Is there a skills shortage in Northamptonshire and if there is, what can be done about it? This was the basis of the latest Thought Leadership Lunch, organised by Howes Percival and led by Partner Graham Irons. Invited guests from the University of Northampton and local businesses met to debate the issues facing the county when it comes to attracting and retaining personnel.
THE discussion opened with an agreement that with the county enjoying close to full employment, companies were undoubtedly going to find it difficult to maintain the workforce they need.
The round-the-table discussion concentrated on three key employment issues – attracting school-leavers in apprenticeships and training, attracting and retaining graduates, and creating opportunities for older, experienced workers in a county with excellent transport links and attractive house prices.
Rachel Bussey, HR Officer at logistics firm Dachser Ltd opened the discussion by recounting her experience of recruiting temporary agency staff in the current climate as opposed to just 18 months ago.
She said: “We are finding that the quality of temporary agency staff is not as good as it used to be. That is partly because the industry has realised how valuable high-quality staff are and so firms are offering those people full-time roles, rather than risk high-calibre candidates not being available when they want them.
“Not so long ago, we could rely on there being a good supply of the kind of skills we needed, but those people can find good jobs now, leaving a gap in the market.”
It was generally agreed that there is a need to be proactive and attract good people into our core sectors but the discussion also highlighted the issues faced by some of our businesses in getting the message across about exactly what certain roles involve.
Apprenticeships are becoming an increasingly attractive option following the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy, which requires companies to pay a levy towards the funding of apprenticeships. Companies have realised that if they have to pay into the levy fund, it is in their own interests to take on apprentices in order to recoup some of what they pay in levy.
Simon Longhurst, Apprenticeship Manager and Corporate Development Manager at the University of Northampton, said that the biggest challenges was changing perceptions of certain industries and that working with local businesses was the only way to change that.
He said: “It’s still too often the case that young people learn about potential careers in, say, engineering or logistics and then they go home and their parents still have the view that engineering is a dirty industry, or that logistics is about moving things around in a warehouse, and so young people are put off.
“If there’s a skills gap it’s maybe because people don’t understand what a sector is or what it is all about or that there are lots of different roles within that sector that they might be interested in.”
Working with schools to filter that information through from a young age was, it was agreed, crucial. There was also an agreement that while most businesses began its involvement with schools at Sixth Form level, it would be more beneficial to start earlier, so that those students leaving school after GCSEs looking for apprenticeships would also have a clearer understanding of the market.
Richard Powell, Partner at MHA MacIntyre Hudson, said that his firm’s schools outreach programme had been beneficial and three new starters this year had been young people who had attended presentations by MHA MacIntyre Hudson and had their interest in a career in accountancy sparked by that.
But this also led to a discussion about the difficulties companies face not only in attracting young people but also in retaining them once their training was complete.
Richard Powell said: “A few years ago, people seemed to get that if it took you five years to acquire your skills and do your training, that was actually quite fast. Now, young people seem to want to progress quickly and see the benefits of their training, which is good, but it doesn’t always work like that.”
Recruitment expert Marc Kent, Divisional Manager of The One Group, agreed, saying: “We find that in a world where young people get instant information and instant gratification through social media and the like, they are not keen to stay in a job for too long.
“They want to progress and succeed, and if they feel they aren’t doing either of those things with the company they are with, they begin to look for something else.”
This is probably more true of graduates, whose expectations of the world of employment may be higher than a school-leaver and both Simon Longhurst and Charlotte Patrick, Key Sector and Knowledge Transfer Manager at the University of Northampton, outlined the issues faced by companies in Northamptonshire in retaining graduates with the bright lights of London just a few miles south.
Charlotte said: “Some of the larger companies in the area have realised the benefits of having a London office, outsourcing some of their departments to the capital in order to attract graduates who don’t want to come to their Northamptonshire headquarters.”
Simon added: “One thing that Northamptonshire can do is make the most of its transport links and lower house prices to offer those who want to work in London the opportunity to live here, use the money they save by not having to pay London property prices to commute, and then hope that when they are older, maybe have families and settle down a bit, they will choose to look for work in Northamptonshire and bring those skills back here with them.”
An alternative source of skilled labour was highlighted by Simon Denny, Executive Dean of Research, Impact and Enterprise at the University of Northampton. He is involved in a proposed initiative to help ex-military personnel move smoothly into civilian life.
“This strikes me as an excellent idea for Northamptonshire, particularly the logistics sector, because as a general rule military people have the best possible training in logistical matters,” he said. “They spend their military careers looking at efficient ways of moving things from A to B and in strategic planning and they would be an asset to the logistics sector.
“They also bring with them training credits which their employers can use to offset training costs.
“It’s an initiative we’re looking at right now and would be keen to see businesses get involved to see what they can offer.”
Wrapping up the meeting, Graham Irons said: “We have a good flow of people who want to live and work in the county, either home-grown talent or graduates coming out of our university, and we need to look after those people and retain them as far as we can.”