Recent reports from the construction industry are predicting severe staff shortages across the construction sector, ranging from project managers to skilled labour and trades. Irish recruitment agency Sherlock Recruitment are at the front line of this industry challenge.
With the economy approaching full employment, the task of filling the current demand on the 100s of major building projects across the country and remaining competitive is going to prove problematic for many businesses.
The primary dilemma employers face in the construction sector is a shrinking pool of highly skilled workers and then retaining them. The market is increasingly competitive so a skilled labourer could have multiple employment offers to choose from. If a project is delayed staff are quick to relocate to the next project. With this level of volatility, poses a very real problem in terms of lost time, money and resources to the employer” Comments Arron Sherlock, Managing Director, Sherlock Recruitment.
Trends across construction recruitment are highlighting an increased demand in outsourced recruitment, where a flexible workforce is at the fingertips of large contractors. Employers are looking for phased, outsourced staffing solutions for their project needs as are employees. Statutory rights and security are key are of concern for employees. Outsourced solutions such as Sherlock Recruitment, enables employers to hire large teams to cater for the specific project they are working on at the time. This strategy is proving to be especially effective for SMEs as they are able to tender for larger projects and scale their business while still controlling costs and secure capacity to deliver the work needed. It also ensures SME’s aren’t continuously having to compete with large global companies on salary and package offers and they also don’t have to worry about being able to support 100s of employees.
Large contractors benefit from the outsourced model as they can deliver specific skills as and when they are needed enabling them to expand into European markets and beyond with the security of their employees being managed and projects adhering to deadlines. Outsourced recruitment solutions offer employee benefit, gaining access to major construction projects across Ireland, flexibility to find a suitable project to match their skill set and renumeration requirements, locality and prospects. In addition, outsourced employment offers ongoing job security and continuous progression onto proceeding sites of the employer.
Arron Sherlock adds “Increased labour outsourcing in the construction industry is being driven by demand from both the employee and the employer. It benefits both, but it needs to be managed carefully and by a company with the right market knowledge and resources as there are very specific statutory constraints to the sector.”
As the construction industry fluctuates, new challenges arise companies need to be flexible to adapt their processes and systems to meet demands. “While there are a lot of recruitment agencies operating in this space, their processes have remained mostly the same for decades, few have the reputation and knowledge that Sherlock has to offer, to enable us to meet the demand we are currently seeing and deliver the about to our clients” Sherlock adds.
