Working in regeneration the big survey

Finding the right staff is the biggest challenge facing both the private and public sector in regeneration today. That is the overwhelming conclusion of the first Working in Regeneration survey carried out by leading recruitment consultancy PSD Group and Regenerate.

As part of our research, we asked 50 top executives to give us their feedback on the challenges, skills and rewards of working in regeneration. Our survey covers the four key sectors of regeneration: housebuilder/developer, housing association, local authority and quangos. Finding the right staff emerged as the biggest challenge facing all sectors in the immediate future, causing far more concern than those usual bugbears of planning, politics and bureaucracy. Particular skills gaps highlighted by respondents were experience and commercial nous.

When asked what public and private sectors each brought to regeneration, respondents said that the public sector brings such skills as commitment, social conscience and sustainability. The private sector was considered to bring commercial skills, entrepreneurship and, of course, financial clout.

We also asked the industry to rate how difficult it was to attract the right people to their organisation. The survey asked for a score from 1 to 5, with 5 as the most difficult. The overall industry score of 4 confirms the extent of the problem. Even private sector respondents with higher salary packages on offer said that they found recruiting difficult.

When asked how competitive the salary and benefits offered to their own senior people were, respondents said their organisations paid reasonably well. On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the most competitive, the average score was a healthy 3. Yet our research, which includes an industry-wide salary survey carried out by recruitment consultancy PSD Group, shows the wide disparity between salary levels in the private sector and those elsewhere in the regeneration industry. The factor that has prompted countless moves from public sector to private sector is the bonus paid to those working in private development, which averages at about 40% of annual earnings.

Money isn't the only reason for working in regeneration, however. You also get the satisfaction of turning the decayed into the desirable – improving residents' quality of life in the process – as well as the buzz of working in a dynamic and growing industry.

With skills in short supply it is not surprising that Tony O'Neill, managing consultant in residential development and regeneration at PSD Group, says that it is employees who have the upper hand: “It is a candidate-driven market, and the financial muscle of the private sector gives them the means to attract people.” The sheer diversity, duration and increasing size of regeneration schemes is also impacting on the type of people now being sought by regeneration businesses, says O'Neill. “Individuals who have worked in more than one area and those with experience in partnering will be particularly in demand,” he says. Recruiting organisations tell PSD Group that their perfect candidate will have a combination of the strategic skills, especially in funding and planning, found in the public sector, aligned with the commercial acumen and expertise in project delivery commonly found in the private sector. But as O'Neill adds: “Very few candidates fit this mould.”