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At a keynote panel at Facilities & Estates Management Live, David Sharp, CEO of specialist learning and development provider International Workplace chaired a discussion on recruitment and training in FM
The panel comprised Valerie Miller, Chief Customer Officer for DMA Group, Mark Whittaker, General Manager Thomson FM Limited and Past Chair of the IWFM and Coleen Cloherty, Director at CPC Consulting all of whom shared their areas of interest in FM skills and training.
David Sharp set the scene by highlighting some of the factors that currently impact recruitment and training in the profession, the first being changes to education and skills.
He noted: “As you’ll be aware, the Government’s announced a change to the apprenticeship scheme, refocusing some of the apprenticeship money from industry onto training younger people.”
He argued that with the average workforce in FM getting older relative to other sectors, it is crucial that FM attracts younger people into FM and now with fewer younger people reportedly opting to go to university, it’s even more important for employers to offer training within the workplace. International Workplace is investing more in digital learning, he said, which reflects an important shift in how skills training is offered. He added that the upcoming Employment Rights Bill will also impact on the sector, as it aims to improve benefits for workers, offer greater protections, reduce flexibility for employers and increase costs.
WOMAN’S WORLD
Valerie Miller an executive board member at FM provider DMA Group shared her experiences in forging a long and successful career in FM, and described how her experiences have fuelled her passion to empower women and other underrepresented groups in FM.
“Throughout my career,” she said, “I’ve often found myself the only woman in the room, especially at a more senior level.” Miller believes that is why flexible working patterns within organisations alongside opportunities for mentoring and sponsorship by someone who is not only able to guide you but pushes you forward, are important ways to bridge the gender gap.
Her advice to women looking to expand their careers is to: “Stretch yourself. Seek out your mentors and get them to be your cheerleader. Also support your [FM] network and have a voice, as when you have a voice, you will have more opportunities to progress together.”
RECRUITMENT PICTURE
Sharing his expertise of over 25 years’ experience in FM recruitment, Coleen Cloherty reflected that seeing many companies struggle to hire the very best people, he finds it “amazing” that many still don’t invest enough time and effort in their training and development.
He notes that 95 per cent of his work is based on contingent hiring, i.e. someone has left and moved on, which is why companies need to look more carefully into ensuring they’ve a future with them and not another employer.
He said: “If you look at figures of leavers within the first two years of employment, it is quite staggering. Companies should ask themselves and their staff what works [to keep them engaged] and why it works.” He believes that by listening to employees and offering them more opportunities to improve their development, employers can lower their attrition rate.
SCALE OF THE PROBLEM
Mark Whittaker outlined the scale of the recruitment and retention problem for the built environment. The Office for National Statistics from the period from 2018 to 2024 reveals the numbers of electricians in the UK economy has fallen by 19.6 per cent.
Alongside this, the IWFM’s FM market intelligence report highlights the skills shortages within the profession, where 39 per cent of the respondents said there are shortages in technical proficiency, 32 per cent said there were shortages in data analysis, 31 per cent said there were shortages in project management and 31 per cent talked about the shortages in knowledge and skills on sustainability and energy efficiency.
He said: “I think this impacts us as an industry in not having the right people with the right skill sets and it’s restricting growth opportunities. FM contractors are out there saying that they can’t take on certain contracts because they just cannot fill the vacancies to be able to fulfil their commitments.”
His advice to delegates was to start much earlier to plant the seed with young people that there are professional careers in facilities management and the impact it has in all areas of life.
CONCLUSION
Summing up the debate David Sharp reflected on the shift in thinking around what is training and what is skills acquisition. “I think the traditional recruitment and training model is dead it just doesn’t work because it’s too static and backward looking.”
He argued that you now need to have a pathway to measure where your talent pipeline is coming from and a plan for making sure you can keep those recruits in your workplaces. The modern industrial strategy indicates the Government’s intentions to support skills and training he concluded.
“There is funding out there, with something like £100 million worth of funding available over the next three years to encourage people into engineering. As an employer tap into these sources of funding, tap into the mood music that’s coming from government and my key takeaway is don’t be reactive.”
