1. The Evidence Base, Business Drivers, Constraints, Solutions
Skills Shortage
The Evidence Base, Business Drivers, Constraints, Solutions
Phil Ellis
Programme Manager – Capacity & Capability
Nov 9th 2017

2. The Evidence Base – Skills Shortage
Do Skills Shortages Matter
Investment & Demand Growth
Supply needed to meet demand
Supply Chain Skills Survey
Areas of Focus
Constraints to growing Labour Supply
Conclusions

3. Do Skills Shortages Matter ?
Impacts of Skills Shortage
Insufficient resources
Extended time to deliver
Increased impact to road users & economy
Increase in costs
Cost inflation
(…overheads required for longer)
Schemes possibly not meeting cost viability limits (BCR’s)
Insufficiently trained people delivering work in an unsafe manner
Lack of developed country (impact on economy etc)

4. Global Infrastructure Investment

5. CPA Construction Investment Forecast (1997-2025)

6. HE Capital Investment 2015-2020
£3.1bn
Growth 61%
£2.7bn
£2.39bn
£2.02bn
£1.92bn

7. HE Workforce Demand (Capital only)
(17,298)

8. Supply Chain Skills Survey
84 Supplier responses
80% of suppliers responded (by spend)
92% of suppliers on our key frameworks responded
Topic Areas:
Severity of Skills Shortage
Sectors within Supply Chain impacted
Disciplines & Key Roles impacted
Importance of EU Workers
Impact of age & seniority
Barriers to attracting workers
Barriers to retaining workers
Impact of Staff Churn
Regional impact of skills shortage
Ideas to improve Skills Shortage
Areas of Materials Shortage
Areas of Plant Shortage
‘What’s the temperature of current skills shortage ?’
…compiling results now

9. Supply Chain Skills Survey (Results 1)
44% respondents said that current skills shortage is either ‘Very Severe or Severe’
2. The top 3 disciplines ranked based on extent of Impact of current skills shortage across the various disciplines from ‘Very Severe to Severe’ impacts are:
1st – Skilled Construction Trades (42%)
2nd Construction Professional Services (35%)
3rd Design - Core Eng disciplines(26%)

10. Supply Chain Skills Survey (Results 2)
3. Key resource shortages (Tier 1) that will have severe impact on the delivery of schemes;
1st Project Managers (64%)
2nd Planners (60%)
3rd Construction Managers (58%)
4. The top 3 skill shortages by seniority/experience level:
1st Management (over 15 years’ experience) - 46%
2nd Supervisory (around 5-15 years’ experience) - 46%
3rd Junior Apprentice/Technician - 30%
5. The top 3 barriers in retaining talent are;
1st - Schemes outside the roads sector attract talent away from highways
2nd - Lack of work/life balance
3rd - Fear of job security due to historic stop-start approach to investment

11. Focus Areas Capacity Capability Promotion & Attraction
Recruitment & Retention
Training & Assurance
Productivity & Innovation
Capacity
Capability
Building Blocks:
HE Supply Chain needs to grow by
17,298 to deliver RIS 1 Investment
New Entrants need to be trained to deliver efficiently & Safely
With historically low Productivity – is Productivity Improvement & Innovation an opportunity ?

12. Constraining Factors Low unemployment (4.2%)
Unattractive industry (reality & perception)
Brexit Uncertainty
Aging workforce (…higher attrition rate over the next 5-10yrs)
Industry history of sub-optimal training of workforce
Lack of sufficient training facilities & trainers
Historically Low Productivity
Industry Structure & Problem ownership
Uncertainty of work – at company level
Inconsistency of work – at company level

13. Conclusions
Demand is significantly increasing – both in Construction overall & the Highways Sector
Capacity/supply growth is constrained by environmental & industry factors
Business drivers to ensure a sufficiently skilled workforce are overwhelming
Only a proactive, collaborative suite of interventions will solve the impending skills shortage