Think EDI is a ‘soft’ issue? Think again – workforce integration is now critical to delivering safe, high-quality construction, says Florence Phua FCIOB in her new academic research
The CM article, EDI in Construction: Local Solutions for a Global Challenge, challenges the assumption that EDI sits outside core project delivery. Instead, it demonstrates how EDI directly shapes collaboration between clients, consultants and contractors, influencing project performance, innovation and workforce integration.
The article tackles a key industry issue: persistent skills shortages alongside fragmented supply chains and uneven safety and quality outcomes. It argues that EDI is not simply an ethical concern, but a practical mechanism for improving decision-making, reducing risk blind spots and strengthening stakeholder engagement, especially critical on complex, multidisciplinary projects.
This work is part of ongoing research on workforce integration, particularly of migrant construction workers. Migrant workers are often underintegrated, with language, cultural and organisational barriers undermining safety and efficiency. EDI policies risk remaining superficial unless they systematically enable workforce integration across the sector.
Supporting evidence reinforces this point.
- Building bridges: the bilingual language work of migrant construction workers, Phua and Tutt (2023), reveals how migrant workers perform essential “bilingual language work”, informally bridging communication gaps on sites, yet this invisible labour is unrecognised.
- ‘Trans’forming identities: migrant workers as informal interpreters, Fellows, Phua and Tutt (2025), further shows how migrant workers act as informal interpreters to sustain project delivery, but navigating multiple linguistic and cultural roles without formal support exposes systemic shortcomings in inclusion and integration.
A clear business case
The research makes a clear business case: structured integration through inclusive procurement, equitable workforce policies and culturally aware practices deliver measurable benefits that lead to stronger skills resilience, fewer errors and improved safety outcomes. This aligns closely with CIOB priorities around skills, sustainability and quality.
Construction professionals must move beyond policy compliance and embed EDI and workforce integration strategies into procurement, governance and everyday project practice. Designing environments where diverse teams collaborate effectively is no longer optional.
Dr Florence Phua FCIOB is an associate professor at the School of the Built Environment, University of Reading.
If you are a CIOB member interested in publishing your academic research on CM, please email [email protected].
