Women in Field Service: A Smart Hiring Tactic

Where are all the field workers? A four-part blog series examines the shortage of skilled technicians and offers tips for keeping the roster filled with top performers.

Women in field service: A smart hiring tactic for overcoming the industry’s labor shortage

Despite a severe shortage of field technicians, the field service industry seems to be overlooking one valuable demographic when recruiting and hiring: women. Research shows that women make up less than 9% of field service technicians today.

Service organizations need to expand the talent pool of prospective hires if they are going to keep pace with market demand. Replacing retiring technicians is a challenge—that promises to worsen. In a recent survey, when technicians were asked if they plan to stay in their roles, more than 40% anticipate leaving the field service profession within three years, making service executives uneasy that the current shortage will only worsen.

The HR Daily Advisor suggests that women can help fill this gaping need, despite some hiring hurdles and stigmas that will need to be addressed. “There is more opportunity and need than ever before for women in field services.” Unfortunately, misconceptions get in the way. “There is a certain amount of stigma surrounding women in the field service industry. Stereotypes still exist for positions that have historically been male-dominated, especially around perceptions of physical strength and technical know-how.”

Overcoming these hurdles is worth the effort, experts profess. The HR Daily Advisor says, “Field services can thrive from the benefits of having women in the field, in the office, and at the leadership helm.” Women tend to be detail-oriented, tenacious, skilled at communicating with customers, and highly intuitive about problem-solving and finding appropriate solutions to difficult challenges. These are attributes that make a technician excel.

Challenges to overcome

In order to recruit women into the organization, some changes in perception and practices will need to be made. For example, unconscious bias can be a factor. Without realizing they are making biased assumptions, organizational leaders and job hunters alike may be having trouble picturing women in the role of field service technicians. Education, awareness, and more women role models will help change perceptions.  

It can be difficult to recruit women for jobs they don’t know exist. Organizations wanting to employ more women in technician roles should consider meeting them in schools before they make career choices. Going to career fairs at high schools and colleges helps demonstrate that your organization cares about diversity and offers clearly defined opportunities.

Whether it’s at a career fair, in job postings, or in initial interviews, be sure to stress the exciting aspects of the job, such as working with digitally advanced products and smart service management solutions that help guide newly hired field workers through defined workflows.

Field service brands should also consider how their job descriptions are worded and make sure they are not skewed to appeal to men alone.

"In terms of attracting more women to field service, research shows that many job descriptions in traditionally male-dominated roles are written to appeal to men," says Global Service Strategy and Program Manager Cathy Klein in an interview about women in field service roles. "While this is not intentional, it needs some review. As leaders, we need to work to ensure job descriptions are gender-neutral. We also need to ensure we are marketing these jobs broadly and in non-traditional ways."

Fighting bias

Making field service more visible as a career path is just the beginning. Organizations need to overcome their own internal biases, even if they are unintentional.

"It’s a male-dominated industry at the executive level," says Mirian Herold-Young, Business Process Manager for a large equipment company. "People, without realizing it, promote people that they identify with. It’s a natural human behavior. This can lead to a lack of diversity, not just in gender, but also in thought and experience," she says in a WBR Field Service event blog.

It's important to make sure women are included in management roles, not just field technician roles. This helps demonstrate your commitment to diversity and provides role models for young women considering field service as a possible career path.

"This is definitely helping to bring more of that diversity of thought to management and that can only continue to grow. Mentorship can make a big difference as well. For the women who do breakthrough into leadership, if they can help build even more diverse leadership through mentoring, it will have a big impact," adds Herold-Young

The Field Engineer recently profiled Tamsin Jordan, a field service engineer for NanoString Technologies, based in the UK and dispatched worldwide to service complex biotech equipment. She says that throughout her entire career, she has always been the single female service technician, a situation that can be frustrating but not totally disheartening.

She considers the variety of work to be one of the rewards. This keeps the job exciting, she says. “Being a lifelong learner adds a lot of value to my work-life experience: it reduces monotony, keeps my mind engaged, my skill bank growing, which then enables me to experience different companies and systems and also enables me to become proficient in different things. In short, it is like a snowball of potential which keeps me rolling towards experiences I want to have.”

“The value of a diverse team in terms of age, gender, and ethnicity is that every human brings their own spice and strength to a team. I personally think that it shows a great side to a company when they break out of outdated ways of thinking and operating and include a diverse range of people,” adds Jordan.

Forging new ground in a male-dominated sector

Judith Lesowiec is also a female field service engineer with hopes that field service roles will become more gender-neutral. Lesowiec, Lead Engineer for Edwards Vacuum, is leading a team exploring the use of technology to overcome challenges with lifting heavy equipment or parts as part of the job.

In an interview with Field Engineer, Lesowiec discusses the challenges women often encounter in the field. “Being a male-dominated sector, some field service tasks can be designed to the average male lifting and height requirements,” she says. “This means that field service engineers who don’t fit those initial design requirements may struggle or be unable to complete some service tasks. This is of course by no means the engineers’ failing, rather that initial gender-neutral task designs were not taken into consideration.”

Her team uses AI- (Artificial Intelligence) backed technology to measure the ergonomic suitability—and safety—of field service tasks. If dangerous situations are found, new workflows can be developed, such as pairing technicians in teams on certain types of dispatches. Lesowiec’s team is also exploring the use of exoskeletons to assist with lifting. These devices can provide up to 30kg additional lifting strength. Other emerging technologies, like health monitoring wearable trackers and mixed reality headsets, are being considered as ways to keep improving the field service engineer experience.

“The ultimate aim is that no one’s physical body limitations will stop them from becoming a field service engineer,” Lesowiec says. “I am convinced that adopting the right emerging technologies will continue to increase the diversity of our field service engineer population. This will then ensure that nobody is being held back because of their gender.”

Parting thoughts

Organizations that perform field service must make changes to their recruiting habits, beginning with expanding the talent pool. Turning to the female population for prospects is an important step that could double the number of applicants. But more action is needed. From changing job descriptions to be gender-neutral to assigning technician teams to the dispatches where heavy lifting may be involved, organizations will need to review and adjust their practices. Adding women to the field technician team will bring many benefits, including technicians skilled in communication, problem-solving, and out-of-the-box thinking.    

Discover how to overcome the technician shortage with field service software.