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D~ Dodge 

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NetworkTM 

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

in Design and Construction 

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D e-N Dodge Construction 

Network 

■ Design and Construction Intelligence 

SmartMarket Report 

Dodge Construction Network 

Chief Executive Ofcer 

Daniel McCarthy 

Chief Revenue Ofcer 

Dave Colford 

Vice President, Marketing 

Susan Cardoza 

Senior Director, 

Industry Insights Research 

Stephen A. Jones 

Director, 

Industry Insights Research 

Donna Laquidara-Carr, PhD, LEED AP 

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only by contract or prior written permission 

from Dodge Data & Analytics. 

Copyright © 2022 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 

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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Design and Construction 

SmartMarket Report 

Executive Editor 

Stephen A. Jones 

Managing Editor 

Donna Laquidara-Carr, PhD, LEED AP 

Research Project Manager 

Susan Barnett, MRA, PRC

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Justin McCabe 

Contributors 

LarryBernstein

Manya Chylinski 

Katharine Logan 

Strategic Consultant 

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SmartMarket Report Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com 
 

 

 

 

 

Introduction 

Message From the Publisher 

As the findings of this study itself reveal, the

design and construction industry recognizes 

the importance of increasing diversity, equity 

and inclusion (DEI) in its ranks and practices. 

A critical first step to do so is to be able to benchmark

where the industry is now. 

This study provides that benchmark, measuring 

engagement at architecture firms and contracting

companies with various DEI practices and policies. 

Importantly, it also goes a step beyond, utilizing that 

baseline to better understand the implications of greater 

engagement with these initiatives for the people in the 

industry, the projects they engage in, their businesses 

and the communities that they impact. 

• The findings reveal a clear pattern that higher

engagement leads to better workplaces, greater ability 

to attract and retain workers, more innovation, better 

decision-making and improved collaboration both 

internally and externally. 

• They also reveal that there is a lot of potential for 

improvement. Other studies have revealed the degree 

to which the industry falls short in its demographic 

distributions, especially in leadership at organizations. 

This study, by examining the degree of adoption 

of specific practices and policies, offers a clear,

actionable road map fora broader impact. 

• The study findings also suggest that the industry

needs to consider how to tackle the challenge of truly 

engaging the communities that surround its projects, 

to create change and opportunities that mean the most 

to the people most impacted by their work. 

We thank the U.S. General Services Administration for

partnering with us to bring this vital intelligence to the 

industry. 

Stephen A. Jones 

Senior Director 

Industry Insights 

Dodge Construction Network 

Donna Laquidara-Carr, 

Ph.D., LEED AP 

Industry Insights 

Research Director 

Dodge Construction Network 

Message From the U.S. General 

Services Administration 

We commissioned this report as part of GSA’s 

Equity Action Plan and in support of President 

Biden’s executive orders to advance diversity, 

equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA). We 

are pleased to support this powerful report that benchmarks 

DEIA efforts in the architecture and construction fields while

also illuminating a path forward for all of us who support that 

industry, including GSA. 

This past year, both of us have traveled around the 

country and visited dozens of the thousands of buildings and 

construction projects that GSA oversees on behalf of the 

federal government. The most compelling and successful 

ones are those in which government, industry, and local 

communities jointly prioritize equity in how projects are 

scoped, designed, executed, and managed. 

Right now, the Biden-Harris Administration is advancing

that vision through historic investments from the Bipartisan

Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. (GSA itself

is investing over $6 billion from those two laws.)

But, GSA can’t do this work alone; we need partners -

including architects, contractors, and others - who fully 

understand that DEIA advances the federal government’s 

mission and is good business. This data-driven report shows 

that there is much more work to do. 

It shows that DEIA training, for example, is becoming a norm 

for the industry. However, it also shows that we can do much 

more in areas such as recruiting, empowering, and advancing 

a diverse workforce. The report also begins to reveal how 

leadership in implementing DEIA policies and practices helps 

a company compete for talent while uncovering new business 

opportunities. 

GSA and our industry partners must dive deep into this 

data in order to see how we can do more to advance equity in 

architecture and construction. Our hope is that this report 

catalyzes those needed conversations and concrete actions. 

Robin C. Carnahan 

Administrator 

U.S. General Services

Administration 

Nina M. Albert 

Commissioner, Public Buildings Service

U.S. General Services

Administration 

SmartMarket Report 1 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com 
7 Data 

7 Introduction 

8 Industry Use of DEI Practices 

8 Recruitment Practices 

10 Leadership Training 

12 DEI Training 

13 Skills Training for Jobsite Workers 

14 Formal Path for Advancement 

16 Leadership Priorities 

18 Other DEI Practices Conducted by Architects 

19 Other DEI Practices Conducted by Contractors 

20 Overall Engagement With DEI Activities 

21 SIDEBAR DEI: A Marathon, Not a Sprint 

22 SIDEBAR Recruitment and Retention: Fostering Diversity in Construction 

24	 Benefits ofEngaging inDEIPractices

24 Organizational Benefits

25 Project Benefits

27 Business Benefits

28 Top Benefits

29 Benefits Personally Experienced by Respondents

35 Community Impacts 

47	 Influences onDEIEngagementinDesign andConstruction

47 Drivers for Current DEI Investments 

48 Factors Driving Investment in DEI Programs and Policies 

50 External Factors That Would Enable More DEI Investment

51 Challenges to Increasing Diversity and Inclusion Efforts 

53 Role of Owners in Helping to Advance Diversity in Design and Construction 

• 4 Executive Summary 

• 

SmartMarket Report 

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION 

35 Consideration of Community Impacts During Design 

37 Obtaining Community Inputs Beyond Mandates 

39 Hiring Jobsite Workers From Neighboring Communities 

40 Contractors’ Impact on Communities Surrounding Their Offices

41 SIDEBAR The User Comes First: Designing for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion 

46 SIDEBAR Avoiding Forced Labor in the Construction Materials Supply Chain 

ott vin Sc Photo by Ke page: Image on following

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

SmartMarket Report 2 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com 
	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

 

	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

 

 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Above: The Louisiana Children’s Museum project is one example of how Mithun has worked to center health equity. 

Case Studies 

30 Building aCulture ofDiversity,Equity and Inclusion,HenselPhelps

44 CenteringHealthEquity:ThreeSpheres ofInfluence,Mithun

Thought Leaders Interview 

32 CharlesHardy,ChiefArchitect andAndreaM.O’Neal,SeniorAdvisorto theAdministratorforEquity,U.S.GeneralServices

Administration

55 Methodology 

56 Resources 

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DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

SmartMarket Report 4 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

■ ■ 

Executive Summary 

Engagement With DEI in 

Design and Construction 

Diversity, equity and inclusion practices 

are in use at architectural firms and

construction companies, but more 

engagement will be necessary to make 

the design and construction industry more 

inclusive. 

In order to understand their degree of engagement with 

DEI, architects and contractors were asked about their 

participation in activities that would help increase diversity, 

promote inclusion and encourage greater equity at their 

organizations, focusing mainly on practices involving hiring, 

training, promotion, leadership priorities and policies. 

The top nine most widely used are shown in the table at 

lower right, and the levels of engagement overall with all the 

practices are shown in the chart at upper right. 

• Even though architects are slightly more engaged overall, 

the entire design and construction industry is still in the early 

stages of embracing DEI, with nearly half reporting limited 

engagement so far with DEI activities. 

• Training promoting diversity and inclusion is the most 

widely adopted approach by far, utilized by over half of all 

respondents. Training is a great start, but for real change to 

occur in the culture of a company, it must be reinforced by 

leadership. 

• Architects and contractors embrace training initiatives, 

recruitment, promotion and policy concerns to roughly the 

same degree. 

• However, there are two areas where architect commitments 

to DEI notably exceed those of contractors: 

• Consideration of diversity and inclusion when selecting 

other team members/trade partners 

• Leadership devoting resources to encourage diversity 

The differences between architects and contractors on 

these two issues are part of a larger pattern that emerges 

throughout the findings. Contractors are most committed to

training and practices that help them tactically with improving 

access to a skilled workforce. Architects, on the other hand, 

are more aspirational in their approach to DEI. For example, 

a much higher percentage of architects than contractors 

believe that more practices should be utilized by their 

companies in the future. Seeing DEI as a tactical necessity 

helps drive immediate action by contractors, but architects 

are ultimately interested in leadership on this issue. 

Engagement With DEI Activities Included 

in the Survey 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

High Engagement 23% 

With DEI Activities 15% 

Moderate Engagement 31% 

With DEI Activities 36% 

Little/No Engagement 46%

With DEI 49% 

Architects Contractors 

Engagement With Most Widely Used DEI 

Activities Included in the Survey 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Architects Contractors 

Offers Training That Promotes 

a More Diverse, Inclusive and 

Positive Workplace Culture 

58% 54%

Considers Diversity and 

Inclusion When Selecting 

Other Team Members/Trade 

Partners 

42% 28% 

Code of Ethics That Includes a 

Diversity and Inclusion Focus 39% 39% 

Leadership Training for All 

Staff Members 26% 24%

Leadership Devotes Resources 

to Encouraging Diversity 25% 14%

Staff Recruitment Extending 

Beyond Policies with NonDiscrimination Language 23% 19% 

Formal Path for Advancement 

That Considers Leadership 

Diversity 

22% 19% 

Training on Unconscious Bias 22% 25% 

Engagement of 

Underrepresented Populations 

(Including Training, 

Mentorship) 

21% 21% 
SmartMarket Report 5 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

 

■ ■ ■ 

Executive Summary

Benefits Most Frequently Reported Benefits of Engaging in

DEI Activities 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 Deeper engagement with Architects DEI activities leads to more 

organizational, project and 

business benefits.

While the survey findings reveal that doing

the right thing has been a top factor driving 

current DEI investments, the study also clearly 

demonstrates that those who invest in engaging 

in DEI see concrete benefits from those

investments as well. The chart at right shows the 

benefits that architects and contractors most

frequently experience. 

ARCHITECTS 

Architects, especially those with high levels of 

DEI engagement,frequentlyfind thattheirDEI

investments make their firms better places to

work, and improve their ability to work with other 

project stakeholders and to make decisions. 

In addition, over half of architects highly 

engaged with DEI activities have better 

communication between leadership and staff, 

an increased ability to recruit workers, more 

commitment to their organization from younger 

staff members and improved industry reputation 

due to that engagement. 

Architects also frequently select more 

community support for project and increased 

collaboration internally among the top three 

benefits they experience, suggesting that those

who experience them find them to be impactful.

CONTRACTORS 

Two of the top benefits that contractors achieve

from their engagement with DEI are directly 

related to addressing workforce challenges: 

increased access to skilled labor and better 

worker/staff retention. The top two are indirectly 

related to this issue as an improved reputation 

helps to draw workers and a better culture helps 

to retain them. Again, this underscores that 

contractors’ engagement with DEI helps them 

address their workforce challenges. 

Over half of those highly engaged also 

report improved client retention and increased 

collaboration onsite. 

More Inclusive and Positive 

Workplace Culture 

Improved Employee 

Well-Being

Increased Collaboration 

With Other Project 

Team Members 

Expanded Perspectives 

for Decision-Making 

61% 

41% 

52% 

65% 

40% 

44% 

65% 

36% 

39% 

58% 

34% 

83% 

Contractors 

More Inclusive and Positive 

Workplace Culture 

Improved Reputation for 

Industry Leadership 

Increased Access 

to Skilled Labor 

Better Worker/

Staff Retention 

High Engagement 

With DEI Practices 

61% 

56% 

20% 

52% 

16% 

47% 

35% 

22% 

21% 

42% 

17% 

65% 

Moderate Engagement Low Engagement 

With DEI Practices With DEI Practices 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

SmartMarket Report 6 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

 

 

) 

Executive Summary

Community

Engagement 

The design and construction 

industry needs to expand its 

efforts to increase equity in the 

projects they conduct. 

The impact on equity of design and construction 

extends beyond the companies themselves. 

Building projects affect the communities into

which they are placed, and companies can 

change the communities in which they are based. 

As the summary of the findings at right reveals,

levels of engagement with the community vary 

widely, but they do make clear that there is 

strong potential for the industry to engage more 

to make sure their projects and organizations 

have a net-positive impact on the surrounding 

communities. See the case study on page 44 for

examples of addressing this challenge. 

Drivers 

Architects and contractors agree 

that their companies would 

invest more if they believed DEI 

engagement would help them 

attract staff and increase their 

ability to find new work.

The top reasons that have driven current 

investments by architects and contractors in DEI 

engagement is trying to do the right thing and 

creating a more positive culture at their company. 

However, the best way to drive more engagement 

is to demonstrate that increasing their DEI 

engagement would improve their ability to attract 

staff and find new work. These drivers are equally

influential for both architects and contractors

despite their different degrees of engagement 

with DEI activities currently. 

The chart at right shows what they believe 

would best help them enable those investments. 

They need clear evidence that their increased 

engagement would help them obtain these top 

benefits, and, even more important, information

on how to successfully implement DEI programs. 

Community Engagement by Architects and Contractors 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Architecture Firms That Consider 

Community Impact/Well-Being on 

More Than 50% of Their Projects 

During Design 

49% 

General Contractors That 

Seek Community Input Beyond 

Mandated Requirements on 50% or 

More of Their Projects 

15% 

Contractors That Seek to 

Hire From the Communities 

Surrounding Their Offices

73% 

Architecture Firms That Seek 

Community Input Beyond 

Mandated Requirements on 50% or 

More of Their Projects 

22% 

Contractors That Frequently 

Prioritize Hiring Jobsite 

Workers From Communities 

Surrounding Their Projects 

42% 

Contractors That Engage With 

Stakeholders From Communities 

Surrounding Their Offices

23% 

Factors That Would Enable Companies to Increase 

Investment in DEI (Selected in the Top Three) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Examples of Successful 

Programs by Companies 

Similar to Ours 

Owner Prioritization of 

Firms With Diversity 

Perception That 

Diversity and Inclusion 

Policies Promote a 

Competitive Advantage 

More Data on 

Quantified Benefits

31% 

27% 

26% 

25% 
 

Data: Introduction 

T

here have been excellent studies conducted 

recently on the degree of diversity in the design and 

construction industry, and they reveal the need for 

increased engagement with this issue by design and 

constructionfirms.

This study provides additional insights that can help 

the industry address these challenges. It benchmarks the 

engagementwith over a dozen specific activities that help

promote diversity and inclusion at design and construction 

companies. These fall into four categories: recruitment 

practices, training practices, leadership priorities and policies. 

The findings show that the industry has begun to engage

with diversity and inclusion, but only a relatively small share 

is currently going far enough to foster real change in their 

organizations. 

Those findings are used to offer analysis of the benefits,

drivers and community engagement activities by examining 

respondents in three groups: those with low, moderate and high 

levels of engagement with DEI. (For more information about 

this, see the note about the data at right and the discussion of it 

on page 20.) 

That analysis is particularly telling when it comes to the 

benefits that architects and contractors experience due to

engaging with DEI. Unlike other studies, where the impact of the

use of a specific digital tool or a specific design/construction

process can be directly drawn, the benefits of engaging in

DEI involve changing a culture, and they can be subtle and 

only gradually appear. Therefore, it is particularly striking 

that over half of those highly engaged in DEI activities report 

that they experience, not just a more inclusive and positive 

workplace, but also better staff/worker recruitment, expanded 

perspectives for decision-making, better communication 

across the ranks of their organization, increased collaboration 

(both internally and with other project team members), more 

innovation, improved reputations for their company and 

improved employee well-being. 

The study also explores their efforts to promote equity 

and improved well-being in the communities that surround 

their offices and their projects, and these findings reveal the

potential for a much deeper engagement. The industry as a 

whole needs to find ways to help provide expertise and support

for companies to engage the surrounding communities more 

extensively and better understand their priorities. 

Finally, the study provides insight on the key drivers 

for current DEI efforts and what is needed to help support 

increased engagement in the future. As a whole, the study 

provides a road map for individual companies and the industry 

at large in how to increase diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Note About the Data 

The analysis explores the responses of 

architects and contractors. In additional to the 

overall responses, two main variables are used 

throughout the report to better understand the 

findings:

Size of Company: Companies are divided into size 

based on their annual revenues from 2021. 

• Architects: These responses are divided into three 

groups: 

• Small: Revenues of less than $10M 

• Midsize: Revenues from $10M to less than $50M 

• Large: Revenues of $50M or more 

• Contractors: These responses are divided into four 

groups: 

• Very Small: Revenues of less than $10M 

• Small: Revenues from $10M to less than $50M 

• Midsize: Revenues of $50M to less than $250M 

• Large: Revenues of $250M or more 

Degree of Engagement With Diversity, Equity and 

Inclusion 

Respondents were asked a series of questions 

about various activities, practices and policies 

that their company may have engaged in that 

would help promote diversity, equity and/or 

inclusion at their organizations. Each of these 

items asked of both architects and contractors 

were assigned a numerical score, and the total 

scores are used to divide their responses into three 

groups: Low Engagement With DEI Activities, 

Moderate Engagement With DEI Activities and High 

Engagement With DEI Activities. More information 

on these categories can be found on page 20. 

Further information on the respondents to the 

survey can be found in the Methodology on page 55. 

SmartMarket Report 7 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

SmartMarket Report 8 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

 

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■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

Data: Industry Use of DEI Practices 

Recruitment Practices 

Recruitment practices are an essential component of a strong 

diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategy. In addition to 

providing the opportunity to attract nontraditional workers to 

the professions of design and construction, they provide the 

initial glimpse of an organization’s culture for a prospective 

employee. Therefore, respondents were asked to identify 

which of the five options shown in the charts at right and on

the following page best describes their company. 

