26 | OCTOBER 2019
Skills
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
HOW THE SKILLS GAP HAS
AFFECTED THE GOVERNMENT’S
HOMEBUILDING TARGETS
It’s no secret that the construction industry is currently facing an increasingly
large skills shortage. The industry has long suffered from a lack of skilled workers,
making it more difficult than ever to hit deadlines due to the shrinking talent pool.
This is a big problem for the
government, whose plans to build
300,000 new homes a year by the
mid-2020s is becoming more of
a pipe dream. In fact, according
to the Royal Institute of Char-
tered Surveyors (RICS), the lack
of skilled construction workers
is at its highest point since 2007.
In order to get back on track, the
industry needs to recruit over
200,000 more workers by 2020.
Below, industry experts at
Vizwear explore what problems
the skills shortage in construction
is causing for the government’s
homebuilding targets — and what
companies can do to help fill key
positions.
‘
young people
need to be
re-educated
about what
construction
is really like
’
What’s causing the
skills shortage?
The main problem that’s contrib-
uting towards the skills shortage is
that as a whole, the construction
industry is still battling with an
image problem.
“The industry needs to attract
a fresh workforce to keep up
with demands”, says Daniel Ure
from online PPE retailer Vizwear.
“But for many on the outside,
the thought of working in con-
struction still conjures up images
of wolf-whistling workmen on
building sites. To attract a new
stream of workers, the industry
needs to shake this negative image
and show how the industry has
developed.”
It’s not just the difficulties of
attracting new employees that are
causing a skills shortage, though:
it’s also due to the current work-
ers.
Data from the 2011 census
showed that in the construction in-
dustry, one in five employees were
aged over 55. This means that by
the early 2020s, when the industry
should be hitting its homebuilding
targets, most will have reached
or be close to retirement age. An
ageing workforce and an uphill
recruitment battle are a combina-
tion that could have a detrimental
effect on the industry.
What steps can be taken
to close the gap?
The biggest barrier facing the
construction industry is presenting
itself as a desirable career path
to potential employees. Although
often seen in a bad light, there are
fantastic opportunities to be had
in construction, including mechan-
ics, engineering and electronics.
There are a number of ways that
construction companies can reach
out to the right candidates and
ensure them that a career in con-
struction is exactly what they’re
looking for.
1. Increase education
To ensure that the future work-
force in construction is vibrant
and engaged, young people need
to be re-educated about what con-
struction is really like.
A survey created by L&Q Group
discovered that only one in ten
children between the ages of 16
and 18 would consider a career
in construction, fearing that the
industry would be ‘challenging
and unexciting’. Although around
50% said that they were inter-
ested in a Science, Technology,
Engineering and Maths (STEM)
career, the construction industry
simply wasn’t appealing enough.
Interestingly, though, the students
who said they would consider a
construction career said that their
reasoning was due to the excite-
ment of the role.
Working closely with schools
and colleges to promote the
industry is a great way to show
young people that there are a
number of avenues their career
path can take in construction. By
setting up a formal work experi-
ence programme, you can attract
future workers with real, hands-on
experience to give students the
chance to experience the industry
for themselves.
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 exter-
nally 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 develop your team’s
careers, skill sets and better utilise
ambitious and forward-thinking
workers.
The training involved with
upskilling current workers can be
as simple as one-on-one mentor-
ing, or you can make use of the
wide range of online and practical
courses available for skill devel-
opment.
There are also government-fund-
ed schemes available to help train
future construction workers. For
instance, we are currently in the
middle 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 industry, as well as people
switching careers, can apply their
knowledge in a real-world envi-
ronment.
3. Look for skilled workers
in the right places
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
disposal. There are a number
of companies that have already
reaped the benefits of military
leavers, and even provide special-
ist training and learning credits to
get them fully trained as soon as
possible.
Military leavers offer the unique
opportunity for construction firms
to hire workers that can effectively
follow instructions, work well as
a team and can keep calm under
pressure. It’s a unique opportunity
that is too good to pass up.