Anglo-German construction consultancy turns attention to UK

Das Handwerk Gbr, one of Germanys leading Anglo-German Construction-recruitment Consultancys is now turning its full attention to the shores of the UK. ëItís obvious to anyone involved in the construction industry in the UK that there are some major problems involved with recruiting and retaining staff.í

Doug Grant, UK Sales Director goes on to say. ëIn fact a staggering 84% of employers report some form of problem in their recruiting, particularly in recruiting joiners and bricklayers.í Why is this? Many employers report on the low quality of applicants or that simply not enough applicants are available in applying for the vast number of vacancies.

What about retention of valuable staff? Skilled-tradesmen are now in a position to command and demand their rates of pay, and will go elsewhere. So what if youíve managed to keep hold of your experienced employees? What about changes in material, new methods of construction. Not many employers have the time or money to train up personnel in the latest methods. In fact 75% of employers feel that not enough is being done to train people in the latest methods and materials. This shortage of professional people leads to a limited expansion of the UK Construction Industry, high turnover of staff due to wage competition, and employersí unwillingness to train in new methods which in turn can lead to gaps in contract continuity.

The apprenticeship scheme suffers from some problems as well. ëThere is certainly a lack of people with the right motivation and skills, Iíve spent years telling my two boys to go onto university, but Iím now telling them to get a trade, a skill for the future. Too many people are going into the service sector, IT being the main culprit. I also think that many people are not interested in a career in an industry that used to offer low wages, poor conditions and no promotion prospects. The construction industry suffers from a very poor image indeed and what is the Government doing about it. Very little indeed is the answer.

ëThe New Deal scheme is one I had used before during my time in Transport management, but with very little success. The calibre of the people on the New Deal scheme was very poor. We either got people who couldnít do the job or people who didnít really want to.í Very few people in the construction industry would use the scheme, many havenít even heard of it. What about training your existing staff? Again many employers state that they do not see a need for further training.

ëThis is very short sighted indeedí, says Doug Grant ëThe ever changing face of the industry, the new methods in construction, and employers that refuse to train or indeed cannot afford to, are going to lose out to those that do. I know that many employers feel that they donít have the staff with even the basic skills to build upon anyway, They also donít want to train up their staff only to see them go a half mile down the road to another employer offering better wages.í Unfortunately all of these problems have led to the growing emergence of the unlicensed ëcowboysí, using cheap labour which inevitably affects profit margins and forces many legitimate employers out of business. ëI know of at least two ëagenciesí in East Anglia that only recruit from European ëThird Worldí countries. Iíve seen the standard of work in Russia and the Czech Republic; it frightens me that such people are working here.í

So what about using recruitment agencies? Unfortunately there are many agencies out there that do deserve their bad reputation. They have a high cost low success factor and are often used as a last resort. ëI donít see why employers use agencies as a last resort; in fact they should be an employerís first port of call rather than the last.

An employer can put thousands of pounds into recruiting, through advertising and time. If they are successful in choosing an applicant from a very small list, there are no guarantees they will stay, there is no guarantee that they are actually competent; this could all be negated simply by using a professional agency. ëUnlike the current state of the apprenticeship scheme in the UK, the scheme is still very strongly supported in Germany. All of our candidates have completed either a 3 or 5 year apprenticeship in their chosen trade and quite often many hold trade qualifications in many different skills. There is a different mindset in Germany in regard to employment in the construction industry. It is not seen as a job for the uneducated, it is not seen as a poor choice when leaving school. In fact it is very much like it used to be in the UK before the emergence of the service sector. Das Handwerk Gbr has the right people with the right qualifications and the right mindset to get the job done.

With not enough staff, not enough training, not enough apprentices, no retention of staff, the emergence of unlicensed employers, the UK construction industry is going to have to turn to European recruitment agencies, ëJust make sure itís a recruitment consultancy that has the same ideas and ideals as you have, professionalism and commitment, if you donít, then you are going to end up with third rate employees supplied by second rate agenciesí.