey of women in trades
  • Survey of employers

• Follow-up data collection (year 2)
  • Survey of women in trades
  • Survey of employers
  • Training exit survey (ongoing but will be analyzed during year 2)
  • Key informant interviews with employers
  • Focus groups with women in trades
  • Consultation with program administrators

The evaluation of the Builders Code will be led by Malatest & Associates, Ltd.