黑洞社区

If the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump ensured that political and economic uncertainty was the new black in 2016, the events of this year have made it clear that ambiguity in the overall business environment is not going away. The political shock of the 2017 general election has been accompanied by corporate shocks from Carillion and Interserve, with clarity on terms of trade after Brexit all the while remaining elusive.

The latest annual contractor salary survey, undertaken for 黑洞社区 by recruitment firm Hays, seems to show that despite construction output holding steady so far, employees are increasingly responding to this hazy future by attempting to hunker down until the fog clears.

Hays鈥� survey of professionals employed in contracting organisations, conducted in early summer this year, found a big decline in the proportion who expected to move jobs in the next six months, to 34%, compared with 44% the previous year, as staff absorbed the more uncertain economic outlook.

This growing caution is despite continuing steady salary increases across all job types covered in the survey, as reported in the placements Hays has made over the year. The average salary growth of 3% that it found at contractors is exactly the same as last year. While not stellar, this is very healthy compared with the wider economy, and even within the construction and property sector as a whole. Hays reports just 1.8% salary growth across all industries in 2017, but 2.7% for construction and property professionals overall.

While demand and workloads remain for the moment healthy, the question for many employees is: do you have the nerve to make that job move you desire?

Site management

	Construction  (operational functions 鈥� site management)
	Senior site manager	Site manager	Assistant site manager	General foreman
Region
East Midlands	拢48,000	拢45,000	拢35,500	拢32,500
East of England	拢50,000	拢43,000	拢31,000	拢30,500
Greater London	拢63,500	拢51,500	拢42,000	拢36,000
North-east	拢45,000	拢42,000	拢29,500	拢28,000
North-west	拢49,000	拢43,000	拢33,000	拢29,000
Northern Ireland	拢40,000	拢38,000	拢27,000	拢32,000
Scotland	拢47,000	拢44,000	拢35,000	拢33,000
South-east	拢62,000	拢51,500	拢39,000	拢35,000
South-west	拢48,500	拢42,500	拢32,500	拢30,500
Wales	拢45,000	拢40,000	拢30,000	拢30,000
West Midlands	拢49,000	拢44,000	拢36,000	拢31,000
Yorkshire and Humber	拢45,000	拢41,000	拢32,000	拢28,000
National average	拢49,333&苍产蝉辫;	拢43,792&苍产蝉辫;	拢33,542&苍产蝉辫;	拢31,292&苍产蝉辫;
2016-17 change	4%	4%	3%	2%

Calming down

The industry has seen workloads continue to grow modestly in 2017, despite the post-Brexit uncertainty, and demand for staff is still strong. But there is no doubt we are no longer in the frothy recruitment market of a couple of years ago, when Hays鈥� survey reported average salary growth peaking at 7.4%, more than twice its current level. Andy Steele, chief executive of London and South-east contractor Osborne, which increased staff salaries by on average 3% this year, says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not as hot as it was 鈥� it鈥檚 fair to say it鈥檚 eased.鈥�

At the same time, says Rick Lee, chief HR officer at contractor Willmott Dixon, the merry-go-round of senior staff at construction firms appears to have slowed. 鈥淐ompetition for staff has eased over the last year or two to some extent,鈥� he says, 鈥渂ut there are still competitive areas, particularly London.鈥�

We have seen an increase in candidates accepting counter offers by their current employers rather than risk moving to a new company

Duncan Bullimore, Hays Construction

Into this gently cooling market have come the crises at two of the UK鈥檚 biggest contractors, Carillion and Interserve, potentially making many of their experienced hands consider their options. Those who do decide to jump ship can help meet demand from other employers. Osborne鈥檚 Steele says: 鈥淭he reality is that those firms become fishing grounds. We鈥檝e seen a greater influx of CVs from those firms, which have been historically difficult to get people out from.鈥�

For employees outside Carillion and Interserve 鈥� which this week announced a round of redundancies 鈥� those contractors鈥� woes will feed concerns about how stable a new employer might be. This is a key consideration, when moving jobs entails losing the safety blanket of accrued redundancy entitlement at their current employer.

