While the UK construction sector looks set to continue growing albeit at a lower rate than in 20151 its recovery is exposing some major structural issues within the sector and its businesses. Among these are a number of skills challenges facing construction businesses which, when taken together, are impacting their current performance and, if left unchecked, will severely impact future performance.

1. The Growing
Skills Challenge
In the Construction Sector
MARKETINSIGHT

2. IS YOUR
BUSINESS BEING
CHALLENGED BY
SKILLS ISSUES?
While the UK construction sector looks set to
continue growing albeit at a lower rate than
in 20151
its recovery is exposing some major
structural issues within the sector and its
businesses. Among these are a number of skills
challenges facing construction businesses which,
when taken together, are impacting their current
performance and, if left unchecked, will severely
impact future performance.
CONSTRUCTION SECTOR
CHALLENGES
Businesses are being impacted at all levels by
skills challenges:
• Attracting new staff at graduate level
• Retaining recent recruits (1-3 years) in the
workforce (Especially Millennials)
• Developing management capability
• Leadership succession
• Attracting new staff.
Recent growth trends in the sector have shifted
the issue from finding more projects to finding
the appropriate resources to deliver them.
The time lag between economic changes and
the education system’s response has meant
that fewer qualified people are entering the
workforce, pushing up wage costs. The RICS UK
construction market survey for Q4 20152
shows
that average construction earnings have risen by
more than 6% in the year to October 2015 – by
comparison, the average UK wage rise over the
same period was below 2%. Small and medium
sized businesses (SMEs) are particularly affected
by growing wage costs and must find other ways
to compete for new talent.
RETAINING RECENT RECRUITS
New entrants to the jobs market are different
from the young employees of the 1990s
because they are entering the workforce of
the 21st century with well-developed social
media knowledge and skills. These ‘millennial’
employees (those born around/after 1982) also
have different attitudes towards tenure, mobility
and reward. While salary is certainly a factor in
determining whether they will stay with their
employer, other factors are more important
to them including: learning and development,
autonomy in their roles, communication, and
connection with the business. Construction
companies (especially SMEs) are beginning to
realise that their traditional methods of engaging
with recent employees are ineffective with
millennials and offering pay increases alone will
not motivate them to stay and perform to their
full potential.
DEVELOPING MANAGEMENT
CAPABILITY
In reacting to the above challenges along
with supply chain issues and technical skills
shortages, many construction businesses have
allowed their senior managers to step down
to the management level below them and get
overly involved in the day to day operational
management of projects and/or business
functions. While this is understandable as an
initial reaction, it pulls senior management away
from their more strategic purpose of managing
the direction and growth of their businesses.
Senior managers need to develop the
capabilities of their direct reports and equip
them with the confidence and capability to

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Constructionisoneof
thelargestsectorsofthe
UKeconomy,
Contributing£92.4
billiontotheUK
economy(6.4%ofUK
GDP)in2014.3
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4. better manage the operational issues.
Conversely, senior managers need to develop
their own capabilities to lead the growth and
development of their business and strike
the right balance between monitoring and
evaluating the external market and developing
the capabilities of their people.
LEADERSHIP SUCCESSION
The age profile of the sector’s senior managers
has been highlighted regularly (CITB/CIOB)
and little seems to have been done to develop
practical succession plans. At the most senior
management level we need to take the time to
ask the question: ‘Do we have successors within
our team and if so, how are we preparing/
developing this next generation of leaders for
increased responsibility?’ If a suitable transition
period between the outgoing and incoming
senior managers is not engineered then the loss
of knowledge and experience on departure of
retiring managers can have potentially disastrous
consequences for the business.
Succession planning is also needed to
accommodate the risk of top talent moving
elsewhere leaving significant skills gaps in the
organisation. Equally importantly, if senior
managers don’t have successors within the
business structure how are they going to deal
with this issue?
HOW DO ORGANISATIONS
NEED TO RESPOND?
The above skills issues are inter-related and
therefore point to the need to develop an
integrated set of solutions. Construction
businesses are encouraged to consider:
• Adapting their graduate recruitment and
development programmes to strongly
appeal to the needs of millennial employees
• Developing the female talent pool and
utilising this to attract further talent into the
business
• Engaging recent recruits in collaborative
project work that helps build strong
connections between millennials and
with other talented employees to drive
improvements/changes within the business
• Identifying and developing those managers
with the potential to take on senior roles,
widening their business knowledge and
collaborative capabilities beyond their

