How can we better support women and young professionals in building automation and engineering?
Casey Crown, Reliable Controls Business Development Executive for California, recently appeared on the Consulting-Specifying Engineer podcast for a wide-ranging discussion that touched on career challenges for women, mentorship, how automation empowers building owners, and more. Read on for highlights from her conversation with podcast host Amara Rozgus, or visit csemag.com to hear the full interview.
Amara: We’ve seen a lot over the past several years, Casey. From your perspective, how has the role of women in the HVAC industry evolved over the years?
Casey: I think the number-one thing that has changed over the years is just the volume of women in the HVAC industry and also the visibility… Another big one I’ve seen is the assistance of allies in our field. We see men and leadership who are finding out that there is a business case for recruiting and retaining women in the HVAC industry. We have a huge shortage coming ahead in our workforce, a big gap, and women and even young folks and young engineers are going to need to fill that gap sooner than later.
Amara: What are some of the biggest challenges that women are facing in HVAC today? How have you personally navigated them, or have you experienced these challenges yourself?
Casey: I think the biggest challenge is we desperately need women to enter technical roles and then more leadership roles. That is directly tied to bringing more women into the industry. What I’ve noticed is that when women are not in those technical roles or in leadership roles, and they are in the industry as more of an admin, they’re not the ones making the big decisions, and they’re not helping firms look at both sides of the experience for tenants and building owners. We desperately need more visibility there, and we need more mentorship… Making time for mentorship and having a mentorship program in place is really going to be key in passing along this knowledge we’ve learned through years of experience.
Amara: So what kind of strategies have you found most effective in supporting junior team members, especially women?
Casey: Well, really it’s about making the availability, and it is a big… It’s a huge sacrifice. You’ve got to schedule time. You’ve got to offer coaching or mentorship without burning yourself out for your own pursuits and your own career. But also keeping yourself curious and really reflecting on things you did in the past and ways you could really help young women or young engineers as they navigate through this career. Part of that is taking them out on job sites, really bringing them under your wing on a project and thoroughly explaining why we’re doing what we’re doing—not just how to do it, but, “Okay, this is the reason why we do things this way because in the past we’ve seen it creates better collaboration and a better end result for a project or overall sustainability for everybody in the built environment.”
Amara: What other practical steps can companies take to attract and then retain more women in HVAC engineering?
Casey: I think on the recruitment side, having a woman on the hiring committee or having a woman who is a hiring manager is absolutely essential for every single firm from here on out… In my experience, I was able to combat biases as we were reviewing résumés or going to career fairs and having that initial talk with young engineers and women. I sat through too many of these conversations with men who had really great intentions but would ask questions like, “Well, has she ever held a drill? Would she be able to go on a job site? Would her shoes work there?” Not realizing these are very… They never would have asked these questions of men in the industry who had experience or even men who had the bias of more attention or more skills with their hands… We also need to talk about bringing in equitable policies. I’m glad I’m seeing the shift toward paternity leave. It benefits men, right? But on the other side of that, it actually benefits women just as much, because what we’re doing is we’re shifting the idea of who the default parent is in conversations and then also just in society. It’s able to help women to bring a balance at home, which will help them bring balance to their career.
Amara: Looking at innovations or trends, what are you seeing in control systems for building engineering? What’s exciting you in the industry?
Casey: I think the biggest trend, which is kind of interesting in my opinion, is a refocus in our industry on looking at people. We’re looking at investment in people as far as training them up, mentoring them. But we’re also looking at being tenant-focused from the owner’s perspective and the contractor’s perspective, where we’re looking at tenant comfort, making buildings more flexible, spaces more flexible, but also looking out for the occupant health in a building, the occupant productivity in a building. I’m really excited to see that owners and operators are…feeling more empowered and engaged with building automation systems overall. What I’d love to see in the future is continuing that curiosity, continuing that empowerment and really having all the designer, consulting engineer, and architect working hand in hand with the building automation contractor and really developing a system that isn’t just the lowest bid but something that is really usable for the owner in the future so they can scale their portfolio more easily, or they can attract new and exciting tenants and also retain those tenants long term.
To hear more of Casey’s insights, including how mentorship, allyship, and thoughtful recruitment can shape a stronger, more inclusive future for building automation, listen to the full podcast at csemag.com.