As well as Hays鈥� survey finding a steep fall in those looking to swap jobs, it also found that 鈥� after the remuneration package 鈥� job security is now the most important factor when considering a new role, cited by 21%. Steele says: 鈥淐andidates are definitely worried about job security and wider confidence in the market. They鈥檙e asking about workload 鈥� this is a pretty hot topic. It鈥檚 their longer-term security, not just what their salary is going to be.鈥�

Quantity surveyor

	Quantity surveyor
	Senior QS	Intermediate QS	Assistant QS
Region
East Midlands	拢55,000	拢44,000	拢30,000
East of England	拢55,000	拢45,000	拢30,000
Greater London	拢65,000	拢48,000	拢35,000
North-east	拢47,000	拢40,000	拢26,500
North-west	拢50,000	拢45,000	拢29,000
Northern Ireland	拢50,000	拢40,000	拢32,000
Scotland	拢52,000	拢41,000	拢24,000
South-east	拢63,000	拢48,000	拢33,000
South-west	拢54,500	拢43,500	拢31,000
Wales	拢50,000	拢40,000	拢26,500
West Midlands	拢51,000	拢40,000	拢29,500
Yorkshire and Humber	拢54,000	拢40,000	拢25,000
National average	拢53,875&苍产蝉辫;	拢42,875&苍产蝉辫;	拢29,292&苍产蝉辫;
2016-17 change	3%	4%	3%

Estimator

	Estimator on site
	Senior estimator	Estimator	Assistant estimator
Region
East Midlands	拢56,000	拢42,000	拢28,000
East of England	拢56,000	拢47,000	拢31,000
Greater London	拢69,000	拢51,000	拢36,000
North-east	拢47,000	拢40,000	拢27,000
North-west	拢60,000	拢50,000	拢30,000
Northern Ireland	拢52,500	拢42,000	拢32,000
Scotland	拢52,000	拢44,000	拢29,000
South-east	拢65,500	拢50,500	拢31,500
South-west	拢52,500	拢46,500	拢30,000
Wales	拢51,500	拢42,500	拢29,500
West Midlands	拢59,000	拢44,000	拢29,000
Yorkshire and Humber	拢53,000	拢43,000	拢25,000
National average	拢56,167	拢45,208	拢29,833
2016-17 change	2%	4%	2%

Warier of change

Anthony Brown, sales and marketing director at interiors contractor BW, which has grown from 85 to 200 staff in the last three years on the back of a new growth strategy and a healthy fit-out market, says even in this buoyant part of the industry job applicants are voicing concern. 鈥淲ith the economy in post-referendum mode it feels like there鈥檚 more of a chance of a harder end to this current cycle than people had anticipated,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople are warier. They know the market won鈥檛 stay at this level for the next couple of years, so they want to make sure they鈥檙e making the right move.鈥�

Duncan Bullimore, director of Hays鈥� construction arm, says this reticence to move is being felt even in the recruitment of the most senior staff. He says: 鈥淲e have seen an increase in candidates accepting counter offers by their current employers rather than risk moving to a new company, supporting fears around job security, as companies invest in retaining highly skilled staff 鈥� albeit reluctantly.鈥�

However, any reduction in the willingness of professionals to move will serve to exacerbate continuing skills shortages for those employers that are looking to recruit. Bullimore says: 鈥淪kills shortages remain an issue. People think employee fears around job security will lead to less candidate availability in the market 鈥� thus making it harder for employers to access the talent they need.鈥�

Candidates are [鈥�] asking about workload 鈥� this is a pretty hot topic. It鈥檚 their longer-term security, not just what their salary is going to be 

Andy Steele, Osborne

The paradox is that, while workers may be more cautious over moving at an uncertain economic time, there is still very strong demand for staff with the right skills. According to Hays鈥� survey, the roles with the biggest salary rises included site managers, senior site managers, estimators, contract managers and project managers 鈥� all of whom saw average salaries increase by 4%. Steele says that, in addition, bid managers (not covered by Hays鈥� survey) are in very high demand, with anyone at the 鈥渇ront end鈥� of the construction process involved in winning work highly sought after. In contrast, health and safety professionals and more junior estimators, QSs and site staff saw lower rises.

BW鈥檚 Brown also highlights estimators, bid managers and contract managers as particularly difficult to get hold of, while Willmott Dixon鈥檚 Lee agrees that estimators, along with QSs, are the 鈥渉ardest roles to recruit for鈥�, with competition toughest in London and the South-east.

