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THE SKILLS GAP
Adam Cave, founder and managing director of Water by Murray
IDEAS TO HELP FILL THE TALENT PIPELINE
How can the water industry tackle its long-term staffing issues? Adam Cave, founder and managing director of Water by Murray, part of Murray McIntosh, offers some solutions...
ater, like so many other STEM- dependent markets, has suffered from skills shortages for years that show no signs of abating. The sector has struggled to attract new recruits, and is now approaching a major retirement cliff, with up to one-fifth of the entire workforce set to retire by 2030. But what can be done to help tackle water’s hiring woes?
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We launched our Water Industry Labour Report earlier this year, which revealed some worrying findings. On top of the aforementioned retirement issue, 70% of existing engineers are considering leaving the industry entirely and taking on new roles in other fields, namely nuclear and oil & gas. That’s partly why ‘skills and recruitment’ was listed as the single biggest issue facing the industry by the nearly 4,000 engineers we surveyed. With AMP8 approaching next year, it’s clear that something needs to change. In the shorter term, more employers need to focus on utilising the contingent workforce to fill urgent resourcing gaps – though there’s the issue of IR35 determinations plaguing contract recruitment that needs to be addressed, but that’s a whole other topic to cover in itself.
There is arguably a lingering and outdated view of this portion of the employment market that doesn’t reflect the reality of working models in 2024. Contingent and contractor workers are key and failing to leverage them to their full advantage is a mistake that can’t be afforded. Fears over higher short-term costs are balanced by the ability to adapt resources depending on demand, which can actually provide greater financial flexibility. And worries over potential impacts on working cultures are also misplaced; we know of several organisations where so-called contingent workers have been with the firm
38 OCTOBER 2024 | PROCESS & CONTROL
for longer than their ‘permanent’ counterparts. Not using these skills, and solely relying on sourcing permanent employees, is leaving many organisations trailing behind their rivals. In the longer term, there needs to be a more strategic focus on talent acquisition. Our report showed that job satisfaction ranked just behind pay as the main factor attracting water engineers to roles and companies. And the main component impacting this satisfaction is management. These professionals are an organisation’s key asset; without them, nothing gets done, and the
myriad of projects already outlined for AMP8 won’t get delivered. The water sector is obviously facing major scrutiny at the moment, and engineers are on the front line and may need more nuanced leadership than they’ve received in the past.
Employers that want to attract engineers also need to better listen to them, and adapt their benefits packages and other perks to their individual motivators. A one-size-fits-all approach no longer works, and our data showed factors such as offering greater flexibility can make a major difference to organisations’ abilities to attract talent. Particularly when every employer, across all areas of the water industry, will be competing for the same skills.
This level of differentiation is beneficial beyond benefits, though. Employer branding is critical in the modern employment market. Most consumer-facing brands have been hit hard in recent years, however, that’s out of the control of HR and hiring teams. What they can manage is the value of their employer brand, and how they present themselves to candidates across all ages and experience levels. Part of this is promoting the wealth of amazing career opportunities available in the sector. Very few firms do enough to stand out from the crowd and shout about the exciting and pivotal projects that they’re delivering, along with the benefits – financial, developmental and experiential – that they can offer.
This is a deeper issue. The breadth of opportunity and the range of roles available in the water industry are rarely talked about. The sector trails behind many of its rival, parallel markets, which will only make it harder to encourage more young people to consider roles in water and to tackle skills shortages longer-term. This, after all, is the ultimate long- term solution – to broaden talent pipelines into the industry and get more engineers and other professionals to consider water over other STEM fields.
All is not lost, however. The water sector is still stocked full of talented, specialised engineers, but the onus is on employers to find and attract them. Only by thinking more strategically will organisations be able to tackle skills shortages in the short term, and in the longer term more efforts need to be made collectively to promote careers in water more effectively.
Water by Murray
www.murraymcintosh.com/water/home
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