Architects 

The findings for architects are shown in the two charts at

right, and they reveal that most architecture firms do not have

formalized recruitment policies. This finding is influenced by

the fact that small firms account for half of the total architect

respondents, and 65% of small companies report that they

have no formalized policies for recruitment. In contrast, only 

20% of respondents from midsize firms and 13% from large

ones fall into this category, so having formal policies is more 

common among larger firms.

Still, given the preponderance of small firms in the profession,

it is notable that the majority of small firms have no formal

recruitment policies at all. While diversifying the staff of 

companies with less than 10 employees can be challenging, 

a codified policy could help make the goal more top-of-mind

when actively recruiting new people. 

Even among midsize and large firms, though, there is still an

opportunity for much greater considerations of diversity 

during recruitment at their companies. 

• At midsize firms, almost two thirds of those who consider

diversity at all are confined to having their recruitment

policies include standard nondiscrimination language. While 

this is an important first step, it does not prioritize diversity

as an important goal in the hiring process, which could limit 

its overall effectiveness. Only about one quarter (28%) of 

respondents from midsize architectural firms find that their

company makes diversity a priority. 

• Large firms have the most progressive policies, with nearly

half (48%) having programs in place that make diversity

a priority. However, nearly as many (40%) rely solely on

standard nondiscrimination language, so there is still ample 

room for improvement. 

Thefindings suggestthatthe design profession could

use more information on how to effectively implement 

recruitment programs to increase diversity at their firms.

Approach to Recruiting New Staff 

(According to Architects) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

33% 

16% 

7% 

42% 

Have specific standards to gauge 

recruitment and program development 

in addition to recruitment policies with 

standard nondiscrimination language 

Have programs to help diversify 

the workforce (e.g., consideration 

of nontraditional interviews, blind 

interview process, etc.) in addition to 

standard nondiscrimination language 2% 

Recruitment policies have standard 

nondiscrimination language 

Formal recruitment policies do not include 

standard language on nondiscrimination 

No formalized recruitment policies 

Consider Diversity During Recruitment 

(Architects by Size) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

88% 

77% 

6% 

33% 

40% 

15% 

22% 

49% 

33% 

5% 

5% 

23% 

Small Midsize Large 

Have specific standards to gauge recruitment and program development, in 

addition to recruitment policies with standard nondiscrimination language 

Have programs to help diversify the workforce (e.g., consideration of 

nontraditional interviews, blind interview process, etc.) in addition to 

standard non-discrimination language 

Recruitment policies have standard nondiscrimination language 
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DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ ■ ■ 

Industry Use of DEI Practices 

Recruitment Practices CONTINUED 

Approach to Recruiting New Employees Contractors 

(According to Contractors) Contractors were asked separately about their practices Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

for recruiting office staff and field workers, but, as the chart

at upper right reveals, their approaches are very similar for 

both. 

• 27% do not have any formal recruitment policies.

• About half rely solely on utilizing standard 

nondiscrimination language in their recruitment policies. 

• Less than 20% overall are utilizing programs as part of their 

recruitment strategy that help to diversify their workforce. 

VARIATION BY SIZE OF COMPANY 

As with the architects, contractors vary notably in the degree 

to which their recruitment practices promote diversity at 

their company by size. 

• Similar to the architects, very small companies (those with 

less than 10 employees) typically don’t have formalized 

recruitment policies. 

• Notably, the responses of small and midsize companies are 

similar, with great reliance on nondiscrimination language. 

• About half of the respondents at large companies are 

actively implementing programs to recruitfieldworkers and

office staff. While this still leaves room for growth, it also

suggests that large firms may have useful best practices for

recruitment that could be shared with smaller companies . 

Consider DEI During Recruitment of 

Workers in the Field (Contractors by Size) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

93% 

33% 

50% 

10% 

15% 

64% 

85% 

6% 

9% 

61% 

75% 

5% 

5% 

35% 

42% 

2% 

5% 5% 

13% 

3% 

14% 

52% 51% 

27% 27% 

3% 

Workers in New Office 

the Field Staff 

Have specific standards to gauge 

recruitment and program development, 

in addition to recruitment policies with 

standard nondiscrimination language 

Have programs to help diversify the 

workforce (e.g., consideration of nontraditional interviews, blind interview 

process, etc.) in addition to standard 

nondiscrimination language 

Recruitment policies have standard 

nondiscrimination language 

Formal recruitment policies do not include 

standard language on nondiscrimination 

No formalized recruitment policies 

Consider DEI During Recruitment of 

Office Staff (Contractors by Size) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

100% 

43% 

50% 

7% 

13% 

66% 

88% 

9% 

9% 

57% 

71% 

5% 

5% 

33% 

40% 

2% 

Very Small Small Midsize Large Very Small Small Midsize Large 

Have specific standards to gauge recruitment and Have programs to help diversify the workforce (e.g., consideration Recruitment policies have standard 

program development, in addition to recruitment of nontraditional interviews, blind interview process, etc.) in nondiscrimination language 

policies with standard nondiscrimination language addition to standard nondiscrimination language 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

SmartMarket Report 10 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

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Industry Use of DEI Practices 

Leadership Training 

One of the current challenges in the design and construction 

industry is the lack of diversity in company leadership. A longterm strategy to address this issue is to make leadership 

training more broadly available across entire organizations, 

to help foster a more diverse roster of eligible candidates 

when positions open up. Architects and contractors were 

therefore asked about the degree to which leadership training 

is available at their organizations. 

Architects 

Overall, across the profession, the largest share of architect 

respondents (40%) do not offer leadership training on a regular

basis. While this is most notable among small companies 

(48%), one third of larger ones˰t愀挀 l଀ oༀༀf lar ondalrdi쳘/ԁ⸀uᔯ o錀퀀 ଀irn ger lମfༀ阀 e 

o33.5D-100F0-40.2 00E6-74.2 010A-56.5 00F0-46.7 012E-47.9 00CC-30 00012E-9-48.8 010A3 0-46D0-5-4725 152F-53.1 010A-56.5 00F0-46.7 

0Y  
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DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

■ ■ ■ ■ 

■ 

■ 

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Industry Use of DEI Practices 

Leadership Training CONTINUED 

they offer to all their staff, regardless of the type of 

worker. 

• Their findings are also relatively consistent with

the architect findings, with the greatest emphasis

on offering leadership training to selected workers, 

based on perceived potential. 

VARIATION BY SIZE OF COMPANY 

Far more contractors at midsize and large companies 

offer leadership training than those at very small or 

small ones. 

• Small companies are consistent in the share of 

training offered between jobsite workers and office

staff. 

• However, a much higher share of large companies 

offer leadership training to all workers in the office

(37%) than they do to all jobsite workers (27%).

Instead, they more frequently select jobsite workers 

for leadership training based on perceived potential 

(60%) than they do for their office staff (47%).

• Very small companies also have offer leadership 

training to all staff in the office more frequently than

they do for workers in the field.

• Midsize companies more frequently offer training 

based on perceived potential to office workers than

workers onsite. 

Make Leadership Training Available 

to Jobsite Workers (By Size) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

87% 

Large 

60% 

27% 

Midsize 

45% 

73% 

28% 

Small 

39% 

60% 

21% 

Very Small 

32% 

50% 

18% 

Availability of Leadership Training 

(According to Contractors) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

38% 

40% 

22% 

35% 

39% 

26% 

Offer leadership training to all staff members 

Offer leadership training to selected 

employees based on perceived potential 

Do not offer leadership training on a 

regular basis 

Jobsite Office Staff

Workers 

Make Leadership Training Available 

to Office Staff (By Size) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

84% 81% 

59% 

47% 22% 

53% 

28% 

47% 

37% 

25% 

22% 

37% 

Very Small Small Midsize Large 

Offer leadership training Offer leadership training to Offer leadership training Offer leadership training to 

to all staff members selected employees based on to all staff members select employees based on 

perceived potential perceived potential 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

SmartMarket Report 12 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

 

Industry Use of DEI Practices 

DEI Training 

Architects and contractors were both asked 

about whether their company offers training that 

promotes a more diverse, inclusive and positive 

workplace culture, and that is in addition to required 

compliance training. The two charts at right show 

their responses. 

• Architects: Over half (58%) of architects offer this 

training. Even among small firms, it is relatively

common, with nearly half (48%) providing it. At

large companies, it is a standard practice, with 

nearly all reporting it. 

• Contractors: Nearly as many contractors (54%) as

architects offer this training. Their responses are 

also very similar to the architect findings by size of

company, with just under half of very small/small 

contractors providing it and most large companies 

doing so. 

The higher level of use of this particular practice 

by small companies than the most progressive 

recruitment or leadership training practices 

suggests that, for many companies, direct 

training is considered to be an essential strategy 

to promote diversity and inclusion. It is a highly 

visible endorsement of the importance of diversity, 

inclusion and equity at these companies, but if it is 

not reinforced by more policies and practices, it is 

unlikely to have sufficient influence to change the

culture at an organization. 

Variation by Region Among 

Contractors 

There is no variation by region in the use of this 

training at architectural firms, but significantly

more contractors in the West (65%) provide it than

do those in South (46%) and the Northeast (47%),

with those in the Midwest (58%) falling in between. 

Offer Training That Promotes a More Diverse, 

Inclusive and Positive Workplace Culture 

(According to Architects) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Total: 

58% 

48% 

55% 

83% 

Small Midsize Large 

Offer Training That Promotes a More Diverse, 

Inclusive and Positive Workplace Culture 

(According to Contractors) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Total: 

54% 

60% 

80% 

46% 46% 

Very Small Small Midsize Large 
SmartMarket Report 13 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

Industry Use of DEI Practices 

Skills Training for Jobsite Workers 

Providing training to jobsite workers beyond the 

immediate needs of their role on the project can offer 

them opportunities for growth at their company and 

help create a more positive work environment that 

allows all to excel. Therefore, contractors were asked 

whether they offer their jobsite workers training in 

skills beyond those mandated for the current job that 

they have. 

Fortunately, the findings reveal that this is a very

common practice among contractors. Two thirds 

(66%) provide this training to their workers on average.

Notably, it is much more common for very small and 

large companies to do so than for small and midsize 

ones, even though the difference technically falls 

within the margin of error of the study. 

• Large companies may have more resources 

available to provide training and to help fill in any gaps

while the worker is receiving that training. 

• Very small companies may be more likely to selfperform work and to keep a core set of staff onboard, 

which would encourage them to invest more in 

cross-training. In fact, 70% of trade contractors

report that they offer this training, compared with 

63% of general contractors.

These findings continue to support the conclusion

that training is the top means by which construction 

companies are currently promoting diversity, equity 

and inclusion, whether that is the intended result of 

the training or not. Helping workers gain new skills and 

create new opportunities for themselves increases 

the likelihood that the skilled workforce can be more 

diverse, especially if it is combined with other policies 

and activities that encourage more inclusion and 

equity at their companies. 

Offer Jobsite Workers Training in Skills 

Beyond Mandates (According to Contractors) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Total: 

66% 

71% 

60% 62% 

73% 

Very Small Small Midsize Large 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

SmartMarket Report 14 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

Industry Use of DEI Practices 

Formal Path for Advancement 

Training is not the only way that companies can encourage 

diversity, equity and inclusion. Having a well-considered, 

formal path for advancement for employees at the company 

that considers diversity and helps encourage participation 

across the company can also help firms address inclusion

and equity issues. Therefore, architects and contractors 

were asked to identify which of the five options shown

in the chart at upper right best describes the path for 

advancement at their companies. 

Architects 

Overall, the upper chart reveals that the majority of 

architect respondents do not have a formal path of 

advancement at their company. Again, as with recruitment 

(page 8), this is strongly influenced by the fact that small

firms are half of the total respondents to the survey. Still,

given the large share of small firms in the industry as a

whole, it is still worth noting that for many in the profession, 

a formal path of advancement is not available. 

One interesting factor worth noting, though, is that 

the vast majority in this group state that the path for 

advancement is not formalized, rather than that they have 

no clear path for advancement at all. Clearly, most of them 

believe that individuals at their company are able to discern 

a path for advancement, even if it is not laid out formally. 

However, this is not useful when it comes to overcoming 

biases, or in helping those who do not see themselves 

reflected in the leadership at their organization recognize

opportunities. 

Having a formal path for advancement that includes 

consideration of leadership diversity occurs more 

frequently at midsize and large firms than at small ones, but

it is still not a common practice at these larger firms, with

fewer than half making these considerations. 

These findings suggest that the profession is largely

relying on organic changes to make its leadership more 

diverse. However, the low levels of diversity present in 

the leadership of the profession at this point suggest 

that a more intentional approach is required. This is a 

great opportunity for the industry as a whole, including 

associations and other industry organizations, to provide 

support. Small and midsize companies, in particular, may 

not have dedicated staff for promoting diversity nor the 

proper expertise to do so. They need to be able to draw upon 

the expertise and best practices shared by those engaging 

in these efforts to help them adopt these approaches and 

eventually benefit from the insights provided by having

more diverse leaders at their organization. 

Path for Advancement for Staff 

(According to Architects) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

14% 

8% 

Have clear standards for increasing diversity 

61% 

4% that are used to continuously improve the 

path for advancement 

Have a formal path for advancement that 

includes increasing leadership diversity 

Have a formal path for advancement that does 

not include increasing leadership diversity 

Path for advancement is not formalized 

No clear path for advancement 

13% 

Path for Advancement Includes Diversity 

Considerations (According to Architects by Size) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

44% 

6% 

Large 

8% 

2% 

22% 

32% 

10% 

25% 

19% 

Small Midsize 

Have clear standards for increasing diversity that are used to continuously 

improve the path for advancement 

Have a formal path for advancement that includes increasing leadership diversity 
SmartMarket Report Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

SmartMarket Report 16 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

Industry Use of DEI Practices 

Leadership Priorities 

The priorities set by leadership at a company have a major 

impact on the behavior of staff and the overall company 

culture. A sincere commitment to diversity,equity and 

inclusion at a company can be one important factor in creating 

an atmosphere in which diverse workers and staff can thrive, 

and one of the clearest indicators to employees about the true 

priorities of their company is the degree to which resources 

are devoted to achieve those goals. Therefore, architects and 

contractors were asked to select which option best describes 

the priorities of leadership at their organizations from the list 

of options in the chart at right, from complete disengagement 

to dedicating resources and tracking their progress to 

encourage diversity, equity and inclusion at their companies. 

Architects 

Nearly all architects (87%) report that their company at a

minimum has diversity and inclusion as a company value. This 

bodes well for the potential for wider adoption of practices to 

encourage diversity and inclusion in the profession. 

Currently, though, the share who are actively encouraging 

diversity and inclusion to be prioritized is about half (53%), 

and they are nearly evenly split between those who devote 

resources to this issue and those who do not. Overall, this is 

an encouraging finding, but it is also reveals opportunities

for growth in leadership commitments to increase diversity 

across the profession. 

There is also a significant divide in the responses by size.

• The majority of those at small companies who address this 

issue at all do so by actively encouraging it, but only 7% at

these firms are actually devoting resources to it.

• At midsize firms, the largest share are devoting resources

to encourage the growth of diversity and inclusion at their 

companies, but fewer are actually tracking their progress in 

this issue. 

• Large companies are the leaders in this area, with a 

significant share (29%) who are tracking the progress and

including DEI efforts in their strategic goals. It is more 

common at these companies for resources to be devoted to 

encouraging DEI than not. 

While large companies may be in a better position to devote 

resources to engaging with the issue of DEI, the efforts they 

are making to track progress and figure out which strategies

are most effective may be able to help the industry as a whole. 

Therefore, it is critical that there are forums for them to share 

both their successes and their less successful attempts to 

improve, so that they can help lead the profession to become 

more inclusive. 

Leadership Priorities at Architect Firms 

and Construction Companies 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

11% 

10%

14% 

31% 

28% 

32%

34% 

23% 13% 

4% 

Devote resources, regularly track progress 

in improving diversity, equity and inclusion 

(DEI), and tie company success to DEI efforts 

with larger strategic goals 

Devote resources to encourage growth 

of diversity and inclusion 

Actively encourage diversity and inclusion 

to be prioritized in company policies 

Include diversity and inclusion as 

a company value, but without any 

resources to achieve this goal 

Not engaged with increasing 

diversity and inclusion 

Architects Contractors 

Leadership That Actively Encourages 

Diversity and Inclusion at Architect Firms 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

77% 

Large 

Devote resources, regularly track progress in improving diversity, equity and 

inclusion (DEI) ,and tie company success to DEI efforts with larger strategic goals 

Devote resources to encourage growth of diversity and inclusion 

Actively encourage diversity and inclusion to be prioritized in company policies 

Small Midsize 

36% 

43% 

2% 

22% 

52% 

25% 

29% 

5% 

18% 21% 

12% 
SmartMarket Report 17 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

■ 

■ 

■ 

Industry Use of DEI Practices 

Leadership Priorities CONTINUED 

Contractors 

As the chart on the previous page reveals, contractors 

slightly less frequently report that their leadership 

encourages diversity and inclusion than do architects, but 

the share who do (45%) is still a significant percentage of

overall respondents. It is notably less common, though, 

for leadership at contractors to devote resources to this 

issue, with only 14% reporting that this occurs.

As with the architects, the size of the construction 

company impacts the likelihood that their leadership is 

actively engaging with this issue. 

• At small and very small firms, the majority with

leadership who actively prioritize DEI do not report that 

resources are dedicated at their companies to achieve 

these goals. 

• This is in contrast to the response from midsize and 

large companies, where between one third and one half 

of those actively engaged in these issues are devoting 

resources to achieve better results. 

