FEBRUARY 2020 | 31
Skills
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2. Don’t neglect training
By offering proper training pro-
grammes, construction companies
have the opportunity to help close
the skills gap with new talent. It’s
not just labour-intensive roles that
are suffering from the skills short-
age — there is also a demand for
tech and digital skills.
But rather than looking ex-
ternally for these roles, use it as
an opportunity to upskill your
current staff. Nurturing talent
within your business is great for
morale; plus, you’ll help to devel-
op your team’s careers, skill sets
and better utilise ambitious and
forward-thinking workers.
The training involved with up-
skilling current workers can be as
simple as one-on-one mentoring,
or you can make use of the wide
range of online and practical cours-
es available for skill development.
There are also government-fund-
ed schemes available to help train
future construction workers. For in-
stance, we are currently in the mid-
dle of an 18-month fund set up by
the government, launched with a
budget of £22 million. This scheme
launched 20 on-site hubs, of which
people looking to join the indus-
try, as well as people switching
careers, can apply their knowledge
in a real-world environment. Military leavers offer the
unique opportunity for construc-
tion firms to hire workers that
can effectively follow instruc-
tions, work well as a team and
can keep calm under pressure.
It’s a unique opportunity that is
too good to pass up.
3. Look for skilled workers
in the right places 4. Address the
gender imbalance
Ensuring that next-generation
workers are knowledgeable about
the industry is vital, but there
are other skilled groups that are
waiting to be snapped up by the
industry.
For example, over 14,000 leave
the military every year, meaning
the construction industry has a
pool of highly trained individuals
with transferable skills at their dis-
posal. There are a number of com-
panies that have already reaped
the benefits of military leavers, and
even provide specialist training
and learning credits to get them
fully trained as soon as possible. Part of the problem is that
construction is a historically
male-dominated industry. Be-
tween 2007 and 2016, reports
found that the number of women
workers in construction only rose
by 0.7%, resulting in an incredi-
bly low 12.8% total. But it’s not
just workers in the industry, near-
ly half of construction workers
claimed that they have never had
a female manager.
Whatever the role, women
in construction are being over-
looked. As women make up half
of the population, it seems crazy
that the industry is ignoring so
much potential talent that it sorely
needs to help fill the skills gap.
Educating female students is a
crucial step that companies need
to take, as only 22% currently
work with schools to help break
the stigma of construction. But
it’s not just about attracting more
women to the industry — com-
panies need to make sure they’re
not ignoring their current talent
due to their gender. For example,
the international infrastructure
group Balfour Beatty has taken
strides to address gender inequal-
ity by introducing an initiative to
support women through career
breaks for childcare.
5. Embrace modern
methods of construction
The government has already
been warned by the Housing,
Communities and Local Govern-
ment Committee that an over-re-
liance on traditional building
methods will see the UK fall short
of its home-building targets.
To keep the industry on target,
construction companies need to
look outside the norm and em-
brace more modern techniques.
From off-site construction,
manufacturing and assembly to
modular constructions, there are
a number of avenues companies
can take to improve efficiency
while maintaining quality.
“The construction industry is
always changing,” says Daniel
Ure from online PPE retailer
Vizwear. “We’re constantly seeing
exciting new innovations that al-
low us to work smarter and more
efficiently.”
“In order to make the most of
new industry methods, it’s vital
that new talent is found to close
the skills gap. Construction is
still trying to shake off its past
image, but by pooling its resourc-
es into educating and training
future generations and current
talent, the industry can ensure it’s
recruiting the right workers to hit
its targets.”