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There’s a true story Nick Cardone relates when he talks about the challenges of working in a male-dominated environment.
The therapist tells of a young man he knows who was working as an apprentice plumber and, as the newest member of the crew, was made to do all the most arduous tasks.
“He was basically being told to do this incredibly difficult hunk of work while everyone else was standing around watching him basically sledgehammer through four feet of concrete.”
As if that wasn’t hard enough, they were taunting him while he worked.
“People are also making references to what they’re going to do to his girlfriend after they slip her some roofies.”
Cardone says those kinds of incidents involving bullying and harassment are not uncommon in male-dominated workplaces.
It’s a culture he’s aiming to change through workshops called Solid Foundations being offered in the construction sector in Nova Scotia.
“A lot of these male-dominated work environments tend to be associated with a lot of these traditional masculine norms of how we’re supposed to be and that gets us into trouble.”
Masculine norms can be harmful
Those masculine norms include traits like being tough, strong, confident, stoic and self-reliant, Cardone says, while behaviours like seeking help when struggling or communicating about emotions are not typically supported.
Those attitudes can contribute to poor health in men. The rates of suicide, addiction, depression and anxiety are all higher in the construction industry compared with other industries, says Cardone.
According to a survey of front-line construction workers in Nova Scotia, 26 per cent of respondents reported regularly using alcohol or drugs to cope with stress, 35 per cent experienced discrimination or harassment and 50 per cent said they did not feel comfortable discussing mental health with colleagues.
Other male-dominated fields such as the military, law, medicine and first responders see similar patterns, Cardone says.
“Statistically, those are the really messed-up spaces that need some work around shifting culture.”
Cardone, as well as another therapist, Brian Braganza of Tandem Truths Consulting, have been offering the workshops through the Construction Association of Nova Scotia.
Duncan Williams, the president of the association, says the “boys will be boys” attitude that was prevalent in the sector for generations is no longer acceptable, and some people “may not have got the memo.”
“What we’re trying to do now is create better communicators, people that understand their own emotional intelligence and understand their own impact on others.”
Williams says about 90 per cent of the workforce in Nova Scotia’s construction sector is male, and that number rises to 95 per cent in the trades.
Changing the culture will not only help improve the health and safety of workers, but could also draw more underrepresented groups into the industry, Williams says.
“We have to create a positive culture where there’s a shared and common understanding that your peers are equal to you and you’re equal to them, and treating each other in a respectful manner is really important for everybody’s well-being and mental health and safety.”
‘A bullying culture’
Nick West is a supervisor with Lindsay Construction and says he’s seen some problematic behaviours on job sites over his 21 years in the sector.
“It’s a bullying culture that we’re trying to turn around,” West says. “People were really hard on each other, really hard on each other’s work ethics, really hard on how good you are at your job.”
Substance abuse is “championed quite a bit,” he says, with how much someone drinks, or how much time they spend getting wasted over the weekend being a “matter of pride as opposed to something that could signal a more serious problem.”
West says the culture has improved over the years he’s spent in the business, but there’s more work to be done.
He says the course helped him think about how to better communicate with people, consider people’s individual situations, speak up when necessary and share resources that can help.
Amanda Penney, the vice-president of people and culture with Lindsay Construction, said men who have taken the course called it “transformative and eye-opening,” and she hopes it helps employees pick up on unhealthy behaviours or attitudes and address them in a healthy way.
“It’s hard for men to ask for help or go to therapy or get counselling because it may be perceived as a weakness,” she said.
“We felt it was really important to make sure that the men that work for Lindsay Construction and the men that work in the construction industry have access to education, awareness, support and resources for mental health.”
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