There is much debate in the media and across the utilities industry around how we gain the investment needed to build a new generation of power infrastructure in the UK.
However the investment needed to give the UK a resilient energy supply is about more than money. Financial investment is only the start of the process; gaining and retaining the skilled people required is just as difficult as attracting the necessary finance.
The trouble is that the UK is experiencing significant skills shortages for engineers – a matter once again given political prominence by Ed Miliband’s diatribe on twitter this week which dubbed Britain’s lack of female engineers in particular as a “national embarrassment”.
It is well documented that a sharp increase in demand for skilled professionals has followed the large investment we have seen from Government in infrastructure – which is designed to power economic growth. This is compounded by rising demand from the private sector for engineers as the property, manufacturing and industrial sectors grow.
However, for the utilities and energy sector the oft-bemoaned “skills crisis” isn’t all bad news. Matchtech recently commissioned a comprehensive study which collated the views of more than 3,500 engineers from across the UK, on their industry, its growth and their own career aspirations.
The results show that three-fifths of engineers (61 per cent) working in the UK’s £1.06 trillion turnover engineering industry say they are confident the industry will grow its revenues and income in the coming 12 months.
The survey does highlight that demand for engineers is resulting in a skills gap in the industry, with 95% of engineers in the UK believing there is a skills shortage, but the solution for the utilities industry could be close at hand. Our results also show that engineers are keen to consider switching to other sectors, with the energy sector being most popular as a potential destination.
More than half (57 per cent) of the engineers we surveyed said they would like to work in the oil and gas sector (more than for any other industry sector), with renewable energy the second most popular (47 per cent).
This suggests that large scale engineering projects such as building power generating facilities, developing renewable energy infrastructure and maintaining utility networks can gain the people they need but they have to create an environment that appeals to engineers.
Achieving this is about more than just money.
Of those engineers we surveyed who are looking to move sectors, 62 per cent said they were looking for a higher salary but almost as many (61 per cent) cited working on more interesting projects as their motivation, with a change of work environment (52 per cent) and a better work life balance (45 per cent) also cited. This shows that engineers are focused on building fulfilling careers rather than simply achieving an incremental pay rise.
As the energy and utilities sectors look to maintain and increase their investment in new infrastructure (both conventional and renewables) they must secure the talent they need to carry this through.
Understanding the motivations and aspirations of the UK’s engineers and building these into the available jobs will hold the key to the successful development of power infrastructure in the future.
Graham Carter, operations director for Infrastructure, Matchtech