The magaz ine fo r today ’s e lec t r i ca l and sys tems con t rac to r

InsightsWWW.IE

CI.ORG

JULY 2012

Innovation. Education. Success.

Innovation. Education. Success.

Recruiting, Hiring, and Keeping Employees

Girl Power—A Look at Women in the Electrical Industry

How Do You DefineWorkforce Development?

Recruiting, Hiring, and Keeping Employees

Girl Power—A Look at Women in the Electrical Industry

How Do You DefineWorkforce Development?

The magaz ine fo r today ’s e lec t r i ca l and sys tems con t rac to r

JULY 2012

22 | July 2012 | www.ieci.org

s Bob Dylan would say, “the times they are a-changin.” A lot has changed during

a Baby Boomer’s lifetime: computers replaced typewriters, man landed on the

moon, the internet was invented, cars started running on electricity, and women grew

within the job market in a big way. No longer do we see women as just secretaries and

homemakers; they are our doctors, lawyers, police officers, and they even serve our

country in Congress and the Military.

Although women are hard at work across almost all industries, where do they stand

when it comes to jobs in the electrical industry and what will this mean for the future?

According the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), there were upwards of 691,000 electrical

workers in 2010. Of this number, only 1.5 percent are female. That means that there are

only approximately 10,400 female electricians in this country; you could take every female

electrician in the U.S. and would not be able to fill even a quarter of Yankee Stadium.

A

Special Feature

GIRL Power–A Look at Women

in the Electrical IndustryBy Lau r i e Mon tanus

From left to right: Kate Blanch, Heather Leas, Cathy Chek

GIRL Power–A Look at Women

in the Electrical Industry

www.ieci.org | Insights | 23

Special Feature

Although the numbers and statistics of womenin this industry may be small, that does not meantheir contributions to the electrical trade are limited.The Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC) is livingproof that women are becoming powerhouses in theindustry, and that this will continue to trend in theyears to come. Within IEC, a handful of successfulcontractors are women. IEC National Board ofDirectors member Janet Martin of Bret’s Electricand Candy Branham of Branham Electric are justtwo of the many female contractors who are activein the association. Member companies all acrossthe country employ female electricians…SECCO Incin Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, has three on staff!Several female apprentices graduated from the IECApprentice Training Program in 2012, and we will beseeing one, SECCO’s Heather Leas, at the 2012 IECNational Apprentice of the Year Competition. Leasalso swept the Central Pennsylvania IEC’s apprenticeawards with Top Grades and Perfect Attendance.

Women in Management andWomen in the Field

What makes people want to join the electricalindustry? Is it the same for both genders? The reasonsmen and women alike decide to become electriciansor electrical contractors are about as varied asshades of gray. Some people grow up knowing theywanted to work in a trade, and some people justhappen to stumble upon it. Management positionsare different than working in the field, but womenstill need to know the ropes of the industry, andknow to run a successful business.

Candy Branham, of Branham Electric in St. Peters,Missouri, followed her husband into the industry.“He started Branham Electric with himself and atruck. As the company grew, we needed an officemanager/bookkeeper,” explained Branham. “Thosewere my strengths so I joined the company.” Today,Branham is president of the company and is activelyinvolved in IEC. When asked if her story was a typicalroute female contractors take, Branham replied thatshe believes many women probably enter the industrywith their husbands or families to help run the business.

Janet Martin, business manager of Bret’s Electricin Frederick, Colorado, found her footing being in amanagement position. “My path as an electricalpartner/business woman in the electrical industry wasinitiated by working behind the scenes,” explainedMartin. “I perform a multitude of tasks such as fieldsite inspections, material procurement, and efficiencyplanning as well as safety coordination.”

The contractor side of the electrical industry isvastly different than actually performing electrical workin the field. Although many women hold managementpositions throughout the country, such as IEC’sfemale contractors and Chapter Executive Directors,women performing actual field electrical work arenot as prevalent.

A path to become an electrician or any other typeof tradesperson isn’t always a straight line. The womenwho work in the field at SECCO all had differentexperiences that led them to their careers, but theirreason for finally deciding on this trade were thesame: they liked working with their hands and didn’twant a career that involved sitting at a desk.

“I’ve always been up and running around, workingwith my hands,” explained Kate Blanch, a third-yearapprentice at SECCO. “I’ve always had an interest inconstruction. I’ve always wanted to be able to takecare of my own house. Around the family, I’d takecare of the repairs and would build things. Being anelectrician came naturally.”