• However, information on the most successful practices 

for contractors is far less likely than it is for architects, 

since 7% or fewer from companies of any size report

that their progress is actively being tracked or that these 

efforts are tied to their larger strategic goals. 

These findings are interesting when contrasted to the

other findings thus far in the study. Generally, when it

comes to training and recruitment, contractors have 

a similar level of commitment to DEI in practice as do 

architects. However, the leadership commitment to 

these goals at construction companies is not as strong. 

This may suggest that contractors are engaging in these 

issues to address some of the biggest challenges they 

face, such as severe labor shortages, but they may be 

more difficult to engage in the goal of fundamentally

transforming their organization and their profession 

because of the strategic, rather than tactical, value of 

doing so. 

Leadership That Actively Encourages 

Diversity and Inclusion at Construction 

Companies 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

77% 

22% 

30% 

3% 

42% 25% 

61% 

4% 

5% 

33% 32% 

43% 

6% 

3% 

27% 

7% 

Very Small Small Midsize Large 

Devote resources, regularly track progress in improving diversity, equity and 

inclusion (DEI), and tie company success to DEI efforts with larger strategic goals 

Devote resources to encourage growth of diversity and inclusion 

Actively encourage diversity and inclusion to be prioritized in company policies 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

SmartMarket Report 18 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

■ 

■ 

Industry Use of DEI Practices 

Other DEI Practices Conducted by Architects 

The data so far has focused on the degree to which 

recruitment, training, formal career advancement strategies 

and leadership priorities can be used to increase diversity, 

equity and inclusion at design and construction companies. 

However, there are many other strategies available to 

companies seeking to improve in these areas. 

Architects were asked about two questions about eight 

other practices. 

• Which are currently in place at their firm

• Which are the top three that their company should be 

employing in the next five years

The top six most frequently used are shown in the chart at 

right. The findings demonstrate that many more architects

believe that these activities should be utilized by their 

company than those who find that they are currently in place.

• The most widely used practices are consideration 

of diversity and inclusion when selecting other team 

members, and a code of ethics that includes a diversity 

and inclusion focus. These are also the practices that the 

highest percentage of architects believe should be utilized 

in the next three years. 

• The biggest gap between use and desired use are for 

engagement of underrepresented populations (through 

training and mentorship) and training on unconscious bias. 

Fewer than one quarter report that these practices are in 

place at their company, but over 40% believe they should be.

Variation by Size 

Size of firm makes a difference in the use and desired use of

several practices. 

• Fewer respondents from large firms (29%) report that

they consider diversity and inclusion when selecting other 

members of the project team than do midsize (43%) or small

companies (46%). In addition, respondents from small firms

more frequently select this among the top three practices 

that should be employed (63%, compared with 35% at

midsize firms and 48% at large ones).

• Large firms more frequently have a code of ethics that

includes diversity and inclusion (56%), a dedicated group

that actively promotes diversity and inclusion (50%) and 

training on unconscious bias (35%) than do small companies 

(31%, 6% and 17%, respectively). They also trend higher in

their use of these practices than midsize firms, although

the differences in this case do not rise above the margin of 

error. Small firms may not have sufficient people to have a

dedicated group for this issue, which is probably why they 

prioritize it less than do those at midsize and large firms.

Firms 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Consideration of 

Diversity and Inclusion 

When Selecting Other 

Team Members 

Code of Ethics That 

Includes a Diversity 

and Inclusion Focus 

Dedicated Group 

Actively Promoting 

Diversity and Inclusion 

Training on 

Unconscious Bias

Engagement of 

Underrepresented 

Populations (Including 

Training, Mentorship) 

Engagement Surveys 

With Questions 

About Inclusion 

Additional DEI Practices at Architecture 

42% 

39% 

34% 

23% 

41% 

22% 

47% 

21% 

18% 

16% 

52% 

52% 

Currently in Place (All That Apply) 

Believe Should Be Employed in Next Three Years 

Regardless of Current Use (Selected in Top Three)
SmartMarket Report 19 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

■ Believe Should Be Employed in Next Three Years 

Regardless of Current Use (Selected in Top Three)

■ Currently in Place (All That Apply) 

Toolbox Talks Dealing With 

Inclusion and Equity 25% 

Consideration of Diversity and 

Inclusion When Selecting 

Trade Partners 

28% 

23% 

Industry Use of DEI Practices 

Other DEI Practices Conducted by Contractors 

Contractors were also asked two questions about their 

organization’s use and desired future use of DEI practices, 

in addition to potentially incorporating DEI into their 

recruitment, career advancement and training strategies 

and their leadership priorities. The top six practices they 

currently use are shown in the chart at right from a total list 

of nine options. 

• The top practice used by contractors is a code of ethics 

that includes a diversity and inclusion focus, and this is 

an even more common practice among midsize (53%) and 

large (63%) companies.

• Toolbox talks rank second in use, which corresponds 

with the use of training as a top approach to encourage 

greater diversity and inclusion at their companies (see 

pages 11, 12 and 13). 

• As the chart at lower right reveals, over three quarters 

(76%) of contractors select at least one additional

practice that they would like their company to use 

in the next three years, yet only engagement of 

underrepresented populations has a much larger share 

calling for its use than are currently using it. This likely 

suggests that some contractors only selected items their 

companies are not already doing. 

These findings confirm that there is definitely room for

growth in DEI practices in the construction industry, 

but they are less conclusive about whether the need for 

greater engagement is widely recognized. 

Variation by Size of Company 

50% or more of large companies utilize three practices, 

far more than at any smaller companies: consideration 

of diversity and inclusion when selecting trade partners, 

training on unconscious bias and engagement of 

underrepresented populations. The wide utilization by 

large companies of these approaches may provide a 

template for smaller companies to follow. 

More respondents from large companies believe 

their company should be engaging underrepresented 

populations (53%) than those from smaller companies. 

Additional DEI Practices at Construction 

Companies 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Code of Ethics That Includes a 

Diversity and Inclusion Focus 

39% 

32% 

72% 

Using at Least One 

DEI Activity 

All Company Materials Provided in 

Languages Other Than English 

26% 

17% 

Training on Unconscious Bias 25% 

27% 

Engagement of Underrepresented 21% Populations (Including Training, 

Mentorship) 30% 

Contractors’ Use of Additional DEI Activities 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

36% 

76% 

Believe at Least One DEI 

Activity Should Be Used in 

the Next Three Years
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

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■ ■ 

■ ■ ■ 

■ ■ ■ 

Industry Use of DEI Practices 

Overall Engagement With DEI Activities 

The responses from architects and contractors to the DEI 

practices included in the survey provide a good benchmark 

for industry engagement with improving diversity and 

inclusion as a whole. They also provide a spectrum of 

engagement with DEI that can be used to analyze the 

responses in the rest of the study to show relevant 

differences between those who are more deeply engaged 

with DEI activities versus those who are not. 

To create a consistent comparison, a point system 

was applied to each question based on the degree of 

engagement specificallywithDEI activities thattheir

responses revealed.Using that point system,respondents

were divided into those with a high, moderate and low level 

of engagement in DEI. 

The distribution of architects and contractors into 

each of these categories is shown in the chart at upper 

right. It reveals that the industry is still in the early stages 

of embracing DEI as a goal, with nearly half qualifying as 

little/no engagement, about one third reporting moderate 

engagement and less than one quarter qualifying as having 

a high level of engagement. 

The charts below look at how the engagement varies by 

size of company for architects and contractors. They show 

directly what an examination of all the findings also makes

evident: Large companies are far more highly engaged 

with DEI than are midsize or small ones. However, it also 

demonstrates room across the industry for improvement, 

with only 40% of large architectural firms and 43% of large

construction companies currently deeply engaged in 

these efforts. 

The rest of the report will utilize these levels of 

engagementto better understand the benefits derived

from deeper engagement and the degree to which 

companies highly engaged internally with DEI are 

also incorporating that into how they respond to the 

communities surrounding their offices and projects.

Engagement With DEI Activities Included in 

the Survey 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

High Engagement 

With DEI Activities 15% 

23% 

Moderate Engagement 

With DEI Activities 36% 

31% 

Little/No Engagement 

With DEI 49% 

46% 

Architects Contractors 

Architects’ Engagement With DEI Activities 

Included in the Survey (By Size of Firm) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Midsize Large 

Little/No Engagement 

With DEI 

Moderate Engagement 

With DEI Activities 

High Engagement With 

DEI Activities 

Contractors’ Engagement With DEI Activities 

Included in the Survey (By Size of Company) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

65% 

27% 

8% 

54% 

36% 

10% 

38% 

51% 

11% 

27%30% 

43% 

Small 

60% 

33% 

7% 

43% 

24% 

33% 

22% 

38% 40% 

Very Small Small Midsize Large 

Little/No Engagement Moderate Engagement High Engagement With 

With DEI With DEI Activities DEI Activities 
SmartMarket Report Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com 

 

 

 

 

Sidebar Article 

DEI: A Marathon, Not a Sprint 

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION 

Building a business culture of 

diversity, equity and inclusion 

is both the right thing to do and 

a good economic investment. 

Data1

 shows that, no matter the 

industry, a more diverse workforce 

improves performance. Companies 

with more than 30% women executives 

outperform companies with fewer 

female leaders, and those with the 

most ethnic and culture diversity are 

36% more profitable than those with

the least. 

Why Diversity and 

Inclusion Matter 

While some architect and construction 

firms may struggle to see why diversity,

equity and inclusion (DEI) can make a 

difference, Steve Huizinga, president 

of Allied Mechanical Services, has a 

passion for inclusivity. “We call it IED, 

because you can’t have diversity if you 

don’t first have inclusion; and I don’t

care how much it costs, it’s the right 

thing to do. Does it mean if it doesn’t 

make someone X amount of money, 

they won’t do it?” 

“The benefits are numerous,” says

Renée Byng Yancey AIA’s chief external

EDI officer. “The question is really what

are the costs of not being aware of 

DEI?” 

In construction, for example, the 

annual cost of injuries is $13 billion;2 

and workers who aren’t integrated 

into workplace culture are more likely 

to have accidents because of the 

increased stress of exclusion. The 

industry is also dealing with a turnover 

of almost 25%, costing employers 21% 

of an employee’s salary for each person 

who leaves.3

 There are similar costs in 

architecture: Disengaged employees 

cost firms 34% of their annual salaries,

and turnover costs six to nine months 

of an employee’s salary.4 

Making Strides in DEI 

Architecture and construction firms

have made strides in advancing 

DEI and combating biases, both 

organizationally and in their projects in 

the community, but more needs to be 

done. “Conscious and unconscious bias 

can disrupt teams and impact decisionmaking,” says Tia Perry, ABC director of

inclusion, diversity and equity. 

The major challenges to creating a 

truly diverse and inclusive workforce 

are addressing the unknowns about 

what DEI looks like and then making it 

happen. “Diversity and inclusion can be 

all encompassing,” says Brynn Huneke,

director of diversity and inclusion, and 

member engagement, AGC of America. 

“Leaders don’t know what they don’t 

know, there’s uncertainty about where 

to go next to really create change.” 

“DEI is not a check-the-box exercise. 

It isn’t enough to say we have more 

women or people of color, people with 

disabilities, LGBTQIA+ or any form of

human diversity,” says Yancey. “Firms

can measure elements like who is 

employed and at what level. KPIs 

around employee engagement and 

culture, wellness and retention rates 

are also important measures.” 

The construction field is facing

a significant labor shortage.

“Economically in 2022, construction 

firms need to hire 650,000 more

workers than in 2021,” says 

Perry. “We need to see more 

intentionality in recruitment with 

our member companies, tapping into 

underrepresented communities and 

providing opportunities to everyone.” 

Huizinga specifically focuses

on programs to support a diverse 

workforce at his company, including 

a program to help employees get 

citizenship. “Our average retention 

rate is 14 years, and candidates are

pouring in. People get our vision and 

understand we’re not just building 

things, we’re changing people’s lives so 

they can have a future.” 

Building an Inclusive Culture 

Building an inclusive workforce is

a business problem that requires a 

multipronged approach. Leaders in 

architecture and construction can 

use metrics and evidence in hiring 

decisions and work assignments. 

“The next three years, I foresee 

a steady drumbeat of engagement 

building,” says Yancey. “Look at the

inspiring advocacy of emerging 

professionals in school and finding

their way into careers, they bring 

expectations to their work and want 

to align professional interests with 

their values.” 

“My biggest recommendation 

for companies looking to build a 

more inclusive culture is to be more 

intentional about communicating 

culture they expect to see in 

workplaces and on jobsites,” says 

Huneke, “There are a lot of companies 

with very robust D&I programs and a lot 

that are just starting. As a whole, the 

industry is still in the awareness stage.” 

“Building a culture of DEI is a

marathon, not a sprint,” says Perry. 

“The work can be uncomfortable, but 

you have to start. We can’t continue 

the status quo and bridge the worker 

shortage.” 

1 Diversity Wins: How inclusion matters, McKinsey, https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters 2 The Case for Diversity and Inclusion in the Construction Industry, AGC Diversity and Inclusion Council, 

https://www.agc.org/sites/default/files/Files/Advocacy/AGC%20Report%20on%20Biz%20Case%20for%20D%26I%20FINAL.pdf 3 Ibid. 

4 The Elephant in the (Well-Designed) Room, AIA, https://www.aia.org/pages/6435906-an-investigation-into-bias-in-the-architec

21 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

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I 

" I 

Sidebar Article 

Recruitment and Retention: Fostering Diversity in Construction 

T

he labor shortage in 

construction is reaching new 

heights,with nearly 400,000

unfilled jobs reported earlier

this year, and that number expected to 

rise as the Infrastructure Investment 

and Jobs Act pumps billions into the 

sector. According to the U.S. Bureau of

Labor Statistics’ 2022 figures, 87.2%

of construction workers identify as 

white, and only 3.9% identify as women. 

Meanwhile, more than a million of the 

nation’s 16- to 24-year-old minority

youth and some 4.8 million minority

adults are unemployed. “So do we 

have a labor shortage, or do we have 

a shortage of who we want to put to 

work?” says Wendell Stemley, president 

of the National Association of Minority 

Contractors (NAMC). 

Diversifying the construction 

workforce is a two-part challenge: 

first to recruit more women and people

of color, and second to retain them. 

Recruiting a more diverse workforce 

requires broadening the pathways 

into the sector;

retaining diverse 

recruits requires 

implementing Do we have a labor shortage, policies, practices or do we have a shortage of and programs to 

mitigate the current who we wantto putto work?

and historical 

injustices that get in 

their way. 

Diversifying Recruitment 

To improve recruitment among 

women and people of color, “preapprenticeships are the one tool 

empirically documented to increase 

diversity in the construction workforce,” 

says Maura Kelly, a professor at 

Portland State University, whose

research focuses on inequalities 

in the construction trades. Preapprenticeships—typically five- to

10- week programs that, in addition to 

basic skills, provide participants with 

information about how to find work

(often through direct-entry agreements 

with apprenticeship programs), 

how to succeed and how to navigate 

construction culture as a person who 

holds a marginalized identity—have 

proven successful in recruiting people 

from outside of the families-andfriends networks that are the more 

common paths to the trades. “If you 

want more women and people of color 

in construction,” Kelly says, “you need to 

fund more pre-apprenticeships.” 

As another pathway for minority 

recruitment, Stemley highlights the 

importance of improved opportunities 

for minority-owned businesses: 

They are the ones most likely to train 

minority workers, he says. As project 

owners, especially public agencies, 

increasingly require construction 

teams to demonstrate that their hiring 

and procurement practices foster 

equity of opportunity for historically 

disadvantaged business owners, 

Stemley cautions that the many 

acronyms through which projects 

measure the participation of various 

groups—SBE,MBE,WBE,DBE,VBE

and XBE, to list a few—can render

the exclusion of Black- and brownowned businesses invisible. “Whatever 

metrics you use should clearly 

represent how minorities are faring 

in your procurement processes,” he 

says. “When you get that bundled in the 

alphabet soup of acronyms, you do a 

disservice to your client and your local 

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SmartMarket Report 23 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

 

 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	

I 

e 

I 

Sidebar Article 

Recruitment and Retention: Fostering Diversity in Construction 

CONTINUED 

investigation revealed that women and 

people of color more often meant that 

they were regularly harassed, weren’t 

provided with opportunities to learn the 

skills of their trade, and/or didn’t get 

enough hours to make ends meet. 

Improving retention rates for women 

and minorities requires supporting 

disadvantaged workers on the one 

hand while changing the culture of the 

construction workplace on the other. As 

a model for supporting disadvantaged 

workers, Kelly highlights a highway 

trades workforce development program 

run by the Oregon Department of 

Transportation and theOregonBureau

of Labor and Industries. The program 

supports apprentices by providing 

them with tools, clothing, protective 

equipment, travel costs, a childcare 

subsidy, access to hardship funds and 

nonfinancial support—which research

has found to be particularly impactful— 

such as mentoring and facilitating 

connections to additional resources and 

advice as needed. “Folks who receive 

services through these programs are 

more likely to complete than those that 

don’t,” Kelly says. “A lot of money goes 

into training apprentices. A relatively 

small investment in retention services 

will ultimately be worth it if you’re able to 

improve those completion rates.” 

