04.10.2018

Mind the gap

Linda Hausmanis BIFM Chief Executive

The latest edition UK Employer Skills Survey (ESS) thudded onto my desk a few weeks ago. It’s one of the world’s largest business surveys - over 87,000 employers took part. A biennial big data authority on the skills challenges facing UK employers today.

I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to professional development (ESS was on my summer reading list) but unless you’re taking the Head in Sand Effectiveness module at Ostrich School, please don’t ignore this.

Today, a fifth of UK employers have vacancies and a third of them are ‘hard to fill’, mostly from a lack of the right skills, qualifications or experience. Six per cent of employers reporting them doesn’t seem many, but they’re growing. And when you consider the business impact of a rising number of ‘skills shortage’ vacancies: delayed product and service development, lost business to competitors, pressure on other staff, the implications for UK productivity are plain.

Lacked skills range from tech and practical (including digital), to people and personal and they’re more prevalent in the business services sector; one of the reasons why one third of UK employers has considered recruiting EU nationals.

The skills gap is mirrored in the existing workforce where 13 per cent of employers identify - and it persists in service intensive occupations like FM. And the impact? Two thirds say skills gaps held back their business performance in quality and cost terms. And, although the missing skills vary, they’re readily attainable – time management, sales and customer skills, standards, products and processes. Not rocket science.

In parts of the FM industry, up to a quarter of the workforce already comprises EU nationals, across the skills spectrum, from support roles to highly skilled business leaders. But we’re exiting the EU in months, hence 60 per cent of employers expecting their skills requirements to change in the next year, with three in four needing to upskill.

If time stood still, the case for up-skilling is overwhelming. Against today’s pace and scale of change, mixed in with Brexit uncertainty, it’s a national emergency!

Is there hope? I believe there is: two thirds of employers train their staff, and two thirds of all staff receive some training.

But that leaves a third without. Why aren’t we more compelled to develop our people and ourselves?

It is not about supply: there’s no shortage of structured opportunity in workplace and FM. Accessibility and delivery is wide, styles numerous, and there are more qualifications available than ever, so, who or what is blocking development?

I want to see more of our profession’s potential leaders become development champions. I see lots of nodding in agreement about the importance of upskilling. I see talented juniors seeking learning opportunities. But – I have to say it – I sense apathy at the middle management level in FM.

Next month the BIFM becomes IWFM and takes a first step to becoming a chartered body, underlining professional development as a key lever in our industry’s advancement. Let’s get behind this massive opportunity to skill up and level up.

Let’s put Ostrich school out of business.

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