Talent contest

The findings of this year’s BSj/Hays salary survey will not surprise anybody in the building services sector. Bosses report “significant” increases in salaries over the past year, and senior electrical engineers top the list with an average increase of nearly 9%. The trend echoes last year’s survey and the one before that.

If there is a pin likely to burst this salary bubble it is the impact of a sustained economic downturn. Falling rental levels and increasing pessimism about the immediate future have rocked the commercial property market, and when confidence gets shaken, developments tend to be put on hold. If workloads decrease, salary increases are likely to dry up.

So far the property market’s woes appear to be having little impact on the engineering sector, with some consultants reporting order books full to the end of the year. As a consequence the battle to find the best staff seems to be intensifying. So desperate are employers to attract, and retain, workers that there are reports of stockbroker-like tactics of golden hellos or retention bonuses. Of course engineers should be paid an appropriate salary, but such extreme measures are a sign the sector’s skills shortage has reached a critical point.

The problem is that employers are fighting over a finite pool of engineering talent. The solution is to attract more people; but how? Targeting undergraduates is unlikely to make much of a difference since there is a predetermined number of these and they are already in demand. If new blood is to be injected into the profession, then somehow the sector has to sell itself to schoolchildren – before they decide which A levels to study.

Some individuals and even businesses already give their time to promote the profession to schools, and they should be applauded for their efforts. But these isolated attempts have, so far, failed to make a significant difference. What is needed is a pan-industry campaign targeted at schoolchildren. Of course, such an initiative would have to come from the industry, but it is one with which BSj would be happy to be involved.

Andy Pearson