Hays international salary survey 2017

Lands of plenty

This year’s Hays International Salary Survey shows that potential pickings for candidates are a lot richer overseas. David Blackman looks at how the ‘Trump bump’ and Australia’s infrastructure boom are fuelling the already-strong international demand for UK construction professionals

The gloss looks like it may have just come off the so-called “Trump bump”, the lift in share prices that followed last November’s US presidential election. However, the global construction industry is pinning its hopes on its own version of the “bump” – Donald Trump’s planned infrastructure boost for the USA. And whatever they think about his broader policy package, the industry is agreed about one thing when it comes to the US president: the $1trn (£0.77trn) infrastructure programme will be good news.

“The ‘Trump bump’ will be coming: there will be a lot of work out there and there is a lot of work there anyway,” says Richard Steer, chairman of Gleeds.

And the US president’s infrastructure stimulus package is just one of the factors further fuelling already strong demand for UK construction professionals in overseas markets.

This year’s Hay’s International Salary Survey, which pulls together data on offers to candidates placed by the recruitment consultancy in overseas posts over the past 12 months, shows that the potential pickings are a lot richer overseas than in the UK.

At the top end, a construction project manager with five to 10 years’ experience could expect to command just over £100,000 in Australia, more than twice as much as the nearly £45,000 typical salaries on offer for those with similar experience in the UK. Australia also offers the fattest salaries to civil engineers, typically £62,775 compared with £41,050 in Britain.

Meanwhile, quantity surveyors with similar experience and in search of a fast buck should head to the US. The typical salary on offer for this bracket is £67,675, a 50%-plus jump on the £43,250 available in the UK.

James Bryce, director of workforce planning at consultant Arcadis, says the competition is particularly hot for experienced programme managers, particularly those with experience of running big ticket projects. “You either have to pay big money to keep those people in the UK or they will go abroad to places like East Asia,” he says.

And the appetite for UK-trained construction professionals is likely to intensify in the next few years.

“Demand remains strong for talented UK construction professionals across some parts of the world. The skills of UK construction workers, particularly quantity surveyors, estimators and project managers, are highly regarded internationally and continue to be called upon to support specific projects,” says Richard Gelder, director at Hays Construction, adding that UK chartered status is often a good calling card in many overseas territories.

Ann Bentley, global chair of Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB), says that paper qualifications tend to count for less in the US than in South Africa where they are very highly prized: “In North America, it is very much about coming up with the goods.”

[Working abroad] is an invaluable experience because you get responsibility earlier and far more involved in projects. You see how projects are run, not just UK-centrically

Richard Steer, Gleeds

The appetite for overseas work is, perhaps unsurprisingly, sharpest among the youngsters yet to be tied down by the school run.

“You can sometimes get a better pay packet, a promotion and potentially a better quality of life,” says Arcadis’ Bryce.

Steer recalls having a “wonderful experience” working in the Middle East for a couple of years.

“It’s an invaluable experience because you get responsibility earlier and are far more involved in projects. You see how projects are run, not just UK-centrically.”

Firms with an international footprint can help their staff with itchy feet to work abroad by offering secondments.

Bryce says that Arcadis ensures that staff know about foreign as well as domestic job opportunities, although he says companies won’t necessarily go out of their way to encourage staff to move: “It’s human nature for businesses to try and protect their talent pools, even if they are under the umbrella of the same organisation.”

And working abroad won’t necessarily be plain sailing. Language remains a barrier, particularly on continental Europe where fluency in technical terms will be expected from day one.

Steer says: “If one of our guys wants to work in France or Germany, they need to be technically fluent in that language, which is not so easy to find. Otherwise we will be paying them to work somewhere for a couple of years when they can’t do an awful lot. One of the joys of the US, Australia and Canada is that they speak English.”

But even in countries that share a common tongue, terminology can get in the way. The US use the term estimator to describe the work done by QSs. And UK-trained professionals may find themselves a fish out of water in different working cultures.

“People underestimate cultural differences,” says Arcadis’ Bryce, citing working hours and lunch hours as two examples.

And those contemplating switching to a different country will have to weigh up whether they want to do it for keeps or not. “After a bit you have to make a choice about whether you want to work on the expat circuit or be primarily UK based,” says Steer.

In the Middle East, for example, construction professionals will often go out for a few years before returning to the UK when they want to settle down. “People will go out for a period but will very rarely stay for the whole of their career,” says Bryce.

For those making the switch to Australia and New Zealand on the other hand, the move is more likely to be a permanent one. Firms in these countries often expect a longer-term commitment than in the Gulf, where a more rapid staff turnover is de rigeur.

Those returning to the UK will have to re-establish professional networks, says Bentley: “The biggest problem reintegrating back isn’t technical but contacts. Particularly for more senior staff, a big part of the job is business development. If you have been out of the market, your contacts might be a bit rusty.”

Gelder says, however, that employers don’t look down their noses at those who have had the gumption to relocate themselves, and possibly their families, to another part of the world.And with big projects like the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in the pipeline, he says returning expats are having no problems getting jobs at the moment.

The underlying robust nature of the construction market also means that going abroad doesn’t have to be on the agenda for construction professionals, unlike in the recession of the early 1990s, when many were effectively forced to move overseas to make a living.

Hays’ Gelder says: “When we were in the last downturn after the financial crisis, there was a huge amount of noise about people going to Australia or the Middle East.”

And although the Brexit vote has fuelled concerns about the future health of the UK construction market, Gelder says it has had “no notable impact” on UK construction workers’ appetite to move abroad.

“You have a choice of working more or less anywhere in the UK and a choice of jobs on your doorstep,” he says. “The UK is such a strong market and demand far outweighs the skills available. Unless they have a real ambition to work overseas and will do it regardless, there’s no incentive because there is always a choice of jobs to active candidates.”

Construction project managers

Quantity surveyors

Architects

Civil engineers

Structural engineers