Doing the right thing by our people: Rebecca’s role as Head of HR and Training

It’s International Women’s Day and we’re also now halfway through Women in Construction Week, so we’re celebrating by shining a light on two of our female heads of departments who are an inspiration across Winvic.  

Rebecca Schwarz is our Head of HR and Training, has been with us for eight years and has grown the department from one to six. Read on to learn what her team is responsible for, what she loves about her job and her thoughts about women in construction…

When I was asked to write something about me and my role to celebrate International Women’s Day, which also falls within Women in Construction Week, I started thinking about my career and which women had inspired and supported me. It also made me think about a question we often get asked as women in construction, “have you ever been treated differently because you’re a woman?” and since my first job in construction after I graduated, I can honestly say that I never have. I’ve never really found a difference between working with men or women. I spent six months on site and absolutely loved that job – that was when I knew the construction sector was for me. Everyone was part of a team and male or female, we were there to get the job done. I’m proud that it’s the same at Winvic. We want the best for each other and for the business, and to build the best projects that we can. We all support those aims in whatever way we can.

I’ve had some really great role models and leaders in my career who have encouraged, supported and helped me, I wouldn’t be where I am without them, but whilst working for a housebuilder my boss was an impressive, straight-talking woman who inspired me to build a career. I remember picking her brains about how she got to where she was and what was important to her, and I learned how she built relationships across the business. I think it’s really important to have mentors in any career, whether that be a formal mentor for support and advice or an informal mentor – people who you look up to. I have a number of people within the Winvic team that I turn to for their opinion and I’m proud that there are people who feel that they can come to me for support.

I spent a number of years working in recruitment where I recruited trades and labour for new build housing developers, but it was whilst working for the NHS that my real interest and career in HR began. During a period of redundancies there were opportunities for us to look at other roles and I spent some time with different departments, including HR and I decided that this was what I wanted to do. I funded my Level 3 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development HR Practitioner qualification and I’ve not looked back. I enjoy working with people, trying to do the right thing by people, acting as a voice for them when they need it and being someone that they can turn to if they need support. Fast forward to May 2015 and I joined Winvic as a HR and Training Coordinator, and it was just me – there has been a lot of change since then! As the team grew, I was promoted to Manager and in October of last year I became the Head of HR and Training, and I have a team of five.

We look after all our employee’s benefits, from financial to wellbeing, through the entire employee lifecycle – with 550 employees, it’s not a small task but it’s a team effort. I’d say my overarching objective is to be fair and equitable with people, we spend a lot of time at work and it should be a place that people enjoy coming to– we have a business to run and that relies on its people, so very simply, we like to look after them. My team works closely with finance, payroll and pretty much every department when it comes to recruitment, new starters, training requirements, professional development, promotions and our input into the business on the wellbeing side of our work. We’re proud to have a very good staff retention rate, but our open door policy and exit interviews are important, as we’re always looking how we can improve and what else we can do better. One of the biggest parts of The Winvic Way is our challenging nature – that is challenging ourselves to do things better and learn what else is available for our people. For example, we have recently introduced a holiday loyalty scheme and Green Car policy.

As it’s Women in Construction Week, I wanted to note that we have seen, are seeing and will continue to see an increase in the number of women working at Winvic and coming through on work experience placement schemes. Our efforts are paying off. From my time in 2001 in that site cabin to what I see and hear today, women don’t avoid the construction industry because there’s any kind of gender issue, they just don’t know about it, and it’s not encouraged.  I don’t think it’s even just about promoting construction roles to girls, students in general aren’t told about the huge variety of careers available. I had a meeting recently with the local MP Andrew Lever and a number of local construction companies, there was a lot of discussion about what could be done to encourage people into construction and how to support at GCSE level and above. We need to assist more young people in their understanding of what careers are available, which would lead into further studies and/or training. Ideas are aplenty, so more change will come.

We have excellent relationships with education and training partners across the country and try to promote the industry as much as we can through school talks, student interview practice, industry and work experience placements. We also invite students to our sites to see what we do across all areas, from design and construction to digital innovation and sustainability. So, if you’re student reading this and you’re exploring construction placements or courses, an apprenticeship route or you might like to try work experience on a Winvic site, please do look at our careers webpages and get in touch.