FACILITIES MANAGEMENT JOURNAL JOBS
FM CAREERS - TRAINING
THE SKILLS GAP: WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS
IT ANYWAY?
Engineering contributes significantly to the
nation’s economic output; a 2018 report by
Engineering UK put the figure at £1.23 trillion,
some 23 per cent of the UK’s entire turnover. It also
employs a huge number of people at just under
one fi h of the UK’s entire labour market. Few will
be surprised by these figures. Nor will the news
that the engineering sector has long been
struggling to produce and nurture
future generations of skilled
tradespeople.
The issue is convoluted,
implicating public
and private sectors.
This complexity has
limited progress
despite having been
on the agendas of
both successive
governments and
private enterprises
since the 1990s. For
some, the gap is mostly
down to a failure within
the education system. This
assessment gains credence when
citing a 2018 report from the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development which
found that most graduates lack the basic literacy and
numeracy required for a career within engineering.
On the other hand, John Allen, National Chairman
for the Federation of Small Businesses, states that
enterprise has a central role to play concluding that
employers “will always have a responsibility to train
sta to meet the needs of their specific business”.
The reality is the issue can never be reduced or
attributed to a single culprit. The skills gap is a
multifaceted challenge that requires coordination
and a joined-up strategy to see lasting change.
Looking closer within facilities management,
however, it’s clear that there are some sector-specific
measures than can be put in place to help support
initiatives directed by central government.
ACKNOWLEDGING ITS IMPACT
FM’s economic contribution to the UK economy is
considerable. Recent analysis from CIBSE found
that the sector accounted for as much as eight per
cent of the UK’s GDP, employing some 10 per cent
of the country’s workforce. Clearly, these figures
and the valuation of the engineering sector cannot
be treated independently of one another. The skills
gap is, therefore, as much a problem for the FM
community as it is for wider engineering
sector. This point may appear
trite, particularly as ‘hard FM’
formulates one half of
what typically falls under
the remit of ‘facilities
services’ and has
itself been crying
out for engineering
talent for some
time. But there is
good reason to
restate this. A 2018
survey from the CIPD
showed that one in
four workers said their
job does not o er good
opportunities to develop
their skills, with a separate report
from the BIFM (now IWFM) also finding
that 27 per cent of businesses felt a shortage of
skills would be an impediment to success over
the coming years. These figures not only show
a disparity between the support young people
currently receive and the opportunities businesses
provide but also a feeling that genuine change is
not within the hands of the FM industry. This needs
to change.
CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT IN STEM EDUCATION
Collaboration between education establishments
and corporates are proving productive. Rolls
Royce, for example, has established over 1,000
STEM ambassadors worldwide, with company
employees spending at least 60,000 hours a year
delivering STEM programmes to local communities.
These arrangements give students the support
and flexibility they need to graduate into a skilled
profession, as well as equipping them with the idea
that a career in engineering is a very real possibility
during a formative stage of their education. This is
far from trivial as reports show not enough is being
done to clarify what a career in engineering actually
involves – an issue which, coincidentally, FM has
also o¡ en had trouble with. The support services
industry is o¡ en, and perhaps unfairly, accused
of an ardent focus on the bottom line, sacrificing
everything else in its search for profit. An FM-centric
campaign that follows the Rolls Royce model would
surely see greater uptake, while also dispelling the
notion that FM is unwilling to properly invest in its
own people.
CHAMPIONING DIVERSITY
Diversity within technical trades has long been a
concern and with good reason. Research shows that
boys are far more likely to consider an engineering
career than girls across every age group. Other polls
have revealed that only 15 per cent of organisations
make any extra e ort to attract and retain women in
engineering and technical roles beyond observing
statutory equality requirements. Most shockingly
of all, just over one in 10 of the UK’s engineering
and technical workforce is female. The UK is clearly
overlooking a wealth of potential talent sitting right
under its nose, protracting a problem that could
otherwise be resolved, or at least ameliorated, with
greater e orts around diversity and inclusion. It
not only makes good business sense but above all
is simply the right thing to do. This of course is not
to suggest that FM has failed to make steps in the
right direction, as it certainly has, but that a more
strategic outreach within hard services is required
to see the skills gap recede.
FM, THE SKILLS GAP AND
RESPONSIBILITY
The UK’s ongoing skills shortage is nothing new,
yet the ‘gap’ also shows no sign of closing any time
soon. Bryan McLaggan looks at how the FM industry
can align with wider strategy to assure a healthier
future for UK engineering
The support services
industry is often, and perhaps
unfairly, accused of an ardent
focus on the bottom line, sacrifi
cing everything else in its
search for profi t..”
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