Diamond geezer

The champagne corks are flying as three generations of the Harris family and colleagues proudly gather beneath a picture of founder Robert. Celebrations are in order for the 60th anniversary of Oxford-based electrical contractor R T Harris; glasses are raised and spirits are high. This is a good time to be interviewing current boss and past ECA president Bob Harris.

The family firm has come a long way since the harsh post war years of 1947. “Materials were extremely difficult to get hold of and strict licensing was in place as to what work was permitted and what wasn’t,” explains Bob. “It was a challenging time to start a business.” R T Harris progressed from small repair and renewal works, starting a relationship with a developer who was busy putting semi-detached houses into pre-war landfill. Bob Harris joined his father’s business in the early 1960s after an accident while employed by the local electricity board left his left arm temporarily paralysed. Robert Harris was a generous employer: “I could work as many hours as I liked for £12 a week,” quips Bob.

Gradually the business moved into commercial work. R T Harris has long-standing relationships with schools and colleges in Oxford such as Merton, Jesus and New. “We’ve probably been working with Jesus College for over 30 years and Merton even longer than that,” says Bob. Today, the company boasts a wide range of customers in the commercial, industrial, educational, medical and public sectors. “Turnover is at £7 million and has stabilised over the last 2-3 years,” says Bob. “This is at a level where we can manage it well and satisfy our customers.” Around 70% of work comes from main contractors. Is this a good business to be in? “It’s a bit like asking that question to someone who’s running a pub,” replies Bob. “If you took a hard, detached look at it, and compared the input with the reward, you’d probably say it wasn’t a good business to be in. But if you look at it as a way of life, and it’s something that you enjoy doing and you do it well, then it is a good business to be in.”

The future of R T Harris looks secure as son Mathew and daughter Victoria are both part of today’s senior management team, alongside fellow director Stuart Davies. “Matthew and Victoria bring different skills to the business but they need the skills that are in house to make the business successful. So it’s a team partnership between the family members and the rest of the staff.” While Bob is still very much hands on, he is looking to divest day-to-day responsibility for projects but carry on as part-time chair to be “a catalyst for debate for the future and to help resolve any issues that may arise.”

Bob has been active within the ECA for many years and his own experiences as an apprentice with the electricity board helped shape his passion for education and training, where he only recently stepped down as chair of that particular ECA committee. “I am eternally grateful for my apprenticeship and much of my own company’s growth has been fuelled by apprentices helping me to build the business,” explains Bob. “So I know from my own experiences that vocational training is a really constructive way to train young people, particularly those that have become disaffected with academia.”

Bob himself admits to being a “very poor student” who couldn’t wait to leave school, but who matured very quickly with the responsibility the apprenticeship offered him. He is quick to point out, however, that times change and he has called for a review of the electrical apprenticeship from top to bottom. “We need to embrace new social conditions and expectations, both from trainees and parents. I think we need to delay the start until youngsters are 18 and condense the apprenticeship into three years,” he says. Certainly, the industry needs to make it more desirable for employers to take on trainees. Bob is also chair of training manager JTL, the joint venture between the ECA and union Amicus. From 30 000 interested parties looking to become electricians, around 10 000 pass JTL’s aptitude test but places will only be found for around 3200 youngsters – not enough, thinks Bob.

We have been blatantly poor at improving our arrangements under the domestic form of subcontract

The are two primary reasons for this trend away from apprenticeships. “If the major employers are no longer predominantly using directly employed labour and turning to agency labour, that excludes them from training,” states Bob. “I think there is a further influence affecting the smaller and medium sized companies. Good quality, trained immigrant labour with language skills are quite desirable in comparison with a 16 or 17 year old from school.” He thinks there are two major consequences to these trends. “One is a lack of skilled labour to do the job and the second is: where are the engineers and managers of the future coming from?”

Bob recognises that as long as government funding is directed predominantly at 16 and 17 year olds, little will change. “Funding for adult trainees is difficult after age 21 and impossible after 25.” Change has also been stymied by the union’s unwillingness to look at a grade for NVQ Level 2. “I think that needs to be part of our review of the electrical apprenticeship,” says Bob. “In the future, we need to look at three grades of operative – levels 2, 3 and 4. We need to try and build structures that deliberately recruit the engineers and technicians of the future.” Harris’ thoughts on funding do not extend to a levy against all contractors. “It tends to bring with it even more bureaucracy and tends not to be a hugely efficient way of paying for training because of the costs that go into administering it rather than providing the training.”

So as Bob Harris hands over the chair of the education and training committee to ECA vice president Bob Hall, what is he most proud of during his years at the helm? “I’m pleased that education and training is now an ECA department in its own right as I believe that it helps to lift the profile. It used to be part of labour relations.” Bob also cites a major turnaround in management training and short courses offered by the ECA. “These had become disjointed and costly, but have been reprogrammed and streamlined and are now very responsive to the needs of members.” Bob is a former chair of SummitSkills and is pleased to have been involved at the outset and to have seen it survive as a Sector Skills Council for building services. JTL he describes as a “power for good in the industry which gives us great strength,” although he is quick to acknowledge that it does have its detractors who say that it doesn’t involve employers enough.

Bob is used to the compromises that have to be made when you are active within trade associations, but feels that more could be done in certain areas. “The frustration of being involved in the ECA over a long period of time is that you want them to strengthen your position in the marketplace. But we have been blatantly poor at improving our contractual arrangements under the domestic form of subcontract,” he says. “This puts us in a hugely weak position and we haven’t been able to do anything to improve that.” The other area that rankles is regulation and registration of electrical contractors. “There have been so many initiatives that are supposed to put us in a stronger position in the marketplace and I can’t think of a single one of them that has achieved that.”

Overall, “the Association works very well when you’ve got a strong involvement by members in policy making and influencing the different departments,” says Bob. However, he is “uncomfortable” with decisions, such as the recent one to buy Part P scheme operator Elecsa, that are taken without widespread discussion. Does he think that many members would have supported the purchase? “I think it would have led to a very interesting debate,” he replies.

A few gripes, then, but he is happy with a life in electrical contracting. “In business, of course there are disappointments but there are huge satisfactions as well. I can’t think of any other process that would have given me the sort of lifestyle I’ve got, or fulfilled me more than what I’ve done here. And I include my involvement in the ECA in that – you can be a really positive force for good in the industry.”