Building a Culture of 

Inclusivity 

As for changing the culture of 

the construction workplace, a 

sociological model of change provides 

recommendations at three levels of 

scale: institutional, interactional, and 

individual. From a summary provided by 

Kelly, the institutional level focuses on 

an organization’s ideologies, policies 

and practices, with recommendations 

including: 

• Making respectful workplaces a 

priority 

• Assigning clear roles and 

responsibilities to implement the 

respectful workplace initiative 

(such as, for example, RISE Up or

Green Dot) 

• Improving policies for reporting 

and disciplining harassment and 

discrimination 

• Addressing harassment and 

discrimination with appropriate 

consequences as they occur 

• Reinforcing the respectful 

workplace priority with ongoing 

training and messaging 

• Evaluating the initiative and 

adjusting as needed 

The individual level focuses on workers’ 

knowledge and beliefs: 

• Providing information for all workers 

about respectful workplaces and 

expectations for acceptable behavior 

on the job 

• Educating workers about the ways 

harassment and discrimination 

negatively affect everyone 

• Sharing stories of experiences of 

harassment and discrimination 

from people of color, women and 

other groups of workers historically 

marginalized in the trades 

“Even if we can’t always change hearts and 

minds, we can still ensure that people get 

the information about what is and is not 

acceptable on their jobsite,” says Kelly, 

Alot of money goes into training

apprentices.Arelatively small

investmentin retention serviceswill

ultimately beworth itif you’re able to

improve those completion rates.

The interactional level focuses on how 

workers interact on the job: 

• Ensuring that all workers are 

provided with ongoing training 

and tools (such as bystander 

intervention and options for formal 

and informal reporting) to address 

harassment and discrimination 

when they see it 

• Ensuring that workers in 

supervisory positions on the jobsite 

receive additional training, model 

respectful behavior and address 

harassment and discrimination 

when they see it 

noting that a hostile jobsite is neither 

equitable, productive nor safe. “All people 

want to be respected at work,” she says, 

“and I think we have a lot of great tools that 

are going to get us to the place that the 

industry needs to be.” 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

SmartMarket Report 24 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

 

 

■ 

■ 

■ 

Data: Benefits of Engaging in DEI Practices

OrganizationalBenefits

Architects and contractors were asked to select all of the 

organizational benefits they experienced in the past five

years due to their engagement with diversity and inclusion 

initiatives. Their responses are shown in the chart at right 

by their level of engagement with those initiatives. 

Two findings, in particular, demonstrate the overall value

of DEI engagement to improve organizations: 

• 92% of respondents report experiencing at least one 

benefit.

• As the chart clearly reveals, deeper engagement with DEI 

practices yields more organizational improvements. 

In general, many of the benefits experienced fall into two

categories: improved workplace culture and better staff 

recruitment/retention. 

IMPROVED WORKPLACE CULTURE 

Most of the most frequently experienced organizational 

benefits involve improving the culture atthese companies.

• A more inclusive and positive workplace culture is the 

top benefit of engaging in DEI practices, reported by

50% overall. While this is the most expected benefit, the

findings also demonstrate thattruly active engagement

is needed to change a culture, with 75% of those highly

engaged reporting that this is the result, compared with 

just 30% of those with low engagement with DEI practices. 

• Better communication between leadership and staff is

the second highest benefit, experienced overall by 32%

and by 56% of those highly engaged with DEI.

• Higher staff/worker satisfaction is less commonly 

reported than the other benefits, but still experienced by

35% of those highly engaged. 

• All of the benefits related to culture are more widely

reported by architects than contractors. 

STAFF RECRUITMENT/RETENTION 

The findings also demonstrate that a strong commitment to

DEI improves the ability to recruit and retain staff. 

• Over half of those who are highly engaged in DEI report 

an increased ability to recruit staff/workers due to their 

efforts. 

• Nearly half of those highly engaged also find that younger

staff/workers are more committed to their organization. 

This is also more widely reported by highly engaged 

architects (35%) than by contractors (21%). 

• Surprisingly, though, there is less of an impact on overall 

staff retention than on the younger workers’ commitment, 

possibly due to resistance to change among more 

established staff members. 

Organizational Benefits Experienced in the

Past 5 Years Due to Engagement in 

DEI Practices (by Level of Engagement) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

58% 

30% 

25% 

51% 

17% 

32% 

56% 

20% 

27% 

51% 

22% 

32% 

47% 

14% 

32% 

39% 

21% 

35% 

35% 

18% 

More Inclusive and 75%

Positive Workplace 

Culture 

Better Communication 

Between Leadership 

and Staff 

Expanded 

Perspectives for 

Decision-Making 

Increased Ability to 

Recruit Staff/Workers 

Increased Younger 

Staff/Workers’ 

Commitment to 

Organization 

Better Staff/

Worker Retention 

Higher Staff/Worker 

Satisfaction 

High Engagement With DEI Practices 

Moderate Engagement With DEI Practices 

Low Engagement With DEI Practices 
SmartMarket Report 25 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

 

■ ■ ■ 

Benefits of Engaging in DEI Practices

ProjectBenefits

Architects and contractors were asked about the benefits

to their projects of their engagement with DEI that they have 

seen in the last five years. Since the list of benefits were

somewhat different, the architect responses are shown at 

right and the contractor responses on the following page. 

Architects 

As the chart at right reveals, architects from firms with a

deeper DEI engagement are more likely to experience many 

of the project benefits included in the study. However, the

differences that rise to the level of statistical significance are

largely focused in two areas: collaboration and process. 

COLLABORATION 

The top two benefits overall are increased collaboration

with other project team members (46% of all architects)

and increased collaboration internally (39%). Those at firms

that are highly engaged in DEI experience these benefits

significantly more frequently than those at firms with less

engagement. In fact, increased collaboration both internally 

and externally is a relatively common benefit at the highly

engagedfirms. 

In addition, although experienced less commonly than 

the other collaboration benefits, those at highly engaged

firms believe that they are better able to resolve project team

disputes than those at firms with low DEI engagement.

One notable finding is that project managers/directors

experience increased collaboration with other project team 

members more frequently (69%)than do design architects

(45%) or principals/executives (38%). This is likely due to the

degree to which collaborating with other team members 

falls in their direct responsibilities, so they have a better 

understanding of how it is impacted by their DEI engagement. 

PROCESS 

Those at firms with a high engagement with DEI also report

more innovation on projects and increased productivity due to 

their DEI commitments. The finding on increased innovation,

which half of those highly engaged with DEI practices 

experience, is particularly notable, since it may be hard to 

gauge the source of innovation generally, but so many are able 

to attribute it to their DEI commitments. 

There are no significant differences by engagement with the

impacts on occupants or community support, although there 

is still a trend for slightly higher reporting by those with high 

engagement of these benefits. (See pages 35 to 38 for more

information on how frequently architects engage and impact 

the community around their projects.) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Increased 

Collaboration With 

Other Project Team 

Members 

More Innovation 

on Projects 

Increased 

Collaboration 

Internally 

Increased Ability 

to Improve Project 

Impacts on Occupants 

More Community 

Support for Projects 

Increased 

Productivity 

Better Ability to 

Resolve Project 

Team Disputes 

Reduced Risk 

High Engagement 

With DEI Practices 

Project Benefits Experienced by Architects

in the Last 5 Years Due to Engaging in DEI 

Initiatives (by Level of Engagement) 

44% 

36% 

50% 

39% 

16% 

50% 

47% 

26% 

46% 

40% 

30% 

40% 

37% 

34% 

29% 

18% 

13% 

23% 

18% 

7% 

10% 

6% 

10% 

65% 

Moderate Low Engagement 

Engagement With With DEI Practices 

DEI Practices 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

SmartMarket Report 26 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

 

 

■ ■ ■ 

Benefits of Engaging in DEI Practices

Project Benefits CONTINUED 

Contractors 

Contractors were asked about seven project benefits shown

in the chart at right. Notably, 85% said that they achieved 

at least one of these benefits due to their DEI engagement,

despite the fact that even the top benefit overall (increased

access to needed skilled labor) was only selected by 34%.

As the chart at right reveals, contractors at companies 

with a high level of engagement with DEI practices also 

report several project benefits more frequently than do

those at companies with less engagement, similar to the 

architects. 

• Over half of those at highly engaged companies report that 

they experience increased collaboration onsite, more than 

double those at companies with less engagement. This 

collaboration can lead to other benefits, including more

innovation (which was not asked of contractors), better 

project coordination and improved safety. 

• Nearly half of those from highly engaged companies also 

are more able to resolve challenges that arise onsite due 

to their company’s engagement with DEI. This is likely also 

a benefit derived from the increased collaboration onsite

reported. 

• As mentioned above, the collaboration widely experienced 

by those at companies with a high level of engagement no 

doubt contributes to the increased safety that they also 

notice on their projects. 

• In contrast with the architects, contractors from highly 

engaged companies also experience more community 

support for their projects than do those from companies 

with less engagement. This benefit is also more

widely reported by general contractors than specialty 

trade contractors, which makes sense since general 

contractors are more likely to be seeking community 

support than are the subcontractors that work for them. 

Increased access to skilled labor may rank fifth among

those at companies with a high level of engagement with 

DEI, but it ranks first among those at organizations with

a moderate or low level, and it is the top benefit reported

overall, selected by 34%. This finding aligns with the top

practices employed by contractors, which make it clear that 

often, contractors appear to engage in DEI activities as a 

tactical choice, with a goal of attempting to address chronic 

labor shortages in the industry. 

Overall, the combined findings of architects and

contractors demonstrate that deeper engagement with DEI 

yields far more project benefits than simply undertaking a

few activities. 

Project Benefits Experienced by Contractors

in the Last 5 Years Due to Engaging in DEI 

Initiatives (by Level of Engagement) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Increased 52%

Collaboration 23% 

Onsite 12% 

Better Ability to 48%

Resolve Challenges 22% 

That Arise Onsite 20% 

39% 

Increased Safety 

on Projects 19%

1% 

39% 

More Community 21% Support for Projects 10% 

36% 

Increased Access 47% to Skilled Labor 

22% 

32% 

Increased 

Productivity 29%

19% 

16% 

Reduced 

Risk 17%

6% 

High Engagement Moderate Low Engagement 

With DEI Practices Engagement With With DEI Practices 

DEI Practices 
SmartMarket Report 27 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

 

 

■ 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

SmartMarket Report 28 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

 

 

Benefits of Engaging in DEI Practices

TopBenefits

The data on the organizational, project and business advantages 

discussed on pages 24–27 provides an overview of the broad

spectrum of benefits that companies engaged in DEI practices

experience. However, it is also helpful to know what architects and 

contractors perceive to be the top benefits that their companies

experience due to their engagement with DEI, regardless of how 

many experience them. Therefore, architects and contractors 

were shown a single list of all organizational, project and business 

benefits they previously selected and were asked to select their

top three, and the five most frequently selected are shown in the

table below . 

Architects 

The top five benefits architects experience from their

engagement with DEI practices are a mix of organizational and 

project benefits.

• The top benefit, more inclusive and positive workplace culture, 

was selected by more than twice as many as their top benefit

than any of the other options. 

• More community support for projects ranks second in the list 

of most important benefits. This is surprising since it only ranks

fourth among the mostfrequently experienced project benefits.

Its high ranking on this list of top benefits reveals that, among

those who experience it, it has a large positive impact. 

• The next two most important benefits—increased collaboration 

internally and better communication between leadership and 

staff—reveal the degree to which architects value the improved 

collaboration and communication at their firms that is promoted

by their DEI practices. 

• The fifth most important benefit according to architects,

expanded perspectives for decision-making, reveals that many 

architects recognize the value of gaining different perspectives 

and the influence it can have on design.

• While not represented in the top five, two business benefits,

increased ability to recruit staff and improved employee wellbeing, rank sixth and seventh. 

• Notably, the top three benefits among architects highly engaged

with DEI differ from the overall ranking. A more inclusive, 

positive workplace culture still ranks first, but increased ability 

to recruit staff and better staff retention rank second and third. 

Contractors 

The top five benefits reported by contractors span all three

categories of organizational, project and business benefits. They

also align more closely with those most frequently experienced 

than do the ones reported by architects. 

• The top benefit, more inclusive and positive workplace culture, 

is the same as it is as for architects, but the gap between it and 

the next most popular benefit is narrower for contractors.

• Three out of the other four top benefits are related to attracting

and retaining workers/staff: better worker/staff retention, 

increased access to skilled labor and increased ability to 

recruit workers/staff. This suggests that contractors see 

the highest value in their engagement in DEI in helping them to 

address the skilled worker shortages that have consistently 

been one of the biggest challenges in their industry for over a 

decade. 

• The other top benefit, improved reputation as a business 

leader, ranks first among the business benefits and may also be

indirectly related to their improved ability to recruit workers. 

• The only option selected by more contractors at companies that 

are highly engaged with DEI practices that is not in the overall top 

five is better staff retention. This is further evidence that many 

contractors are investing in DEI as a tactical means to help them 

tackle their workforce issues. 

Top Benefits of Using DEI Practices

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Architects Contractors 

1. More Inclusive and Positive Workplace Culture 1. More Inclusive and Positive Workplace Culture 

2. More Community Support for Projects 2. Better Worker/Staff Retention

3. Increased Collaboration Internally 3. Increased Access to Skilled Labor 

4. Better Communication Between Leadership and Staff 4. Improved Reputation for Industry Leadership

5. Expanded Perspectives for Decision-Making 5. Increased Ability to Recruit Workers/Staff 
SmartMarket Report 29 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

 

• • • 

Benefits of Engaging in DEI Practices

Benefits Personally Experienced by Respondents

Respondents at companies engaged in any DEI initiatives 

were asked about the impact that their company’s 

engagement with DEI has had on them personally. Notably, 

nearly all (91%) respondents have experienced at least one 

personal benefit due to their company’s DEI efforts.

The responses shown in the chart at right are by level of 

engagement with DEI, and it clearly reveals that those who 

work at companies that are more invested in DEI initiatives 

are far more likely to experience many of these benefits than

are those who work for companies with less engagement. 

Also interesting is how their responses break out by 

demographics. 

ARCHITECTS 

• Ethnicity/Race: Respondents of color more frequently 

experienced an increased ability to collaborate with their 

fellow employees than do white respondents (45% versus

23%). Interestingly, those who refuse to identify their race 

more frequently say they experience no benefits than those

who identify themselves as white or as a person of color 

(26% versus 3 %) and are least likely to report that they

experience a more inclusive and positive workplace culture 

(22% versus 55% of those who identify as white and 62% of

those who identify as a person of color). 

• Gender: Those who identify as female more frequently 

report a more inclusive and positive workplace culture 

(67%) and more advancement opportunities (22%) due to

their companies’ DEI initiatives than do those who identify 

as male (48% and 7%, respectively).

CONTRACTORS 

• Ethnicity/Race: The respondents of color employed at 

contractors more frequently report experiencing greater 

awareness of others’ perspectives (75%), a more positive

and inclusive workplace culture (75%), and decreased

harassment (42%) than do their white counterparts (44%,

35% and 12%, respectively). 

• Age: The respondents younger than 50 report being more 

productive (22%) than those 60 and older (9%) due to their

company’s DEI initiatives. Those who are between 50 

and 59 more frequently report that they have a greater 

awareness of others’ perspectives (52%) than do those 

under 50 (33%). 

• Gender: Those who identify as male more frequently report 

increased trust in the leadership of their company (24%)

due to their company’s DEI initiatives than do those who 

identify as female (9%). 

Personal Benefits Experienced by Respondents

Due to Their Company’s Engagement With DEI 

Initiatives in the Last 5 Years 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

76% 

Greater Awareness of 

Others’ Perspectives 55%

51% 

More Inclusive and 65%

Positive Workplace 46% 

Culture 30% 

38% 

Increased Trust in 

Company Leadership 28%

18% 

Increased Ability to 35%

Collaborate With 32% 

Fellow Employees 16% 

22% 

Greater 

Productivity 20%

9% 

13% 

Decreased 

Harassment 13%

9% 

11% 

More Advancement 

Opportunities 10%

7% 

High Engagement Moderate Low Engagement 

With DEI Practices Engagement With With DEI Practices 

DEI Practices 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

SmartMarket Report 30 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

HENSEL PHELPS a 8 d Manage 

HELPS age 

Case Building a Culture of Diversity, Study 

Equity and Inclusion 

HENSEL PHELPS 

Fostering diversity is a defining value

at Hensel Phelps. Since Associated 

Builders and Contractors inaugurated

the National Diversity Excellence 

Award in 2012, Hensel Phelps has 

won the general-contractor category 

nine times. The award recognizes the 

inclusiveness of the company’s hiring, 

training, and retention policies and 

practices, as well as its initiatives in 

support of subcontractor and vendor 

businesses that are owned by members 

of historically disadvantaged groups. 

“If you really focus on inclusion and 

equity,” says Brad Lewis, the company’s

corporate director of supplier diversity, 

“you’re showing people that they can 

bring their best selves to work every 

day.” 

In a recent conversation with Dodge, 

Hensel Phelps’ six-member supplier 

diversity team shone a light on the key 

ways in which the company implements 

this core value. 

Reaching Out 

Looking outward, Hensel Phelps’ 

support for supplier and trade-partner 

diversity comprises four focus areas: 

small business inclusion, workforce 

development, community engagement 

and trade partner enhancement. 

Hensel Phelps Virtual Diverse Business

Training and Outreach Event 

SMALL BUSINESS INCLUSION 

A five-phase approach, consistent

throughout the company’s procurement 

processes across each of its markets, is 

enabling Hensel Phelps to increase the 

diversity of its 10,000-strong supplier 

and subcontractor base. 

Phase 1, Introduction and Evaluation, 

consists of outreach and networking 

events, both project-specific and

general, to connect face-to-face 

with diverse small businesses and to 

understand their capabilities, goals and 

needs. 

Phase 2, Identify Opportunities for 

Improvement, engages with potential 

trade partners to figure out how Hensel

Phelps can support them in six areas 

that commonly limit their opportunities: 

notification of bidding/solicitations,

bonding capacity, technical skill sets 

of employees, company safety and 

quality control programs, cash flow

management and supplier relationships. 