Journeyman Electrician at SECCO and 2012Apprentice of the Year Competitor Heather Leasechoed this feeling. “I knew I didn’t want any careerthat wasn’t hands-on. I find it very rewarding to fixthings and put them together. I was also called ona lot to fix things at home,” said Leas. Sitting behinda desk isn’t for everybody, and this fact has nothingto do with gender. According to the women, wantingto be an electrician has nothing to do with having aY chromosome, and has everything to do with enjoy-ing active and rewarding work that typically is notfound in an office environment.

Although there are a multitude of trades that arefar from sedentary, electrical stands out in that thereis variety in types of electrical work. This is especiallyappealing for any woman, or man for that matter,who does not enjoy monotonous tasks. “I chose tobecome an electrician because of the variety ofwork you can do…you can do data, fire alarms,solar, wind. You never get bored because there’shardly any repetition,” explained Leas.

Women on the Jobsites The reason why women enter the field is often

similar to men. But as the DOL numbers show,women are a vast minority on the construction job-site. With this variance, do women have a differentexperience or are they treated differently?

“Absolutely not,” replied SECCO’s JourneymanElectrician Cathy Chek when asked if she was treateddifferently on the jobsite. Chek explained that shehas yet to feel singled out or belittled because of hergender while at work. Even if that were to ever happen,she explained that she could easily talk to her man-agement if she felt uncomfortable.

Although women are treated as equals on thejobsite that does not mean people don’t notice thatthere are, in fact, women on a site. “I’ve actually hadmen come up to me, shake my hand, and tell me,‘it’s about time you women got into this field,’” statedBlanch. The women agreed that almost everybodythey’ve encountered has been very encouragingand supportive of having more women in the field.

For better or worse, men and women think andsee things differently, and these different perspectives

are beneficial for any job. In order to avoid a genderwar, there is not one trait that a man or woman hasthat trumps the other in this line of work, but in a male-dominated trade, a woman’s difference in perspectivehas become one of the strongest tools in a woman’s belt.

“There have been times when one of the maleworkers can’t get something to work and I’ll comeover and I can provide a different perspective.Women are being much more accepted on jobsitesbecause of that,” said Leas.

Besides a different point of view, there are otherfemale traits that prove useful on the job. “Dexterity!They’re meticulous,” added SECCO’s ECS Manager,Bruce Seilhammer. “They have smaller, more gracefulfingers.” Smaller fingers can definitely come in handywith tiny electrical boxes and thin wires. Of all theadvantages mentioned that women bring to theindustry, this was the first mention of anything physical.

On the other side of the coin, women in the fielddo run into certain challenges. Physical strength isone of the largest obstacles that women face whileon the jobsite. Scientifically speaking, men’s upperbody strength surpasses women’s, and this canoften come in play when doing typical constructionwork such as lifting heavy objects, bending conduit, etc.

“The only thing I’ve ever had difficulty with waspulling heavy wire,” said Chek. “It’s a lot of weight soI have to bow out because I cannot physically do it. Itmakes me feel about this big [as she puts her thumband index finger together to demonstrate a smallamount], but for the most part, I can do anything else.”

“There are just some things you don’t want tosend the three of us (Leas, Blanch, and Chek) to do,”agrees Leas. “Having us try to put up heavy pipingwould be difficult. We would get it up there, it’d justtake longer.”

This doesn’t necessarily have to be a gender-specific shortcoming, stated Seilhammer. There areplenty of men in the field who would also have a hardtime bending thick pipe. Luckily, this “weakness” issomething that is not permanent. Candy Branhamencouraged her female electricians to join a gymand focus on strength training. “Strength is definitelyan issue, but with strength training, I know women canperform at the same level as their male counterparts,”stated Branham.

What the Industry Offers WomenNot only can women offer the electrical industry

something special, but the industry has a lot of offerwomen. In this economy, finding a career with jobsecurity is like finding the Holy Grail. Even thoughemployment for construction jobs is still down, theBureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that electricianswill have a 23 percent growth rate between 2010and 2020, which is higher than the national averageof 14 percent. This high growth in electrical jobs showsthat there is a need for this type of labor, hence, jobsecurity. Continued on page 25.

www.ieci.org | Insights | 25

Leas also has another reason why she feels acareer in electrical work is safe, “You can’t outsourcean electrician,” she said. “These jobs aren’t going any-where. Things will always need to be built, buildingswill need to be retrofitted, and people will alwaysbreak stuff so there’s always going to be a demand.That’s job security. What’s not to love about that?”Electricians who go through an apprentice trainingprogram also have stability in that they can easilyfind jobs, and most are even employed while goingthough training.

The rapid change in technology is also openingup new doors for electrical work; solar, distributedwind, data, and electric vehicle (EV) charging stationinstallations are just a few of the newer avenues inwhich women can get involved. As more peopleadopt these new technologies, the industry will needskilled workers who are able to perform this type ofwork. Women who are able to perform these taskswill stay happily employed.

