The new Government have ambitious plans for housing, infrastructure, and planning reform with construction playing a key role in unlocking growth, solving the housing crisis, improving life and health outcomes, and raising productivity.
Despite our size and importance, we are already struggling to find the new talent and skills we need. And that’s before we factor in the Government’s ambitious plans for growth.
According to the CITB Experian Labour Market Intelligence Report UK for 2024 – 28, around 225,000 new construction workers are needed to fill the demand. While the industry clearly attracts workers, there is much more to do if we are to have the talented workforce we need now and in the future.
Not only are we struggling to recruit people for traditional skills, like bricklaying and carpentry, but also the newer ones such as those relating to AI, building information modelling (BIM), modern methods of construction (MMC), the incorporated use of drones, and other technologies.
This month, Martyn Jones explores some of the reasons for the current skills shortage, how we might attract fresh talent and make better use of the talent we already have.
Recruiting talented people is a competitive business. We are not the only sector fighting to find and retain staff, which is not unusual given almost full employment and over 9 million being economically inactive. However, in construction the problem is particularly acute as labour and skill shortages are far from a new phenomenon.
Why is this? Well, several factors contribute to this perfect storm and have been well rehearsed. Here are some. Older workers retire and are not replaced at the same rate by younger employees. The pandemic led many workers to reassess their personal situations and pursue different careers or retire early because of health issues. And the cost and complexity of employing migrant workers having skyrocketed post-Brexit.
There are also widely-held misperceptions about working in construction, such as it involves only dirty and dangerous manual labour, has limited career opportunities, and lacks diversity, with research finding, for example, only 9% of women would consider a job in construction.
So, what are the solutions? Here are a few strategies construction companies could adopt to navigate this challenging labour market and recruit and retain employees.
At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, we need to improve recruitment methods so that we enlist enough people to replace those leaving each year as well as meeting future growth demand. For this we need a joined-up approach by the various stakeholders – Government, industry, and education.
A collaborative effort is needed to smash the current stereotypes and persuade young people to consider the positive aspects of a career in the built environment.
We need to collaborate and work on developing the skill sets needed not for just now but for the future – including BIM, MMC, robotics, materials innovation, green technology, retrofitting, data expertise, smart cities and more.
But overarching these practical steps we need to convey the exciting challenges that lie ahead in construction, the social and economic value we add such as providing good quality homes for everyone and achieving net zero.
We need to expand our recruitment campaigns to reach a wider demographic – only 13% of the current workforce is female (and only 1% of those are working in operational roles) and follow through with a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination.
Then there’s tapping into the talent and diversity of our existing workforce. Training and retraining people in the skills needed for current jobs but also those to take advantage of future opportunities through productivity improvements and meeting net zero targets.
How about restructuring our traditional operating system, adopting procurement strategies to facilitate creativity, and integrating and streamlining the design, manufacturing, and construction process to make better use of the talent we already have?
We need to confront our unenviable long-hours culture with the often-pervading view: “it’s what you sign up for”, and anyone working less than full-time is less committed. This means shifting away from a culture of working longer to working smarter. The pilots on flexible working, trialled in 2021, included a range of adjustments to working practices, and received hugely positive qualitative feedback from workers and supervisors.
We need to be less hesitant in overcoming the barriers to the new technologies such as digital tools, simulation, AI, and 3D Printing that make the job of construction professionals not only easier and more rewarding but much more exciting for the more tech-savvy and digitally empowered Generation Z.
Then there’s reaching out beyond Z to Generation Alpha. Their aspirations are difficult to describe because they are still being born! But they are projected to look for these features in their careers – a strong emphasis on purpose-driven work and social impact. Roles that that align with their values and allow them to make a positive difference in the world. Collaborative working that fosters creativity, innovation, and cross-cultural communication.
Last, but by no means least, there is the role that enlightened clients can play. Refraining from setting often unrealistic programmes and budgets. Resisting immediate operational imperatives (time and cost) overpowering more innovative approaches to improving working practices and wellbeing, however good leaders’ intentions may be down the supply chain.