Phase 3, Implement Action Plan, 

deploys a suite of strategies to facilitate 

small business participation on Hensel 

Phelps’ projects. Strategies may include 

scope de-bundling, bonding assistance, 

large business teaming arrangements 

and a Technical Assistance Program 

(a series of expert tutorials on core 

business topics—communication, 

accounting, safety, quality control, 

estimating—aimed at fostering longterm success among potential suppliers 

and subcontractors). 

Phase 4, Support for Contract 

Completion, consists of ongoing 

communications around project 

expectations and what is needed to 

successfully complete a scope of work. 

Having cash flow stalled in a 90- or 120-

day invoice turnaround, for example, 

could easily stall a small business, 

and Hensel Phelps’ supplier diversity 

team advocates with its large trade 

partners and/or clients to make sure 

small contractors are paid on a shorter 

interval. 

In Phase 5, Evaluate Project 

Performance, formal evaluations 

identify lessons learned and help small 

businesses create action plans for 

ongoing improvement. 

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT 

Workforce development begins 

with outreach to, and support for, a 

community’s training, development and 

advocacy organizations.“Basicallywe’re

supporting the pipeline,” says James 

Harper, a manager of supplier diversity. 

In Nashville, for example, Hensel Phelps 

partners with an anti-poverty center to 

ensure that employees who are parents 

have access to childcare, and with a 

job training program for at-risk men 

to ensure that its graduates have six 

months’ transportation guaranteed. In 

Denver, Hensel Phelps partners with a 

pre-apprenticeship program for women, 

training participants to read drawings 

and taking them on jobsite tours. The 

company also offers training in conflict

resolution:“Redefining vulnerability as

an aspect of professionalism can play a 

major role in success,” says Dave Fisher, 

a manager of supplier diversity. 

In addition to workforce development 

among hourly staff, Hensel Phelps 

focuses on diversity in salaried 

workers. The company engages with 

historically black universities and 

colleges (HBCUs)—both as a recruiter

and also as an advisor on construction 

management curricula—and it 

participates in recruiting events with 

such organizations as the National 

Society of Black Engineers, the Society

of Hispanic Professional Engineers and 

the Society of Women Engineers. 

BetweenOctober 2020 and

September 2021, members of minority 

groups made up 58% of the company’s 

new hires, up by 3% over the previous 
SmartMarket Report 31 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

 

Case Building a Culture of Diversity, 

Study Equity and Inclusion CONTINUED HENSEL PHELPS 

Images Courtesy of Hensel Phelps 

year, and women accounted for 14%.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 

UnderlyingHenselPhelps’ initiatives

in workforce development and small 

business inclusion is an ongoing 

program of community engagement. 

“It’s about understanding the 

community that we’re in, and leaving 

things better than we found them,” 

says Michelle Keyser, manager of 

supplier diversity. Examples Keyser 

highlights from her Southern California 

region include an annual turkey giveaway—3,300 of them last year—through 

community-based organizations, gift 

cards to support nurse appreciation 

week, care kits for the homeless (some 

of whom the company has sponsored 

into a local laborers’ union, with lifechanging effect) and participation in 

such events as a fund-raising walk for 

Alzheimer’s research. “We may start 

a community project at the jobsite 

level because we see a need, and then 

it becomes an event that continues to 

help that community even if we’re gone,” 

says Rosemary Middleton, coordinator 

of supplier diversity. “A lot of giving that 

may not be a big giant story will turn into 

continuing help to the workforce.” 

In addition to contributing to the 

communities Hensel Phelps considers 

itself part of, these efforts foster 

awareness and trust of the company 

among a diversity of potential business 

partners and employees, so that 

forming a working relationship becomes 

an incremental step rather than a giant 

leap. 

TRADE PARTNER ENHANCEMENT 

With the goal of nurturing 

disadvantaged small businesses to 

reach their potential as effective trade 

partners and as healthy, competitive 

members of the construction 

sector, Hensel Phelps runs a range of 

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DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

SmartMarket Report 32 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

 

	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	

I 

(1' 

I 

Interview: Interview: Thought Leaders Thought Leaders 

Charles G. Hardy, AIA, CCM Andrea M. O’Neal 

Chief Architect Senior Advisor to the Administrator for Equity 

U.S. General Services Administration U.S. General Services Administration 

Why do you think it is important for 

the construction industry to address 

diversity, equity, inclusion and 

accessibility (DEIA)? 

O’NEAL: The built environment 

affects all aspects of our lives over 

generations of Americans. Its sheer 

scale and impact makes DEIA an 

essential component of the intentional 

and strategic considerations we make 

about how we design, where we build— 

and ultimately who those decisions 

affect—positively or negatively. Much 

like increased focus in recent years on 

sustainability, accessibility and how 

humans experience the world we have 

built, the principles of diversity, equity 

and inclusion are tools to help us further 

explore ways to reduce barriers and 

expand access—both in our design and 

construction practices and across the 

ecosystem of industry professionals 

who collectively make these important 

decisions which impact all of us. 

HARDY: The design and construction 

industry needs to address many 

challenges, of which talent acquisition is 

a major concern. By making the industry

more attractive to more people, DEIA is 

an especially powerful tool for solving 

craft labor shortages. That, in turn, 

could localize our labor-hiring practices, 

which is a win for both climate and 

sustainability. Additionally, GSA builds 

in the service of the American people. 

Ensuring that design is strongly founded 

on diversity ensures that citizens feel 

seen and included in the final product.

I would also like to note the “A” 

in DEIA. The federal government’s 

work in this realm also emphasizes 

accessibility, because physical access 

does not necessarily preclude people 

with disabilities from experiencing 

attitudinal barriers to the built 

environment. GSA has advocated for 

accessibility since the passage of the 

Architectural Barriers Act in 1968, and

we are proud to advance that work in 

tandem with our DEI efforts. 

The design and construction industry 

equally use that space, we get better 

outcomes for everyone. 

Related are also the practices 

around stakeholder and community 

engagement during a project, which 

can surface important considerations 

at critical times that allow us to 

optimize mutual benefit and economic

opportunity. This is particularly 

Projects should have positive

impacts beyond the block onwhich

they are built, butDEIAsuccess

should multiply design’s ability to

touch an entire community.

has always proudly claimed that we build 

America. We must now ensure that our 

teams and stakeholders reflect all of

America. It is a marathon, not a sprint. 

What are some of the best practices 

you currently see in the industry? 

O’NEAL: We need to have two distinct 

but interdependent conversations 

around diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Thefirstis about space—the actual

physical structures and how they affect 

our experiences and our communities. 

Some of the best practices I’ve seen 

emphasize stakeholder inclusivity 

and universal design as a foundation— 

practices that go beyond metrics of 

success like on-time, budget or meeting 

baseline compliance standards. When 

there is deep consideration for how the 

broadest, most diverse group of people 

with their unique needs can flexibly and

important for communities that are 

struggling to fight back or overcome

systemic inequities, which can be 

exacerbated by development if we are 

not attuned to those potential harms as 

we make decisions. 

The second important conversation 

is about place—the culture of the 

work that we do and whose voices and 

interests get consideration across 

the spectrum of power in decisionmaking. We know that women, people 

of color, people with disabilities and 

communities that are otherwise socially 

and economically disadvantaged are 

chronically underrepresented in the 

design and construction industry itself. 

So we all must ask ourselves what are 

those barriers to career opportunity 

and how can we break those down 

for more people. As an example, GSA 

has memorandums of understanding 
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DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

 

 

 

 

	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	

I 

a 

I 

Thought Leaders 

with National Association of Minority 

Architects (NOMA) and ACE Mentor 

Program of America—two organizations 

that are explicitly addressing career 

pipelines for the industry. Another 

great practice I see are organizations 

that have adopted the Culture of CARE 

Pledge, which sets a management tone 

for inclusive, harassment and biasfree workplaces. All of these big and 

small initiatives can cumulatively shift 

behavior and the culture of the industry. 

HARDY: Other GSA activities, such 

as our Design Excellence Program’s 

longtime stewardship of the National 

Register of Peer Professionals, or the 

agency’s more recent welcoming of 

the Emerging Voices’ cohort of hires, 

brings new perspectives to the table. 

I mention this because it parallels 

Andrea’s thoughts on space and 

place. Independent 

peer review of GSA 

projects weaves 

diversity through the 

process of design and 

construction, while 

our Emerging Voices 

initiative envisions a 

more diverse industry 

ecosystem and a more 

inclusive culture to go 

with it. The two inform 

and benefit one another mutually.

Another best practice, which also is 

fairly simple, is promoting awareness 

and opportunity. This survey gets 

us closer to addressing real issues. 

Partnerships with ACE and NOMA 

empower voices that may have been 

unheard. Changing the conversation 

does lead to tangible change. 

What is the best role that a major owner 

(like the GSA) can play to increase 

DEIA in the design and construction 

industry? 

HARDY: Lead by example, listen and 

act. In their staffing, team selections

and conversations with industry, 

owners can underscore why DEIA is 

so important to us as a whole. Those 

actions also help others start on their 

own DEIA paths. 

People and firms watch their peers.

Owners of large organizations, in 

particular, send messages about what 

matters to them by the way they conduct 

business.Because these messages can

be either intentional or unintentional, we 

need to choose intentional actions that 

achieve intended results. We will all be 

better for it. 

O’NEAL: All major stakeholders and 

owners have a responsibility to set the 

tone of what is the meaningful and best 

opportunity to optimize DEIA. The GSA 

is doing this RFI to see what practices 

are out there. That’s both a way for us 

Changing the ethos aboutwhywe construction, and what 

is needed to overcome design, howwe design andwhowe them? 

design foris essential...This is not O’NEAL: Some of it is 

myth-busting. On-time just about doing the rightthing;this is and on-budget are 

a smart business decision.

to signal our interests in this issue and 

how we can better incorporate DEIA 

principles as we’re making decisions, 

but also define partners in industry that

are also thinking about these things 

and may have best practices. One of the 

rules of DEIA is you can’t do it alone. You

need to build coalitions, finding ways

of innovating and iterating, taking hard 

looks at ourselves about where we have 

success and where we have those levers 

of influence and power and capital to

actually make significant strides in this

area. I think one of the best roles that 

a major owner can play is just not to be 

silent on the issues. 

I’m excited to be at this time working 

in the Biden-Harris administration as a

senior advisor for equity at GSA, a new 

role at the GSA. The enthusiasm and 

reception to this position alongside 

some policy objectives that the 

president has outlined ... that focus 

on DEIA and equity, have given us this 

unique government-wide, once-in-ageneration opportunity alongside some 

significantinfrastructure investments,

like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

and the Inflation Reduction Act, to think

holistically and meaningfully about 

what federal investment means in 

communities. It’s a critical time for us to 

get this right and make sure that we’re 

using these investments to advance 

DEIA in the communities we serve. 

What are the biggest 

challenges to increasing 

DEI in design and 

critical, foundational 

success metrics for 

design and construction 

... sometimes equity or solving for other 

parts of that equation are perceived 

to be opportunity costs that are at 

odds with or barriers to the success 

of those metrics. I don’t think that’s 

true. DEIA does take a little bit more 

innovative thinking. But none of this is

exceptionally hard all of the time. 

I think some of the biggest obstacles 

are driving awareness, having a road 

map and making sure that there is 

reasonable attention to another set of 

opportunities that exist within a design 

project beyond those defined metrics.

Some of that takes a little up-front 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

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Thought Leaders 

investment of time or resources to get 

it right, but once there’s a model for 

success that’s replicable and scalable, 

you have those opportunities at scale. 

One opportunity is the ability to 

have the right subject matter experts 

atthe table, especially atinflection

points where we can make meaningful 

impacts without slowing down the 

process and ask ourselves a different 

set of questions. Who does this impact? 

How can we add value? Where do we 

have blind spots? Whose voices aren’t 

included, or whose interests may not be 

included and how we make that better? 

I understand there arefinite resources,

there’s finite time, but there are

opportunity costs when we don’t think 

about these things. Similar to earlier 

considerations of the environment or 

safety on construction sites, this is one 

of those moments where if we take a 

little time, and think a little differently, 

we can achieve collective outcomes 

that are bigger than the sum of their 

parts on construction projects. That’s 

what we really need because, again, 

the built environment is so important to 

every aspect of our lives. 

HARDY: One of the most persistent 

questions heard through the industry 

is, “Where do I start?” Organizations 

freeze on it, perhaps because DEIA 

feels like too systemic a problem for 

one organization to unknot. We need 

to provide ways to get past that block, 

by sharing stories and successes, 

developing networks, creating mentor 

and feeder programs, and embracing 

many other tools that we can then share 

among change-makers. 

Another obstacle has to do with the 

pipeline of employees, namely the time 

it takes to get registered or qualified in a

specific discipline or craft. This means

the industry needs to partner more 

strongly with programs like Block Kids,

ACE Mentor, NOMA and many others. We 

can’t improve the timing to licensure, 

but we can augment the path to success 

with mentorship and support. It bears 

noting here, too, that a majority of kids 

have tentatively decided on a career 

path by the time they reach the eighth 

grade. 

What does success look like? 

O’NEAL: The process by which design 

happens and where that capital is 

deployed are really important factors. 

Changing the ethos about why we 

design, how we design and who we 

design for is essential... . This is not 

just about doing the right thing; this is a

smart business decision in some cases. 

Construction firms have a similar path

... including the types of materials in 

use and the focus on new and innovative 

technologically savvy parts of the 

installation that can advance DEIA. As 

an example, GSA has a program that, 

through our design and construction 

of public buildings, incubates green 

technologies. I’ve seen different 

products in our federal procurement 

that provide more accessibility ... . We 

can leverage our projects as a way to 

drive multiple goals at once. The building 

itself and the uses of that space are 

important, but the materials that we use 

in the space around the buildings, the 

community access to those spaces as 

appropriate, the art on the walls, all of 

that is part of this conversation. 

For owners and organizations, the 

coalition that I talked about is forming. 

It can be a powerful network of thinkers, 

designers and folks that have these 

considerations in mind and are sharing 

what they’re doing, what they’re learning 

and where they’ve hit stumbling blocks. 

Sharing this knowledge can help scale 

these efforts, making it less situational 

by project. When that happens, other 

voices start to join. 

I think about LEED when it first

emerged and was considered something 

for those with more resources and time 

who could think about approaches 

beyond standard practices. Now it’s a 

widely accepted design standard: DEIA 

has that potential. And with the right 

stakeholders, the right emphasis and 

collective advocacy around this issue, 

we can make significant improvements

to both the culture of design and 

construction companies and how that 

manifests in the physical space that we 

all inhabit. 

HARDY: For designfirms, 

success means giving voice to 

underrepresented, new perspectives 

and designing projects that leverage 

local skills and materials. It almost goes 

without saying that projects should have 

positive impacts beyond the block on 

which they are built, but DEIA success 

should multiply design’s ability to touch 

an entire community. 

For contractors, success is pushing 

design businesses to practice with 

DEIA in mind, and to help suppliers and 

subcontractors to see that DEIA is their 

responsibility as well. It also means 

engaging with a project’s surrounding 

community on how to leverage its 

people and to leave a place better for 

having been there. 

Andfinally for owners, success

is all of the above—along with the 

demand signals that move industry. 

The strongest voice in the design and 

construction industry is the owner’s, 

and it is incumbent on GSA and other 

leaders to drive change through action 

and example. 
SmartMarket Report 35 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

 

 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

Data: Community Impacts 

Consideration of Community Impacts During Design 

Building projects impact the communities in which

they are placed, but the practice of architecture 

does not always prioritize consideration of those 

impacts during the design process. A firm dedicated

to diversity, equity and inclusion is ideally one that 

considers these factors outside of the boundaries of 

their offices and into the communities that surround

their projects. 

Therefore, architects were asked about the 

share of projects on which they actively consider 

community impact and/or well-being during the 

design process. Those who do so on at least 50% of 

their projects were asked why, and those who do so 

less frequently were asked what would make them 

do so more regularly. Their responses are shown in 

the chart at right and on the following page. 

As the pie chart at right reveals, nearly half of the 

architects (49%) consider community impact and/

or well-being during the design process on 50% or 

more of their projects. In contrast, only 19% either do 

so rarely or are not sure how frequently they do so. 

This finding affirms that architects are interested in

the impact of their projects, but it also suggests that 

there is room for the profession to improve as well. 

TRIGGERS FOR THOSE ACTIVELY CONSIDERING 

COMMUNITY IMPACTS DURING DESIGN 

The largest share of those who actively consider 

community impacts during design select two factors 

as influential in their decision to do so.

• The firm’s culture has the biggest impact, with the

decision to consider community impacts driven 

internally. 

• This is a much higher percentage than those 

who report that they do so at the direction 

of their clients, but with 51% selecting that 

option, owners also have a major influence 

and can help drive the design profession to 

increase these considerations. 

• Encouragingly, 70% also report that they are

influenced to consider impacts by input from the

community surrounding the project.Thisfinding is

consistent with the importance to many architects 

of DEI initiatives that yield greater community 

support for their projects (see page 28), and it also 

demonstrates that many architects realize the 

importance of getting community input to have a 

thorough understanding of project impacts. 

Share of Projects on Which Community Impact and/ 

or Well-Being Is Actively Considered During the 

Design Process (According to Architects) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Most Important Reasons Firm 

Considers Community Impact/ 

Well-Being During Design 

Culture: 

It is internally driven 

because our firm believes 89%

it is the right thing to do 

35% 

10% 

14% 

32% 

9% 

75% or More Community: 

Input from the community 70% 50% to 74% surrounding the project 

10% to 49%

Clients: Less Than 10% 51% Owner direction 

Not Sure 

Requirements: 

Complying with 49% 

existing regulations 

Peers: 

We saw other 11% 

firms doing it
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

SmartMarket Report 36 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

 

Community Impacts 

Consideration of Community Impacts During Design CONTINUED 

As mentioned above, clients play an important role in these 

community considerations, and regulations requiring 

community input are also important drivers for many. 