5. www.parityprofessionals.co.uk
current role/function
• Developing the decision-making capabilities
of first line and middle managers so that
senior managers can focus on their own
roles
• Creating and implementing succession plans
linked to the development of emerging
management talent as indicated above.
PARITY PROFESSIONALS’
RESPONSE TO THE
CONSTRUCTION SKILLS
CHALLENGE
Parity Professionals is active in developing talent
across all employee levels in the Construction
sector:
• Undergraduate Development
• Management Capability Development
• Developing future leaders
• Discovery through Consultancy.
UNDERGRADUATE DEVELOPMENT
Parity Professionals has been delivering training
to construction undergraduates in Northern
Ireland through the CITB NI. Through this
programme future entrants to the sector
develop a practical understanding of the work
environment and how they need to think and
behave within it in order to maximise their
performance and careers.
MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY
DEVELOPMENT
Parity Professionals has developed and
delivered both open and in-house development
programmes for junior, middle and senior
managers in the sector. More recently we
have developed customised programmes for
construction clients focused on widening the
knowledge and skills base of emerging senior
managers. These programmes involve managers
working collaboratively in small project teams
to address cross-functional business issues (e.g.
managing the supply chain in new markets)
and include professional learning leading to
recognised management qualifications.
All of these programmes are built around one
to one coaching as the core enabler of effective
management learning. The coaching core
provides managers with a highly effective means
of homing in on key development areas and
quickly driving new/improved behaviours and

6. actions from the managers. A recent programme
for 30 small construction businesses generated
a range of measurable improvements ranging
from: safeguarding and creating jobs; new
opportunity identification, turnover increase and
creating new collaborative arrangements.
DEVELOPING FUTURE LEADERS
To help address the succession issue and
increase the focus on strategic leadership within
the sector, CITB in Northern Ireland has recently
launched its Leader in Construction programme.

7. www.parityprofessionals.co.uk
Parity Professionals was awarded the contract to
develop and deliver the programme which includes
360 feedback for the participants together with
powerful workshops and one to one coaching. The
programme also involves an international study trip to
expose leaders to new/emerging practices and wider
opportunities for business growth.
DISCOVERY THROUGH CONSULTANCY
We conduct ‘Big Idea’ workshops for clients where we
facilitate management teams using proven thinking
models to challenge their view of the business
and its competitive environment. Through such
processes we help clients identify where their key
talent management and leadership challenges are
and engage them in creating effective approaches to
addressing them.
CONCLUSION
While the various bodies and institutions in the sector
can and are helping to address these skills issues,
unless individual businesses also take an active role in
tackling them, the problems will only intensify. Some
construction businesses are already leading the way in
developing their own solutions to attract, retain and
develop the talent they need to sustain and grow their
businesses. It is hoped others will quickly follow their
lead as a positive reaction to the skills challenges faced
by its sector.
Notes
1. Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index
January 2016
2. The RICS UK construction market survey for Q4 2015
3. Building leadership capability in the construction sector,
Roffey Park
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8. About Parity Professionals
Parity Professionals work closely with our clients to source and develop exceptional talent,
building capacity and capability in order to transform individual and organisational performance.
We pride ourselves in doing things differently, and are fully committed to providing you with the
best service possible.
Whether you are looking to:
• Assess or update your current approach to recruitment
• Establish and introduce appropriate measures for evaluating the impact and effectiveness of
your Recruitment and Development programmes, or
• Partner with us to manage your overall recruitment and development programme.
Parity Professionals are the people that can help. We have the passion and experience to make a
real difference. Call our Develop team now to discuss a complimentary Discovery Session – and
let’s get the conversation started.
Contact Details
The Develop Team
t: 0208 171 1592
e: develop@parity.net
w: www.parityprofessionals.co.uk
Parity Professionals work closely with our clients to source and develop talent, building capacity and capability in
order to transform individual and organisational performance. We pride ourselves in doing things differently, and
are fully committed to providing you with the best service possible.
Shane Mackle
Shane is a highly experienced coach with over 20 years’ experience in management and leadership development. He has
developed and delivered successful programmes for organisations across a wide range of sectors including the food and
drink, tourism and hospitality, engineering and manufacturing, construction, media and voluntary/charity sectors.
His approach to leadership development combines learning and enjoyment in order to affect a desired improvement in
the learner’s performance or mind-set.