Wāhine at Precinct

We asked Lauren Joyce a few questions about her career at Precinct and also what it means to be a part of the PCNZ D&I Committee...

You’ve had a few different roles in property, what led you to the Asset Manager role you have now ?

I worked in the industry, but not in a property specific role. I was lucky to get lots of exposure to different facets of the industry within my role/s at Precinct and the more I learnt about Property and Development the more I wanted to work closer with the assets and have greater accountability for asset strategy and performance.

Do you think there remain challenges for women to progress their property career?

Even in the time I have been in the industry I think there is much greater representation of women in every property related discipline. Taking Property at uni is now a much more popular choice for women than it was 10-years ago, which is great as this feeds the talent pipeline for the future. As there is still a shortage of women at an Executive/Board level within the Property industry (and other industries in NZ) it’s key to understand what the barriers may be for women entering a property related discipline or furthering their career to board level within the industry.

Do you have any advice for women who want to progress their property career?

I’ve found it to be a very welcoming and community orientated industry, people are really open with their knowledge, happy to help & like to make connections – you do have to put yourself out there, which doesn’t always come naturally, but forming relationships is everything in this industry. Let people know your aspirations or what you think you might be interested in - we’re really lucky that we work for a business that will let us gain experience outside our core role, but you do have to speak up – Emma (Precinct HR Manager) is brilliant, but she can’t read minds (unfortunately!).

What are the key focus areas of the PCNZ D&I Committee?

The Diversity & Inclusion committee was first tasked with understanding current gender representation within the NZ Property industry. We undertook surveying last year and from that we could see there was good gender balance within the entry and mid-manager role level, but further up the chain there is a lack of women represented in key management roles.

To address this, we focus on providing PCNZ member businesses with tools to better understand and improve on various diversity metrics. The greater engagement we have from member businesses the more likely (and more quickly) we will be able to build a diverse and inclusive industry.

PCNZ is committed to achieving balance of gender representation at events, on panels and within PCNZ articles. Representation matters, when you see yourself represented in a role that you associate with leadership you are more effectively motivated, you have someone to emulate and look up to. If that person looks like us or shares a similar background, we're more likely to be able to identify with them and imagine ourselves in that position in the future.