The only factor that seems to have little influence is the

behavior of their peers. 

DRIVERS FOR INCREASED CONSIDERATION OF 

COMMUNITY IMPACTS AMONG THOSE WHO DO NOT 

CURRENTLY CONSIDER THEM FREQUENTLY 

The factors that would encourage architects who do not 

currently consider community impacts frequently to do so 

more in the future are shown in the chart at right. 

• The top factors are selected by a much smaller share 

than the triggers that have influenced those already

more engaged in this activity. The reasons for doing so 

are quite clear to those who already do it, but there is less 

consensus among those who do not about the impact of 

these various factors to encourage them to do so in the 

future. 

• The top factor among those doing it infrequently is 

similar to the top trigger among those doing it frequently: 

trying to make their projects have a more positive impact. 

This is a promising finding in terms of their goals, but

the other factors provide more insight into what would 

encourage more of this activity. 

• Better client relationships ranks second among the

drivers. This demonstrates that, while clients may not be 

a top trigger for those doing it currently, they could have 

the biggest influence in encouraging more consideration

of community impacts in the future among those who are 

not as engaged. 

• Another consistent driver for DEI efforts in general, 

including this one, is improving community support for 

projects, and that is nearly as influential among these

respondents as client relationships. This suggests that 

more examples of how engaging the community yields 

this benefit would probably encourage some architects

to take these actions on more of their projects. More 

training offered on how to pursue community input 

effectively could also make the process of doing so more 

productive for firms, as managing this process well is not

easy and is critical to its success. 

Drivers for Wider Consideration of 

Community Impact During Design 

(According to Those Who Currently Consider Community 

Impact on Less Than 50% of Projects)

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Satisfaction of Knowing 

Projects Have a 59% 

Positive Impact 

Better Client Relationships 49%

Better Community 

Relations Make Future 

Projects in That Community 46% 

Go More Smoothly 

Improved Company 41% 

Reputation 

Competitive Advantage 34%

Reduced Risk of 

Delays on Projects 32%
SmartMarket Report 37 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

 

■ ■ ■ ■ 

Community Impacts 

Obtaining Community Inputs Beyond Mandates 

There are mandates in many jurisdictions that require 

outreach to the community before building, with a tendency 

for the stricter mandates to be in more upscale communities. 

While these mandates are important, they are rarely 

sufficient, especially when it comes to communities that

are less affluent. However, these are often the communities

most dramatically impacted by construction, those with 

more lenient or nonexistent zoning and those bordering on 

industrial areas. 

Frequency of Obtaining Community Input 

on Project Impacts Beyond Mandates 

Many times, a committed effort to address community 

needs in building projects requires outreach to communities 

well beyond those mandates. Therefore, architects and 

contractors were asked on what share of their projects do 

they obtain community input beyond what is mandated. 

The chart at right shows the responses of architects 

and contractors, and it also combines the architect and 

contractor responses from the companies highly engaged 

with DEI practices. 

• The more committed a company is to engaging in DEI 

practices at its own organization, the more likely they are 

to reach out to the community for input on their projects. 

However, even among this progressive group, 41% do so on

fewer than 25% of projects, so there is potential for much 

greater engagement across the industry. 

• Architects seek community input more frequently than 

do contractors, with nearly half of the contractors (45%)

reporting that they never do so. One key reason for this 

difference is that many contractors (44%) believe that

community impacts should be dealt with in the planning/ 

design phase (see page 38). 

• General contractors also respond very differently than 

specialty trade contractors do to this issue. Nearly one 

third of general contractors (31%) seek inputs beyond what 

is mandated moderately frequently or frequently. 

• While this is still below the share of architects that do so 

(52%), it does demonstrate more engagement than the 

chart suggests. 

• Specialty trade contractors are less likely to engage the 

community due to the timing and limited scope of their 

role on projects. 

• Among contractors, size of company also plays a role, with 

37% of large companies doing community outreach with

at least moderate frequency. This is consistent with the 

deeper engagement with DEI practices by large companies 

reported in the study. 

Frequency of Obtaining Community Input 

on Project Impacts Beyond Mandated 

Requirements 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

22% 

30% 

40% 

8% 

9% 

34% 

25% 

37% 

4% 

12% 

34% 

45% 

Architects Contractors Practitioners From 

Companies Highly 

Engaged With DEI 

Practices 

Frequently Moderately Infrequently Never 

(50% of Frequently (Fewer Than 

Projects or (25% to 49% 25% of 

More) of Projects) Projects) 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

SmartMarket Report 38 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

 

■ ■ 

Community Impacts 

Obtaining Community Inputs Beyond Mandates CONTINUED 

Factors That Deter More Input 

Architects and contractors who seek community inputs 

beyond mandates on fewer than 25% of their projects were 

asked to select the top two factors that deter them from 

doing so from the list of options shown in the chart at right. 

The responses fall into three major categories. 

LITTLE/NO NEED FOR COMMUNITY INPUTS 

• A top factor for both architects and contractors is their 

belief that most of their projects have a net-positive impact 

on the surrounding communities. However, community 

members and practitioners may not always see impacts 

in the same way. For example, what some consider an 

improvement may be perceived by others as gentrification,

with serious consequences for housing affordability. 

• More promising, though, is the fact that only a few feel that 

mandated community input is sufficient, and even fewer

believe that community input is not useful. This suggests 

that many are open to the value of this input. 

INSUFFICIENT TIME/INABILITY TO ACT ON INPUT 

• The limits to their ability to change the projects sufficiently

to minimize community impacts ranks second for 

architects and third for contractors. It is also reflected in

the additional responses volunteered as an “other” reason, 

with many who blame lack of client interest in altering their 

projects to improve the surrounding community. 

• In a separate question, only 22% of respondents believe 

that the input they receive results in positive change. 

This is likely due to many reasons, including the 

challenges of getting good input, but many may also 

feel limited in how much they can change a project to 

respond to that input. 

• Many specialty trade contractors also utilized the other 

field to state that they do not find a role for themselves in

community engagement. 

• Architects, in particular, also believe that there isn’t enough 

time in the project schedule to get and respond to input. 

SHOULD HAPPEN DURING PLANNING/DESIGN 

The top reason why contractors don’t seek community input 

is their belief that input should occur during the planning/ 

design phase. This response again reveals the perception 

that there is little that can be done to adapt appropriately 

to the input they may get post-design. More surprising is 

the share of architects who select this option. Additional 

comments suggest that they may rely on owners to gather 

this input. 

Factors That Deter Companies From Obtaining 

More Information From the Community on Project 

Impacts (Top Two Selected by Those Who Infrequently/Never 

Gather This Information) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Believe Most of Their 

Projects Have a NetPositive Impact on 

Surrounding Communities 

Have a Limited Ability 

to Change Project 

Sufficiently to Minimize 

Community Impacts 

Expect Community 

Impacts to Be Dealt With 

in the Planning/ 

Design Phase 

Do Not Have Enough 

Time in Construction 

Schedule to Get and 

Respond to Input 

Mandated Community 

Input Is Sufficient

Do Not Find Community 

Input Useful

Other 

34% 

32% 

29% 

21% 

28% 

25% 

16% 

18% 

10% 

7% 

14% 

14% 

9% 

44% 

Architects Contractors 
SmartMarket Report 39 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

 

Community Impacts 

Hiring Jobsite Workers From Neighboring Communities 

Contractors were asked about the frequency with which 

they prioritize finding jobsite workers in the communities

that surround their projects. 

As the chart at upper right reveals, nearly half (42%)

do so frequently/very frequently, and only 24% report

that they rarely or never do so. The findings in this report

show that contractors place a high premium on finding

and retaining workers (see page 28), so it is not surprising 

to see that the majority are actively seeking people in the 

communities around their projects. 

Among those who rarely/never prioritize hiring these 

workers, the biggest challenge preventing them from 

doing so is the difficulty in finding workers with sufficient

skills. A notable share of the workforce needed on a 

project requires skills that need extensive training and 

experience, and it is a significant cost to contractors to

cultivate these workers, who are not necessarily likely to 

be found in communities surrounding the projects. (See 

page 30 for discussion of a successful program to recruit 

local workers and the best practices for doing so.) 

The need to hire workers with the right skills is 

intensified by the current workforce shortages.

Contractors may have been better able to slowly increase 

their staff through training if they were fully staffed, but 

many now face an acute challenge to find the workers

they need. Paradoxically, this may interfere with their 

ability to recruit and train among the local population. 

Surprisingly, fewer report that they want to work 

with people they have previously hired. This suggests 

that the bigger hurdle is the need for skilled workers and 

the restraints on helping new workers get the training 

needed to fill those gaps.

Frequency of Prioritizing Hiring Jobsite 

Workers From Communities Surrounding 

Projects (According to Contractors) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

6% 

18% 

34% 

30% 

12% 

Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Very 

Frequently 

Reasons That Hiring Jobsite Workers From 

Surrounding Communities Is Not Prioritized 

More Frequently (Selected in the Top Two by 

Contractors Who Never, Rarely or Sometimes Prioritize 

Hiring These Workers) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Difficulty Finding Workers 

With Sufficient Skills

Workforce Shortages 

Prioritizing Hiring Trusted 

Workers Who They Have 

Previously Hired 

Staff Assigned by Union

No Good Way to Find 

Available Workers in 

the Local Area 

Workers in Some Areas 

Around our Projects 

Cost Too Much 

47% 

32% 

23% 

23% 

11% 

4% 
 

 

 

 

■ ■ 

Community Impacts 

Contractors’ ImpactonCommunitiesSurroundingTheirOffices

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA 

In addition to impacting the communities surrounding 

their projects, companies can also have a significant

impact on communities surrounding their offices.

Contractors were asked if they engage in six possible 

actions that would impact their communities. Their 

overall responses and the responses of the contractors 

whose companies are highly engaged in DEI practices 

are shown in the chart at right. 

• Most contractors attempt to have a positive impact 

on the communities surrounding their offices by

seeking to hire from those communities, and many 

also look for ways to improve those communities, 

such as contributing to local charities. 

• Companies with a high level of engagement with 

DEI more frequently utilize strategies that involve 

communication and direct community engagement, 

such as reaching out to local community stakeholders 

to understand their priorities, engaging with local 

youth organizations in mentorships, apprenticeships 

and training, and communicating about major facility 

changes to the surrounding community. However, 

they do not exceed the averages when it comes to 

hiring strategies. 

• General contractors more frequently engage with 

local community stakeholders to understand their 

priorities (23%) than do specialty trade contractors 

(9%). 

• Large companies more frequently seek ways to 

improve the community (67%) and engage with

local community stakeholders (37%) and youth

organizations (37%) than do small companies (43%,

8% and 13%, respectively). 

• However, small companies more frequently hire from 

the communities surrounding their offices (64%)

and have policies on hiring formerly incarcerated 

individuals (11%) than do larger companies (53% and 

2%, respectively). 

Contractor Impacts on Residential 

Communities Surrounding Their Office

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Seek to Hire From 

Community Surrounding 

Their Office

Seek Ways to Improve 

Community (Contribute 

to Local Charity, etc.) 

Engage With Local 

Community Stakeholders 

to Understand Their 

Priorities 

Engage With Local 

Youth Organizations 

in Mentorship/ 

Apprenticeship/Training 

Have Policies on Hiring 

Formerly Incarcerated 

Individuals 

Communicate Major 

Facility Changes to 

Surrounding Community 

and Solicit Feedback 

Beyond Mandates to Do So

73% 

59% 

67% 

70% 

23% 

48% 

22% 

37% 

6% 

4% 

5% 

22% 

All Contractors With Contractors Highly Engaged 

Offices Near Residential With DEI Practices With 

Communities Offices Near Residential 

Communities 

SmartMarket Report 40 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com 
SmartMarket Report 41 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

 

 

 

 

Sidebar Article 

The User Comes First 

Designing for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion 

Hensel Phelps Virtual Diverse Business

Training and Outreach Event 

At a conference of the Society 

forCollege andUniversity

Planning (SCUP) five or so

years ago, a panel consisting 

of students of color asked an almost 

entirely white audience of design 

professionals what the designers were 

doing to make spaces “where we of 

color can come and feel comfortable, 

come and feel like there’s a sense of 

belonging, come and feel like we don’t 

have to ask permission to be there,” 

says Gail Shillingford, a principal at B+H

Architects and one of very few people of 

color in the audience that day. It wasn’t 

so much a question as a plea, she says, 

and it started Shillingford—who has 

her own stories of feeling uncertain, 

unwelcome and “other” than the people 

who seem to belong in a space or place— 

on an ongoing effort to respond. “We 

can design great spaces, we can design 

beautiful spaces,” she says, “but are we 

necessarily responding to what it entails 

to create a truly equitable, truly inclusive 

space?” 

From her own explorations of where, 

as a woman of color, she does and 

doesn’t feel at ease, she highlights 

the importance of flexible, adaptable

spaceswithout barriers;transparency

at the street level; strong interrelationships between inside and out;

and programming that invites a wide 

diversity of participants. She stresses 

the importance of designing humane 

environments for mixed-age, mixedincome communities (rather than 

exclusive towers that become ghettos 

of well-to-do singles and couples) with 

welcoming, free public space that offers 

a sense of place and belonging. 

Above all, she says, design for 

diversity, equity and inclusion must 

start with the user: “We have to 

understand the user before we can 

understand what to do in terms of 

creating equity,” she says. “We need 

to be engaging more effectively with 

communities.” 

Listen and Support 

Fostering equity through communityfocused design and pre-design 

processes is a central tenet of the work 

that Mithun has been doing for the 

past five years in North Richmond, a

historically disadvantaged community 

in Contra Costa County, California. 

Formerly redlined (a now illegal practice 

in which financial institutions denied

funding to residents and businesses on 

racist grounds), North Richmond—like 

many racialized communities across 

America—is disproportionately affected 

by industrial pollution, urban heat island 

effect, wildfire smoke, flooding and a

housing crisis. 

Mithun first began working with North

Richmond as part of the 2018 Resilient 

by Design (RbD) Bay Area Challenge,

which connected design professionals 

with local communities to catalyze 

ideas and collaborations toward a 

comprehensive regional plan. To ground 

the design process in community 

priorities, Mithun’s designers began 

by listening. “The whole idea of ‘design 

first’ is just wrong,” says Hilary Noll, an

associate principal and sustainability 

integration leader at Mithun. “We should 

first be showing up, listening and

serving in a role of accompaniment to 

communities’ collective efforts.” 

North Richmond Ecovillage concept rendering 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

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Sidebar Article 

The User Comes First 

Designing for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion CONTINUED 

Mithun Home Team and Community Advisory Board for North Richmond

The project team included a 

community-nominated advisory board 

whose members were paid for their 

time, both to make possible their fuller 

participation and to respect their 

contribution of expertise. The team 

also engaged a meeting facilitator from 

aBIPOC-led community development

nonprofit, so that people of color were

speaking to people of color, defining

their own priorities while the designers 

listened. 

Noll advocates for expanding the 

notion of “client” beyond real estate 

developers and institutions to include 

emerging community groups, such 

as those who participated in the RbD 

initiative, and expanding the services 

design firms provide to include capacity

building. “There are some real structural 

issues with regard to who holds power, 

who holds land, who has access to 

financing and so on,” she says. In North

Richmond, Mithun has coached the 

junior real estate staff of a community 

land trust on the essentials of project 

management;facilitated connections

among community leaders, county and 

housing authority officials and industry

professionals; and helped build a

support team that includes an affordable 

housingfinance manager, a land-use

attorney and members of Engineers 

WithoutBorders. LikeMithun,these

professionals are working pro bono to 

advance such projects as an eco-village 

comprising housing and creekside 

green space, aBlackwellness hub and

a horizontal levee to restore a stretch of 

the San Francisco Bay shoreline while

protecting the community from flooding.

“Dedicating as little as 1% of revenues 

can have a transformative impact when 

carefully and thoughtfully applied,” 

says Noll.

 Data in Support of Equity 

As meaningful community engagement 

transforms traditional design and predesign processes, data can play a useful 

role. To help the regional government of 

the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area 

(known as Metro) maximize the benefits to

historically underserved communities from 

public investments in green infrastructure 

and amenities,Portland-based designfirm 

Knot has developed a data-based analytical 
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DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

 

 

 

	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

Sidebar Article 

The User Comes First 

Designing for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion CONTINUED 

tool to inform decision-making. The 

Environmental Justice Lens, as the tool 

is called, integrates demographic and 

environmental data to rank potential 

land acquisitions. 

“We’re talking about ways to 

understand where vulnerable 

communities are in space,” says Michael 

Yun, a principal at Knot, “providing

additional spatial demographic detail 

so that agencies have a better sense of 

how to focus their limited engagement 

resources, target the most vulnerable 

and marginalized people, make deep 

connections and from there learn more 

qualitative information about what 

people are concerned about and what 

they might be interested in.” 

The Environmental Justice Lens’s 

criteria—based on criteria identified

in the $475 million parks and nature

bond measure (2019) that provides for 

the investments—include community 

need, environmental burdens,flood

risk abatement and access to nature. 

In evaluating community need, 

the tool incorporates census data 

pertaining to a community’s racial/ 

ethnic composition, ratio of income 

to poverty, linguistic isolation, access 

to healthcare and several other 

variables associated with historical 

injustices and reduced resilience. 