Steele says: 鈥淚鈥檇 say that 3-4% rises as an underlying figure might be about right, but that covers some significant spikes in some areas.

In normal trading to keep staff that鈥檚 the rise we鈥檝e seen, but people are moving for more substantial pay rises. For bid managers, for example, we鈥檝e seen 10% plus.鈥�

The survey highlights the continuing impact of these skills shortages, with 22% of employers saying they do not have the right staff to achieve their current business objectives 鈥� barely any improvement on the 23% saying the same thing last year. More than two-thirds of employers said a shortage of suitable applicants is their biggest recruitment challenge, while 61% said skills shortages are impacting productivity and a third that they are holding back growth plans.

Project manager

	Contract/project manager
	Contract manager	Project manager
Region
East Midlands	拢59,000	拢53,000
East of England	拢55,000	拢50,000
Greater London	拢69,000	拢65,000
North-east	拢51,000	拢44,000
North-west	拢60,000	拢55,000
Northern Ireland	拢48,000	拢44,000
Scotland	拢57,000	拢55,000
South-east	拢67,500	拢65,000
South-west	拢57,500	拢55,000
Wales	拢55,000	拢50,500
West Midlands	拢58,000	拢52,000
Yorkshire and Humber	拢53,000	拢48,000
National average	拢57,500&苍产蝉辫;	拢53,042&苍产蝉辫;
2016-17 change	4%	4%

Engineer

	On-site engineers
	Senior engineer	Engineer
Region
East Midlands	拢44,500	拢37,000
East of England	拢42,000	拢34,000
Greater London	拢53,000	拢42,000
North-east	拢45,000	拢40,000
North-west	拢50,000	拢39,000
Northern Ireland	拢35,000	拢30,000
Scotland	拢46,000	拢38,000
South-east	拢45,000	拢40,000
South-west	拢42,500	拢37,500
Wales	拢45,000	拢36,500
West Midlands	拢41,000	拢35,500
Yorkshire and Humber	拢44,000	拢40,000
National average	&苍产蝉辫;拢44,417&苍产蝉辫;	&苍产蝉辫;拢37,458&苍产蝉辫;
2016-17 change	3%	3%

Seeking staff from outside the sector

Osborne鈥檚 Steele says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 now got to be about how we bring people with relevant skills sets in from other sectors, like teaching, even where they don鈥檛 yet have the technical qualifications. This is an urgent need now.鈥�

However, while contractors may understand that meeting these ongoing shortages will require making the industry more attractive to those working in other sectors, actually doing so is still a work in progress.

On issues of most importance to so-called millennials, such as work-life balance, the industry performs worse than others, with fewer than half of employees saying their work-life balance was good, compared with a UK average of 55%. But Hays鈥� Bullimore says the evidence from the survey is that this is changing, with 59% of employers saying they now offer flexitime working, up from 46% last year, and 54% letting employees work from home if they need to, up from 48%.

Bullimore says: 鈥淓mployers in the industry are now more aware of the importance of offering flexible working options not only to help staff with their work-life balance, but also to help encourage more people into the industry, and help those who may be restarting their career after having a family. 鈥淎lthough the construction sector will remain different to many nine-to-five industries, employers are now helping by offering flexible working options.

For those already in the industry, however, whether or not to take the risk of that new job may be the biggest question.

Health and safety

	Health and safety professionals
	H&S director	Senior H&S manager	H&S manager
Region
East Midlands	拢71,000	拢53,000	拢45,000
East of England	拢65,000	拢50,000	拢38,000
Greater London	拢95,000	拢70,000	拢55,000
North-east	拢56,000	拢46,000	拢36,000
North-west	拢65,000	拢52,000	拢43,000
Northern Ireland	拢50,000	拢42,000	拢37,000
Scotland	拢53,000	拢43,000	拢36,000
South-east	拢83,000	拢58,000	拢50,000
South-west	拢72,500	拢52,500	拢42,500
Wales	拢60,000	拢49,500	拢37,500
West Midlands	拢67,000	拢55,000	拢44,000
Yorkshire and Humber	拢72,000	拢53,000	拢42,000
National average	拢67,458	拢52,000	拢42,167
2016-17 change	2%	2%	3%