Healthy Indoors Magazine
Issue link: https://hi.iaq.net/i/1367386
Industry Women Continued from previous page "We are thrilled with the participation of our industry's leaders, including female and male participants from our fi rst ever, Women's Committee Survey," said the committee released statement for Healthy Indoors. "Our purpose was to collect information from our participants in order to gain insight on where we currently land, comparing many specifi cs, including Ownership & Management, Programs & Policies, Promotions & Salaries, while focusing on decision makers, salary comparisons, positions held, etc. Based on our fi ndings, we can conclude there are visible differences between genders; specifi cally pay gaps and positions held, a large gap when it comes to mentorships, and fi nally, that it's time to come together to make a change. "We would like to produce this survey yearly to encourage companies and individuals to consider these topics in their work- place, as well as track the progression for our industry experts." Some Interesting Results The 'Women in Our Industry' survey was done to gain insight into the EIA membership and and to assess the cur- rent role of women in the environmental health and safety industry. The survey was voluntary and was offered to ages 18 and up and to all gender identities (male, female, other) who work in the industry at various levels and capacities. Roughly 100 people participated in the survey with a breakdown of about 64 percent women and 34 per- cent men. Two percent identifi ed as unknown. Cauca- sion was the highest recorded ethinicity at 84 percent. Forty-nine percent of participants were college grad- uates, while 65 percent had more than 16 years of indus- try experience. For people who answered the question on their fi rm's annual operating budget, 69 percent had an operating budget of more than $1 million per year. Where people worked? Forty-six percent of partic- ipants worked for consulting fi rms, 16 percent worked for contracting fi rms, 11 percent worked for laboratories, and 27 percent worked for government, or were a train- er, educator, or other. Participants ranged in age from 55 to 64 yeard old (32 percent), 30 to 44 yeards old (29 percent), and 45 to 54 yeardds old (24 percent). Under the Ownership & Management section, the sur- vey found that 36 percent of participants held mid-level management positions. However, about 60 percent of com- panies where people worked were not female-owned, or majority female owned. Less than 20 percent could claim that statistic, while the remaining workers were in a govern- ment or university position, a publicly-traded company, or other. Women were also less than 10 percent of the ex- ecutives/decision makers among the companies listed. Under the Programs & Policies section, the survey asked about the existence of recruitment programs and poli- cies that were favorable to people identifying as females. Twenty-one percent of participants believed their compa- ny had programs or policies in place to assist women, while 49 percent did not have programs or policies (adequate or not) in place. Almost 30 percent people were unaware if their company had these program or policies or not. A majority of people (30 percent) felt their current or- ganization provided adequate support for a woman's ca- reer advancement, while prioritizing the advancement of women in the workplace was a mixed bag. Only 9 percent felt their company was extremely active and progresive; 33 percent thought their fi rm was doing enough; 20 per- cent felt as thought their company needed some help in this area; and 30 percent felt their company wasn't doing anything at all to help advance women in the workplace. As for mentoring, 50 percent of participants felt there was a long way to go in mentoring women at their com- pany, while 9 percent thought their fi rm was extremely ac- tive with mentoring women within their organization. Under the Promotions & Salaries, the money certainly talked. Current salaries ranged from $30,000 to more than $150,000 a year. When a comparison was done, female salaries were all over the board, but were highest in the range of $60,000 to $79,000. Male salaries skewed higher from $60,000 and up and had the highest ranges above $120,000 and more than $150,000. 14 | April 2021