Factors quantifying environmental 

burdens include urban heat island 

indicators, tree canopy distribution, 

toxic site density, air pollution levels and 

anthropogenic noise. A site’s potential 

contribution to flood risk abatement

is based on watershed floodplain

modeling combined with zonal statistics 

on vulnerable communities. The 

access to nature indicator assesses 

a neighborhood’s acres of park, their 

level of services and amenities, and 

their popularity, all compared with total 

population distribution, to yield a ratio 

of popularity-rated acres of park and 

natural area per person. Combined, all 

four components in the Environmental 

Justice Lens provide an indexed spatial 

model to help the Metro government 

prioritize investment in support of a 

more equitable environment. 

Knot has also developed an analytical 

tool to support the project team for the 

new Multnomah County library, adapting 

the Environmental Justice Lens to 

help the project team focus its public 

engagement strategies so as to reach 

underserved census tracts. “Every 

project has its own set of questions,” 

says Yun, “and the analysis needs to

be tailored to the specific historic

inequities and the benefits and burdens

of each project.” He emphasizes that 

data is an incomplete basis for decisionmaking, and must support qualitative 

community engagement. 

A renewed focus on the needs 

and experiences of the people and 

communities served, more meaningful 

and ongoing forms of community 

relationship, and the innovative and 

strategic use of analytical tools are 

all contributing to what Shillingford 

says is the beginning of a huge 

conversation. “We have to get smart 

as designers, quite frankly,” she says. 

“There is a demand for equity, and we’re 

just scratching the surface of what 

equitable space means.” 

Images on page 41 and this page by Mithus. Image on page 42 by Sam Holman. 

Mithun’s muted marsh rendering, part of the North Richmond project.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

SmartMarket Report 44 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

 

 

 

 

Case Centering Health Equity: Study 

Three Spheres of Influence

MITHUN 

As the impacts of COVID-19, climatefueled disasters, urban heat island 

effect, pollution and inadequate 

housing compound the ongoing 

impacts of historic injustices, the 

health of marginalized populations is 

disproportionately affected. The built 

environment plays an enormous role 

in supporting or undermining health 

equity, and design professionals have 

significant opportunities to contribute.

“Through our research and scan of 

the design, real estate and planning 

industry, and in talking with over 60

professionals, we found that many 

are addressing equity in different 

ways through their work,” says Erin 

Ishizaki, a partner at Mithun and 

co-chair of Centering Health Equity, 

a research program initiated in 2020 

between the Green Health Partnership 

(a collaboration of the University of

Virginia School of Medicine and the US

GreenBuildingCouncil) andMithun. “We

also heard, though, that people often 

weren’t sure where to start or didn’t feel 

empowered to make changes. So the 

research effort developed a conceptual 

framework to help provide a mental 

model for how equity relates to the 

built environment, and to coordinate 

collective action.” 

The conceptual framework 

comprises three spheres ofinfluence:

1. Projects and programs, which 

can affect distributional health 

equity of fundamental resources 

for human health;

2. Policies, which can affect 

structural health equity through 

community connections to 

infrastructure and services in 

the daily environment;

3. Culture and institutions, which 

can affect systemic health 

equity through inclusion, 

empowerment and their ripple 

effects. 

High Point 

Here, we look at three Mithun-led 

projects exemplifying the pursuit of 

equity and inclusion in each sphere 

of influence. As these projects

demonstrate, it’s entirely possible for 

a single project to operate in multiple 

domains. 

Distributional Equity 

Designers’ work with projects and 

programs makes distributional equity 

their most accessible level of influence.

As an example, High Point, a federally 

funded HOPE VI project in Seattle, 

transformed 713 dilapidated World

War II–era public housing apartments

into a 1,600-unit development for

people of diverse ages, ethnicities, 

family sizes and incomes. The project 

includes parks, community gardens, 

a public library, a health clinic and 

a neighborhood center, all with an 

emphasis on human and environmental 

health. 

Extensive pre-design user-group 

engagement in six languages revealed 

that a top issue for community 

parents was asthma. Minority children 

experience higher-than-average 

asthma rates, and as much as 40%

of their excess asthma risk can be 

attributed to residential allergens 

such as moisture and dampness, poor 

ventilation, deteriorating carpet and 

other symptoms of socioeconomic 

and racial/ethnic disparities in housing 

quality. 

In response, all of the High Point units 

prioritize high-quality indoor air—with 

low-VOC materials, airtight drywall 

installation, whole-house exhaust fans 

and filtered, fresh-air intake ports. In

addition, 60 of the units were designed

as Breathe Easy Homes, the first in

the country, with additional features— 

such as no-VOC building materials, 

additional air filtering, hydronic heating

and enhanced construction practices— 

to further reduce asthma triggers. 

A follow-up study in the American 

Journal of Public Health found that 

asthmatic children in the Breathe Easy

Homes enjoyed 63% more symptomfree days than in their previous homes, 

and required 67% fewer visits to the

emergency room. With fewer sleepless 

nights, fewer absences from work 

and school, increased exercise and 

outdoor activities, and reduced medical 

expenses, whole families’ quality of life 

improved. 

Structural Equity 

Structural equity can be influenced at

the policy level, and pertains to such 

issues as access to parks and amenities, 

the affordability of utilities, ownership 

and control of land (including zoning), 

and community-level resilience. 

“Designers can affect structural equity 

by incorporating policy changes within 

their work, at any scale,” says Ishizaki. 

“These are midterm outcomes that 

typically take a bit longer to achieve.” 

An example of a project contributing 

to structural equity is the Louisiana 

Children’sMuseum, a 56,000-squarefoot facility located on eight acres of 

City Park, New Orleans, and a COTE Top 

Ten Plus honoree. Following Hurricane 
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DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

Case Centering Health Equity: 

Study Three Spheres of Influence CONTINUED MITHUN 

Photo on page 44 courtesy of Juan Hernandez. Photo on this page coutesy of Kevin Scott. 

Katrina, and in light of the state’s 

perennially poor showing on educational 

outcomes—among the lowest 5% 

nationwide—the museum reframed its 

mission to contribute to environmental 

and social resilience. 

As a result, priorities driving the 

design encompass connecting children 

to nature (including a trauma-informed 

approach to their contact with water) 

and integrating the environment into 

their museum experience. An arrival 

sequence brings visitors through 

groves of live oaks, across a freshwater 

lagoon (which also plays a resilience 

role in a floodwater catchment),

through immersive exhibits and into 

a courtyard and sensory gardens. 

Learning environments and other 

program areas outside of the ticketed 

zones make significantresources

and services available at no charge. 

Colocated at the museum are the Tulane 

Institute of Infant and Early Childhood 

Mental Health, which offers museumintegrated programming, as well as 

literacy and parenting resources with 

opportunities for gathering and play. 

Illustrating the potential structural 

impact of equitable access to such 

amenities, students from a public 

charter school that brought its 120 

students (98% minority and 98% 

economically disadvantaged) for 

classes at the museum during the 

COVID-19 closure scored 35% higher 

in standardized tests than the three 

charter schools in their cohort and 

44% above grade level. This and

other museum successes have led 

to additional funding and initiatives 

in nature-based learning city- and 

statewide. 

Systemic Equity 

The third sphere ofinfluence, culture

and institutions, has the potential 

for the deepest impacts on systemic 

Liberty Bank Building

equity, through such domains as wealth, 

education and healthcare, and requires 

more organizational partnerships than a 

typical development might entail. 

The Liberty Bank Building is a

101,646-square-foot affordable housing

development located on the site of the 

first African American bank west of

the Mississippi, in a formerly redlined 

neighborhood of Seattle. (Redlining 

was a common practice, now illegal, 

in which financial institutions denied

mortgages or insurance based on the 

racial characteristics of the applicant’s 

neighborhood.) Developed by a 

partnership of Africatown Community 

Land Trust, the Black Community

Impact Alliance, Community Roots 

Housing and Byrd Barr Place, the project

is affordable to households earning 

30% to 60% of the area median income.

Affordable groundfloor commercial

space serves local businesses and 

fosters a sense of community in the 

neighborhood. 

As a HomeFree demonstration 

project, the building features materials 

selected to provide a high-quality 

indoor environment for residents, and it 

resulted in a new protocol, generated in 

collaborationwith theHealthyBuilding

Network, for how the developer selects 

materials. Corridors are daylit, and 

amenities such as bike storage and 

container gardens further support 

healthy lifestyles. 

The institutional values of the 

partnering organizations extend the 

development’s impacts far beyond 

the building itself. These include antidisplacement strategies (to prevent 

gentrification), local and minority

hiring (including 30% women- and 

minority-owned businesses, of which 

more than half were Black-owned), the

development and support of Blackowned enterprises, long-term African 

American ownership of the building 

and affirmation of the history of the

community. 

“Projects like these—where team 

members intervene on behalf of equity, 

and question conventional practice— 

have the potential to disrupt the 

compounding of environmental and 

historic injustices,” says Ishizaki: “They 

can improve the quality of the places 

where marginalized people are living 

today and expand access to high-quality 

places that have the resources people 

need to survive and to thrive.” 
 

 

 

 

 

Sidebar Article 

Avoiding Forced Labor in the Construction Materials 

Supply Chain 

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION 

At any time, 5 in 1,000 workers 

are in forced labor. Estimates 

vary, but most put the number 

of people in forced labor at 25 

to 40 million, including at least 4 million

children. Though a type of modern 

slavery, forced labor is unlike chattel 

slavery. Rather than being owned 

outright, forced laborers are not able 

to control the circumstances of their 

work, and therefore their lives, including 

consistency in when, where and how 

many hours they are forced to work, 

being coerced to work through violence 

or debt to their employers, and other 

onerous conditieous . (s)-13. (i)-9.2 (s)-2 ansemplo sroui-1.8 (r)-1.9 (c)102 (e )TJ
-0.00 Tc /T1o yers, aTc /T1o y l9otrs
SmartMarket Report 47 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

■ ■ 

Influences on DEI Engagement 

in Design and Construction Data: 

Drivers for Current DEI Investments 

Architects and contractors whose companies are engaged 

in any DEI practices were asked to select the top reasons 

for that engagement from the list of 11 options shown in the 

chart at right. 

Two of the top reasons for both architects and 

contractors are because investing in DEI is the right thing to 

do and to encourage a more positive workplace culture. In 

both cases, a much higher percentage of architects select 

these reasons than contractors, but it is still important to 

note that they are among the most frequently cited reasons 

that contractors invest, especially contractors whose 

companies are highly engaged in DEI practices (74% and

65%,respectively).

Architects also frequently select increased well-being 

of their staff, which is reported by nearly half. In contrast, 

only 9% of contractors report that increased health/safety 

of staff/workers is a cause for investment. Other Dodge 

research demonstrates the high degree of importance 

contractors place on increasing the health and safety of 

their workers, so the low score here suggests that most 

contractors do not make a direct connection between their 

DEI practices and safety and health, even among those 

highly engaged in these efforts. 

Instead, the other major factor driving current levels of 

investment for nearly half (42%) of contractors is the ability

to attract and retain workers, and again, nearly two thirds 

(65%) of those highly engaged in DEI efforts select this as an

important reason for their investment. Among architects, 

this is a second-tier driver, important to about one third 

(34%).

Other second tier drivers for architects and contractors 

include increasing diversity in the overall industry, improved 

collaboration, meaningful business improvements and 

(especially for contractors) the ability to pursue more work. 

A few other findings of note include:

• More architects and contractors from companies with 

a high level of engagement with DEI practices select 

increasing diversity in the overall industry and meaningful 

business improvements than do others. This suggests 

that many of them believe that DEI engagement can 

have a positive impact on their businesses and the wider 

industry, notably more than respondents at less engaged 

companies. 

• General contractors more frequently cite increasing 

diversity in the overall industry (32%), the ability to pursue 

more work (30%) and government regulations (20%) 

than do specialty trade contractors (17%, 8% and 10%,

respectively). 

Top Reasons Companies Currently Invest in 

DEI Efforts 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

71% 

Right Thing to Do 48% 

More Positive 57%

Workplace Culture 41% 

Increased Well- 46% 

Being/Health/Safety 

of Staff/Workers 9%

Increased Diversity in 34% 

the Overall Industry 26% 

Ability to Attract/ 34%

Retain Workers 42% 

Improved 33% 

Collaboration at Our 

Organization 20%

Meaningful Business 28%

Improvements 24% 

Ability to Pursue 17%

More Work 22% 

14% 

Marketplace Pressure 9% 

Government 12%

Regulations 16% 

11% 

Owner Requirements 19% 

Architects Contractors 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

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Influences on DEI Engagement in Design and Construction

Factors Driving Investment in DEI Programs and Policies 

Architects and contractors were asked to select the top three 

factors that would encourage their companies to invest more 

resources in increasing diversity and inclusion programs 

and policies at their organization from the lists shown in the 

charts on this page and the following one. 

Architects 

TOP INFLUENCES 

Architects most frequently select increased new work 

opportunities as one of the top three factors that would 

encourage them to invest in DEI, followed closely by 

increased ability to attract new staff and more inclusive and 

positive workplace culture. 

These findings differ notably from the reasons they

have made investments so far. Direct business benefits

like increased new work opportunities and the increased 

ability to attract new staff rank much lower as a current 

driver than do the desire to do the right thing and to create 

a better workplace culture. These findings suggest that

more knowledge about how DEI engagement can yield these 

benefits could drive more investment.

• The desire for increased new work opportunities suggests 

the role that owners can play in helping to drive engagement 

with DEI in the industry, by considering their diversity 

and approaches to inclusion when reviewing architect 

proposals (see page 53 for more information). 

• More information about how firms’ staff recruitment

efforts are impacted by their commitments to diversity and 

inclusion could also help encourage greater engagement 

across the design profession. 

Having increased ability to attract new staff ranks even 

higher among respondents from midsize (45%) and large

(46%) firms than it does for small ones (24%), and nearly half of

project managers (49%) also consider this highly influential.

OTHER INFLUENCES 

Better client relationships and increased staff well-being

form a second tier of influential factors. Increased staff wellbeing is of greater importance to those with a moderate (39%) 

or high (33%) level of engagement with DEI practices than it is 

for those who are less engaged (17%), which may suggest that

those more engaged with DEI have a higher expectation that 

improved well-being of their staff is a potential benefit. The

challenge is likely in quantifying that impact. 

Ownerrequirements, greater profitability and greater

employee engagement are also moderately influential.

Factors That Would Encourage Architect 

Firms to Invest More Resources in Increasing 

Diversity and Inclusion Programs and Policies 

(Selected in the Top Three) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Increased New Work 

Opportunities 

Increased Ability to 

Attract New Staff 

More Inclusive and Positive 

Workplace Culture 

Better Client 

Relationships 

Increased Staff 

Well-Being

Owner 

Requirements 

Greater 

Profitability

Greater Employee 

Engagement 

Improved Internal 

Collaboration 

Improved External 

Collaboration 

Increased Ability to 

Attract New People for 

Leadership Positions 

36% 

34% 

33% 

29% 

27% 

21% 

19% 

16% 

10% 

8% 

8% 
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DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

 

 

 

Influences on DEI Engagement in Design and Construction

Factors Driving Investment in DEI Programs and Policies 

CONTINUED 

Contractors 

Contractor responses about what would encourage them to 

invest in the future are more consistent with the factors that 

have encouraged their current investments than are the 

architect responses. 

TOP INFLUENCES 

Their top two most influential factors, increased ability

to attract new talent and desire to do the right thing, are 

the factors that are already encouraging those who are 

investing in DEI to do so. This suggests that more concrete 

examples of how DEI programs help recruit talent would 

encourage more contractors to increase engagement with 

DEI at their companies. 

• Encouragingly, more respondents under 50 (37%) include

the increased ability to attract new talent among the top 

three influential factors more frequently than do those

60 and over (20%). This may suggest that a reputation

for diversity and inclusion helps to recruit younger staff 

members, and it may be a reason for wider adoption 

in the future, since attracting younger people to the 

construction industry has been a long-term challenge. 

• Doing the right thing is particularly influential as a reason

for those whose companies are already highly engaged in 

DEI practices (58%) to engage more. This suggests that 

many of these contractors may believe there is more that 

they can do than what their company has already done. 

OTHER INFLUENCES 

Three of the factors included in the study form a second tier 

of influence. They include a mix of items, including the pull

of business benefits and improvingworkplace culture, and

the push of owner requirements. 

• Similar to doing the right thing, having a more inclusive 

and positive workplace culture is particularly influential

among those at companies with a high level of 

engagement with DEI currently. Again, this suggests wide 

recognition of the continuing need to improve, especially 

among those already most engaged. 

• Owner requirements rank fifth on this list, but they rank

eighth as a reason for engaging in DEI currently. This again 

reinforces the importance of owners as a driver for future 

engagement, and may reflect expectations that more

owners are likely to have DEI requirements in the future. 

• Respondents from the West frequently place owner 

requirements (32%) in their top three, significantly more

often than those in the South (16%) and slightly more

frequently than in the Northeast (20%) or Midwest (27%).

Factors That Would Encourage Construction 

Companies to Invest More Resources in 

Increasing Diversity and Inclusion Programs 

and Policies (Selected in the Top Three) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Increased Ability to 

Attract New Talent 

Desire to Do the 

Right Thing 

Increased New Work 

Opportunities 

More Inclusive and 

Positive Workplace 

Culture 

Owner 

Requirements 

Greater Profitability

Better Client 

Relationships 

Greater Employee 

Engagement 

Improved Collaboration 

on Projects 

Increased Safety and 

Well-Being of Workers

34% 

33% 

26% 

24% 

24% 

18% 

13% 

12% 

10% 

5% 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

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Influences on DEI Engagement in Design and Construction

External Factors That Would Enable More DEI Investment 

In addition to understanding what has led companies to 

make their current investments in DEI, it is also important 

to know what factors will drive those investments in the 

future. Internal triggers for those investments, such as the 

ability to realize specific benefits, are important, but so are

factors outside of their direct control, which nonetheless 

influence their investments. Therefore, architects and

contractors were asked about the factors that would 

enable them to increase their investment in DEI. 