Electrical contractor Candy Branham agrees;“Whether in management positions or field positions,women have the ability to earn excellent pay andbenefits while sharing in a sense of belonging to ateam that is building their community’s future.”

“Women working in a non-traditional trade offersmore opportunity for paid training, wage advancement,benefits, and career advancements,” explained JanetMartin. “The electrical industry opens many doors,which leads to various, hands-on office based orsales driven careers.” Just because a woman startsin the field, does not mean she needs to stay in thefield her entire career. As Martin related, the industryprovides much room for advancement beyond justmoving up within the field. Electricians can go on tobe estimators or project managers; they can evengo to extra schooling to become electrical engineersif they are interested in design. As long as the elec-trician is driven, the sky is the limit for advancementopportunities.

Workforce DevelopmentWomen and electrical work seem to be a desirable

fit, yet there is still a small number of women in thetrade. There could be a number of reasons for thisstatistic. Some women in the industry still feel thatalthough times are changing, there is still a stigmarelated to women in the trades. Women are still seenas being in more pink-collar trades such as chefs,cosmetologists, nurses, etc. When mentioning afemale tradesperson, the archetypal image may notinvolve a woman with a tool belt and a hard hat.

This stigma starts early too. In high schoolespecially in the past, men typically went to woodworking class or some equivalent, and women wentto home education. “I would definitely say there isa stigma. There is a pressure even in high school topush the trades on guys. In school, I really wantedto take shop and was told that girls don’t take thosekinds of classes,” relates Leas.

Although electrical is still considered a male-oriented industry, women do notice a change. “I’veseen way more women in the field than I everexpected to see,” said Blanch. Many believe withmore recruiting of young women, we will begin tosee more females on the job.

Katie Koetters of Denier Electric in Cincinnati,Ohio, is a firm believer that girls should be madeaware that nontraditional careers are both realisticand lucrative options for women. Koetters, alongwith Licensed Journeyman Rachel Coffey and VickiElam (all of whom are with Denier Electric) donatetheir time to an organization called Rosie’s Girls.Rosie’s Girls is a three-week, summer day camp forgirls in the middle school age bracket. This daycamp doesn’t involve canoeing or singing around afire; the girls learn basic trade skills such as carpentry,welding, engineering, auto technology, firefighting,and electrical wiring.

Koetters and the rest of the Denier crew helpthe girls in the electrical wiring portion of the camp,where the girls learn to wire a receptacle and buildand wire their very own lamps. Koetters also notedthat when wiring the receptacles, the girls were ableto get them to work on the very first try; a feat thatdoes not come easily.

“A lot of the girls say the electric portion is theirfavorite part,” said Koetters. “The reason I’m involvedand I think this program is so important is becausethey (the girls) put so much heart and soul intoeverything. They have so much pride in what they’vecreated.” Programs similar to Rosie’s Girls areextremely important to help young women not onlybecome aware of nontraditional jobs, but to getthem excited about doing things they love, whichthey can apply to their futures.

As noted throughout this article, women aremaking some major strides in the electrical industry,both on the management and the field side. Women

can bring a fresh prospective and new skills to themale-dominated trade, and in turn, the industry hasmuch to give women.

They have certainly come a long way and theindustry is changing as more women enter the field.However, there is still room to improve. As the babyboomers retire, the industry must work hard to findskilled workers to replace them. Workforce developmentshould aim at getting women interested in thetrades, and more programs like Rosie’s Girls, will beneeded. Bottom line: let women know they can beelectricians too!

“I wish people had told me to consider this(becoming an electrician) before college,” saidBlanch. “I went to school and now I have a degreethat I can’t use. If I’d known I could be an electricianfirst, I wouldn’t be $25,000 in debt.”

The female electricians of SECCO do have a bitof advice to give to young women who are considering

a job in the electrical industry. Leas, advises, “If you’renot afraid to get your hands dirty, then definitelyconsider this field.”

“I hope to see a little bit more women in thefield; women who would like to do it and are notafraid to try it,” agrees Chek. “I’m 44 years old andI just got into the field a few years ago, so don’t letage stop you.”

Laurie Montanus is the director of communicationsfor IEC National and the managing editor of Insights.She is responsible for managing the content for theIEC newsletters Electrical Matters and IECExtension, and also spearheaded the association’ssocial media efforts. She has a bachelor’s degree inCorporate Communications from Elon University.

Continued from page 23.

Special Feature

Children at Rosie’s Girls learn to wire a lamp and a receptacle.