Although women can take on any role in the construction industry, the number of women employed in Irish construction (on a seasonally adjusted basis) reached only 9% of the construction workforce in 2022. Despite women still being underrepresented, Coffey is making significant progress in balancing the number of women employed within the company. In 2023, 18% of our workforce was female – an increase of 3% from the previous year.
A key objective within the Coffey Strategic Business Plan 2022-2026 is the promotion women in the workplace. To realise this objective, the Unlimited @ Coffey committee was established in 2022. This committee comprises women from a range of disciplines and departments across Coffey. The vision of Unlimited @ Coffey is to achieve balance and equality in engineering and construction and the mission is to attract, promote and support women and equality within engineering and Coffey.
The aims of Unlimited @ Coffey are to:
• Support and promote women within Coffey
• Encourage more women to choose engineering as a career
• Encourage more women to join Coffey
Selected Activities of Unlimited @ Coffey Committee
International Women’s Day – 2022
Unlimited @ Coffey celebrated International Women’s Day on Tuesday 8th March with twenty female staff from across the company making the trip to the Irish Water Saggart Reservoir project in south Co. Dublin.
Whether deliberate or unconscious, bias makes it difficult for women to move ahead. Knowing that bias exists isn’t enough, action is needed to level the playing field. On the day a ‘Breaking the Bias’ toolbox talk was given to all staff. The purpose of the talk was to raise awareness, promote diversity and encourage our people to help forge a more inclusive world.
Unlimited@coffey participation at Coffey 50th Anniversary Celebrations
To commemorate 50 years in business, Coffey welcomed local secondary schools to head office in Athenry for a day to showcase the different careers possible within the industry. Unlimited@Coffey had their own stand to inspire young, female students to pursue a career within construction and engineering.
Irish Construction Excellence, ICE Awards
Coffey is honoured to have been awarded a prestigious Silver Award for the Saggart Reservoir Project at last Friday’s Irish Construction Excellence Awards 2024.
The Saggart Reservoir Project, undertaken for Uisce Éireann Irish Water from 2021 to 2024, showcases Coffey’s engineering expertise in delivering water security for the Greater Dublin Area. The project involved the construction of a new state-of-the-art covered treated storage reservoir supplied from Ireland’s largest water treatment plant at Ballymore Eustace. The new reservoir stores an impressive 100 million litres of treated drinking water, equivalent to 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
International Women’s Day 2024
International Women’s Day is a global event dedicated to recognising the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and promoting gender equality worldwide. #INSPIREINCLUSION was the theme for this year’s celebrations.
Coffey proudly sponsored the Construction Industry Federation’s summit, hosted in Castleknock Hotel. Female members of staff enjoyed a day of topical panel discussions – sustainability and housing – with a chance to network with other women in the industry.
Coffey women also attended the WISTEM summit in Croke Park for a day of talks covering AI Revolution, driving female entrepreneurship and addressing gender balance in AI.
Gender Pay Gap Report 2023
The full gender pay gap report for 2023 was published on the Coffey website in December 2023. https://www.coffeygroup.com/gender-pay-report/