Notably, despite the differences in the drivers that have 

encouraged investment so far between architects and 

contractors (see page 47), their response to the external

factors are very similar, and are thus shown together in the 

chart at right. 

The majority of these respondents (84%) believe that at

least one ofthese factorswould influence their company.

Notably, though, there is no single factor or two that ranks 

highly above the rest. Instead, seven different factors fall 

within a 10-percentage-point spread, suggesting that all of 

them are likely to have some influence.

• The top factor is having examples of successful 

programs by companies similar to ours. This finding

suggests that architects and contractors need more 

information about how to implement these programs. 

Notably, there are no significant differences by company

size in those who believe this would be influential.

• They also seek more information on the benefits of

adopting more practices, from the degree to which they 

offer a competitive benefit to more quantified data on

benefits. Among contractors, the quantified data is

especially sought by large companies (33%), and among 

architects, it is of particular importance to project 

managers (41%).

• The architects were also asked about the influence of

owners’ prioritizing firms that are diverse, and project

managers (41%) again would be influenced by this more

than others. This factor has slightly more impact than 

owners setting DEI requirements, which suggests they 

would prefer a competitive advantage over a mandate. 

• Other factors that would have some influence include

having more trained staff and leadership commitments. 

These findings demonstrate the importance of providing

more information about investments in DEI programs in 

the industry, both in terms of the benefits offered and also

to reveal strategies for implementation and other best 

practices. 

Factors That Would Enable Companies to 

Increase Investment in DEI 

(Selected in the Top Three) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

*Only Architects Asked

Examples of Successful 

Programs by Companies 

Similar to Ours 

Owner Prioritization of 

Firms With Diversity*

Perception That 

Diversity and Inclusion 

Policies Promote a 

Competitive Advantage 

More Data on 

Quantified Benefits

More Trained Staff to 

Implement Programs 

Effectively 

Owner Requirements 

Commitment by 

Company Leadership 

Access to Better Materials 

to Support Programs 

None of These 

Options 

31% 

27% 

26% 

25% 

22% 

22% 

21% 

18% 

16% 
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DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

 

Influences on DEI Engagement in Design and Construction

Challenges to Increasing Diversity and Inclusion Efforts 

Architects and contractors were asked about the top 

challenges to increasing diversity and inclusion at their 

organizations and across the industry at large. 

Challenges to Increasing DEI Efforts at 

Their Companies 

Notably, the responses for architects and contractors 

were very similar about the top challenges that prevent 

their organizations from investing more in DEI, revealing 

that most of these challenges are industry-wide. 

However, there is also no clear consensus around one 

or two challenges as the biggest issues. Instead, about 

one quarter of architects and contractors selected five

different options in their top three. This suggests that 

many different issues will need to be tackled to see 

significant increases in DEI engagement.

• The top two challenges, lack of confidence in seeing

business benefits from increasing DEI efforts and not

seeing the need for increased efforts, reveal that many 

do not recognize that lack of diversity is an issue or 

that increasing diversity and inclusion would improve 

their companies. While this study demonstrates that 

organizational, project and business benefits can be

achieved through greater diversity and inclusion, the 

perception that there is no need to improve will be 

difficultto dislodge.

• Concerns about cost and productivity impacts also 

suggest that some companies view DEI efforts as 

potentially disruptive. Companies also report that 

lack of knowledge about what to do is a hurdle. These 

particular concerns can be addressed with more case 

studies and examples being provided to the industry. 

These materials will need to show any negative impacts 

faced when implementing policies, but they also can 

demonstrate that the positive impacts on companies 

can outweigh the negative ones. 

• Interestingly, very few cite specific resistance

either among their staff or among leaders as a major 

issue. While that may be due to the concerns already 

expressed by the respondents themselves, it may also 

suggest likely adoption of more DEI efforts, should the 

business case and the means of doing so with minimal 

disruptions be more widely understood. 

About 14% of respondents indicate that they face other

challenges in addition to the ones included in the survey. 

Over half of them listed finding diverse individuals with

the skills they need to be a challenge faced by their 

Most Significant Challenges to Increasing

Diversity and Inclusion Efforts at Individual 

Companies (Selected in the Top Three) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Lack of Confidence in 

Seeing Business Benefits 

From Increasing DEI Efforts 

Do Not See the Need for 

Increased Efforts 

Concerns About Cost 

Lack of Knowledge 

About What to Do 

Concerns About 

Productivity Impacts 

Lack of Diversity at the 

Leadership Level 

Overcoming Internal 

Resistance to These 

Programs 

Lack of Commitment at the 

Leadership Level 

Concerns About Changing 

Company Culture 

25% 

24% 

23% 

15% 

10% 

10% 

8% 

28% 

20% 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

SmartMarket Report 52 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

 

 

 

Influences on DEI Engagement in Design and Construction

Challenges to Increasing Diversity and Inclusion Efforts CONTINUED 

organization, and this was pointed out equally by 

architects and contractors. A few architects also felt 

their company was too small to tackle this issue. 

Most Significant Challenges to

Increasing DEI in the Industry 

As with the factors inhibiting greater engagement 

with DEI efforts at companies, the findings about the

most significantindustry challenges to increasing

diversity are also closely grouped, with only an 

11-percentage-point range between all the options, 

and just a 3-percentage-point range between the 

top three. Again, this suggests that there is no single 

factor but many issues that deter wider adoption of 

these efforts currently. 

Architects and contractors largely agree about 

the top three factors: lack of trained diversity and 

inclusion professionals, the lack of confidence in

the business benefits of diversity and inclusion,

and varying hiring practices across organizations, 

so again, these are challenges that stretch across 

the design and construction industry. Those highly 

engaged with DEI efforts (37%) consider the lack of

trained DEI professionals to be a particularly difficult

challenge. 

However, there are notable differences in 

the share who rate some of the other challenges 

among their top three. Architects more frequently 

select the lack of coordinated efforts to provide 

outreach to underrepresented communities (31%) 

and the lack of an industry standard for promoting 

underrepresented groups to leadership positions 

(26%) among their top obstacles than do contractors

(17% and 12%, respectively). An even higher share of

those highly engaged with DEI efforts (35%) regard 

the lack of coordinated efforts to provide outreach to 

underrepresented communities to be a challenge. 

Thesefindings, especiallywhen combinedwith

the concern expressed by the respondents about 

finding diverse qualified candidates, suggest

that the industry needs to find ways to encourage

participation from more than those traditionally 

involved in construction. Specific examples

of successful engagements with community 

organizations and training could help those interested 

in engaging in these efforts but who don’t know where 

to begin. 

Most Significant Challenges to Increasing Diversity

and Inclusion Efforts Within the Design and 

Construction Industry (Selected in the Top Three) 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Lack of Trained Diversity and 

Inclusion Professionals 

Lack of Confidence in the 

Business Benefits of Diversity 

and Inclusion 

Varying Hiring Practices Across 

Organizations 

Lack of Coordinated Efforts 

to Provide Outreach to 

Underrepresented Communities

Lack of Leadership 

on This Issue 

Image of Industry Among 

Job Candidates 

Lack of Industry Standard for 

Promoting Underrepresented 

Groups to Leadership Positions 

30% 

29% 

28% 

24% 

22% 

20% 

19% 
SmartMarket Report 53 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

 

■ ■ ■ 

Influences on DEI Engagement in Design and Construction

Role of Owners in Helping to Advance Diversity in Design

and Construction 

Owners can be true agents of change in design and 

construction. Their requirements can reshape trends into 

established practices,and they can add elements to their 

criteria for evaluating bids that they think will benefit the

project and the industry. It is likely that owner engagement 

with increasing diversity and inclusion through their bidding 

and proposal review processes would have the impact 

of encouraging the industry, butthatinfluencewould be

affected by the degree to which the industry believes it can 

meet the standards set by owners. 

Therefore, the respondents to the survey were asked 

about three topics: 

• Do they agree or disagree that owner requirement for 

diversity/use of diversity as a selection criterion would 

create a major burden for their company? 

• Do they agree or disagree that owner requirements for 

diversity/use of diversity as a selection criterion would 

have a positive impact on diversity in the industry? 

• Do they agree or disagree that owner requirements for 

diversity/use of diversity as a selection criterion would 

have a positive impact on the industry as a whole? 

The responses to each of these sets of questions are shown 

in the charts on this page and the next for architects and 

contractors. 

PERCEPTION THAT OWNER REQUIREMENTS FOR 

DIVERSITY/USE OF DIVERSITY AS A SELECTION 

CRITERION WOULD BE A BURDEN 

The chart at upper right show the responses of architects 

and contractors on the degree to which owner requirements 

would create a burden for their organizations. 

• There is little distinction in the responses between owners 

having requirements for diversity or just using diversity as 

a selection criterion. Roughly the same share find each to

either be or not be a burden. 

• Architects are much more sanguine about the impact 

of these owner efforts, with well over one third actively 

disagreeing with the assumption that they would be a 

burden compared with around one quarter who agree. 

• Over 40% of contractors, in contrast, expect such

requirements/selection criterion to be a major burden, 

and only about one quarter disagree. 

The notable share of architects and contractors who are 

neutral about the impacts of these measures suggest that 

they expect some challenges, but not major ones, if owners 

were to take these approaches. 

Throughout the findings, contractors have consistently

Impact on Companies of Owner Efforts to 

Increase Diversity 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Owner requirements for diversity will create 

a major burden for my company. 

Architects 

Contractors 

24% 42% 34% 

45% 34% 21% 

Owner use of diversity as a selection criterion 

will create a major burden for my company. 

Architects 

Contractors 

26% 37% 37% 

41% 34% 25% 

Agree Neutral Disagree 
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION DATA

SmartMarket Report 54 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

• • • 

• • • 

Influences on DEI Engagement in Design and Construction

Role of Owners in Helping to Advance Diversity in Design

and Construction CONTINUED 

considered diversity to be a workforce issue, with benefits to

boosting the workforce and challenges due to limited skilled 

resources to choose from prioritized in their responses 

(see pages 28, 49 and 52). Therefore, it is not surprising that

contractors are more concerned about the degree of burden 

these approaches would have on their ability to get work. 

Not surprisingly, the share already highly engaged in 

diversity efforts who expect that the owner actions will be 

a burden is much smaller than those at the low end of the 

spectrum (17% versus 41%). Companies already focusing

on diversity are better positioned to benefit from these

changes. 

PERCEPTION OF THE IMPACT OF THESE OWNER 

EFFORTS ON INCREASING DIVERSITY IN THE INDUSTRY 

Again, in both sets of responses, there is little distinction 

between owner requirements for diversity and owner use 

of diversity as a selection criteria. Architects are also more 

positive about the potential for these owners’ activities 

to improve diversity in the industry and contractors less 

so, consistent with the responses to the previous set of 

questions. Again, with the contractor concerns about finding

enough skilled workers at all, many may believe that owner 

requirements/selection criteria will not help them directly 

address this issue. 

Notably, well over half of those who have a high level of 

engagement with DEI practices agree that these owner 

actions would improve diversity in the industry. This is also 

likely due to their perspective about the degree to which 

diversity can be increased based on their own experiences. 

PERCEPTION OF THE IMPACT OF THESE OWNER 

EFFORTS ON IMPROVING THE INDUSTRY 

Responses to this question are similar to those about 

increasing diversity in the industry. It is notable, though, that 

a slightly smaller share think these actions will improve the 

industry than those who think they will increase diversity in 

the industry. 

A small share (7%) of respondents who believe that the

requirements will create a major burden also believe that 

having them will improve the industry. 

BEST MEANS FOR OWNERS HAVING AN IMPACT 

Architects and contractors were asked an open question 

about how owners can best help the industry with diversity 

and inclusion. The top responses included leading by 

example and setting benchmarks/policies/goals. However, 

many also felt that owners should not play a role at all. The 

findings suggest notable divisions across the industry about

the role owners should play in promoting diversity. 

Impact of Owner Efforts on Increasing Diversity 

in the Design and Construction Industry 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Owner requirements for diversity will have a 

positive impact on diversity in the industry. 

49% 37% 14% 

26% 46% 28% 

Architects 

Contractors 

Owner use of diversity as a selection criterion will 

have a positive impact on diversity in the industry. 

53% 36% 11% 

24% 48% 28% 

Architects 

Contractors 

Agree Neutral Disagree 

Impact of Owner Efforts on Improving the 

Design and Construction Industry 

Dodge Data & Analytics, 2022 

Owner requirements for diversity will improve 

the design and construction industry. 

43% 34% 23% 

25% 40% 35% 

Architects 

Contractors 

Owner use of diversity as a selection criterion will 

improve the design and construction industry. 

39% 40% 21% 

23% 43% 34% 

Architects 

Contractors 

Agree Neutral Disagree 
SmartMarket Report 55 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

Methodology: 

Diversity in Design and Construction Study 

The research was conducted from April 6

to May 26, 2022 utilizing an online survey/

Request for Information (RFI) issued by 

theU.S.GeneralServicesAdministration.

Sample was provided by the DD&A 

Architect and Contractor panels. 

Respondents 

All respondents were required to work at a 

company located in the US and to work on

primarily nonresidential construction. 

• Architects: Respondents had to be 

employed at an architectural firm or a

design-build company that leads with 

architecture. All job roles were allowed 

except graduate architect, drafter or 

intern. 

• Contractors: Respondents had to 

be employed at a general contractor, 

construction manager,design-build 

company or a specialty trade contractor/ 

fabricator company. All job roles were 

allowed except administrative staff. 

418 professionals responded to the survey.

• 205 Architects 

• 213 Contractors 

Respondentswork on commercial (87%),

institutional (77%), multifamily (55%),

industrial (47%), single family residential

(29%), transportation (17%), water/

wastewater (14%) and energy/power (9%)

projects. 

ARCHITECT RESPONDENTS 

• Distribution by Region 

• Northeast: 20% 

• Midwest: 25% 

• South: 25% 

• West: 30% 

• Job Roles of Respondents 

• Principal or Executive: 45%

• Design Architect, Project Architect or 

Staff Architect: 33% 

• Project Manager or Project Director: 

19% 

• Other: 3% 

• Race 

• White: 75%

• Asian: 9% 

• Black/African American: 2%

• Native American/American Indian/ 

Alaska Native: 1% 

• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific 

Islander: 1% 

• Other: 3% 

• Prefer Not to Answer: 14%

• Ethnicity 

• Hispanic or Latino: 3% 

• Not Hispanic or Latino: 84%

• Prefer Not to Answer: 13% 

• Age 

• 30–39: 7%

• 40–49: 25%

• 50–59: 34%

• 60–69: 24%

• 70 or Older: 10%

• Gender Identity 

• Male: 69%

• Female: 24%

• Prefer Not to Answer: 7%

CONTRACTOR RESPONDENTS 

• 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D ~ Dodge 

Construction 

Network 

® 

Resources 

Organizations, websites and publications to help you get smarter about 

promoting diversity, equity and inclusion at your company and in your practice. 

Dodge Construction Network 

Main Website: 

www.construction.com 

Dodge Construction Central: 

www.construction.com/products 

Market & Competitive Intelligence: 

www.construction.com/products/ 

construction-market-data 

Sweets: 

www.construction.com/ 

products/sweets 

SmartMarket Reports: 

www.construction.com/ 

toolkit/reports 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

We would like to thank the U.S. General Services Administration for their partnership

in bringing this critical research to the design and construction industry, which 

demonstrates their leadership and commitment to this important issue. 

We thank BHDP for their skilled project coordination efforts and astute insights during

the research process. 

We also thank all the people who contributed their insights, images and data in our 

sidebar articles and case studies for generously sharing their experiences with 

diversity, equity and inclusion with the rest of the industry. 

U.S. General Services Administration

www.gsa.gov 

Resources 

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility 

at the U.S. General Services Administration: 

www.gsa.gov/governmentwide-initiatives/ 

diversity-equity-inclusion-and-accessibility 

American Institute of Architects (AIA) Equity, 

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging: 

www.aia.org/landing-pages/6436683-equitydiversity-inclusion-and-belonging 

Associated Builders and Contractors Inclusion, Diversity

and Equity Program: https://diversity.abc.org 

Associated General Contractors of America Diversity 

and Inclusion: www.agc.org/diversity 

Boston Society of Architects (BSA) Equity in Practice

Resource Guide: www.architects.org/uploads/ 

BSA_EquityInPractice_ResourceGuide.pdf 

Culture of Care: https://buildculture.org 

Design for Freedom by Grace Farms: 

www.designforfreedom.org 

International Living Future Institute: 

https://living-future.org 

National Association of Minority Architects: 

www.noma.net 

National Association of Minority Contractors: 

https://namcnational.org 

National Institute of Building Sciences 2021 Built

Environment Social Equity Survey: 

www.nibs.org/projects/2021-builtenvironment-social-equity-survey 

North America’s Building Trades Union Diversity Toolkit: 

https://nabtu.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/ 

Diversity-Toolkit-draft-6-15-17.pdf 

U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Environmental

Justice LEED Credit: www.usgbc.org/credits/ 

cities-existing-communities-existing/v41-32 

The contents of this report are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the GSA. GSA does not endorse any of the organizations referenced in this

report (including but not limited to the sidebar articles), and we do not endorse the views expressed or the products/services offered.

SmartMarket Report 56 Dodge Data & Analytics • www.construction.com 
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