Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
But I, being young and foolish,
With her would not agree
I spent the early part of today getting my head around the Government’s Industrial Strategy about jobs, announced yesterday. Hooray. Earlier this year, an interim report into young people and employment by former minister Alan Milburn, found that nearly one million young people in the UK are NEETs – not in education, employment or training. A full report is due later this year, and will look at solutions; yesterday’s announcement dovetails with Milburn’s efforts.
The Government’s latest Industrial Strategy plans include 40,000 construction placements every year, alongside 22,400 new under-25 apprenticeships annually in professional and business services. The aim is to open up more routes into skilled careers, giving young people the opportunity to earn, learn and develop the skills employers need. It allies with one of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s earliest announcements, about investment in more vocational training, including in construction – ‘we’ll make the hard hat as appealing as the mortar board’ or whatever it was he said.
That’s a really positive step. But the real test will be what happens on the ground, in businesses, on sites, in factories and in merchant branches across the country.
For smaller businesses – to be honest, at the moment for any business – taking on an apprentice or trainee, or bringing in youngsters for work experience isn’t just a case of finding them and cracking on with it. Yes, there is a lot of support – the BMF’s Apprenticeship programme is a good example – but when all hands are at the proverbial pump, taking on newbies is time-consuming and uses up mental bandwidth.
So, we need training routes that work for businesses of all sizes, and investment that helps employers bring in new talent without feeling they’re risking taking their eye off the business ball.
The announcement got me thinking about how we approach the issue in this industry. We are really good at talking about the skills shortages, and how we need the next generation, younger people, fresh blood, to invest in skills, in a more diverse workforce, get the next generation interested … yada, yada, yada.
If we’re serious about the future of building materials, merchanting and manufacturing, we do need to talk about it, but we need to talk about it with – and this is the scary bit – other people. Not just amongst ourselves.
This is a cracking place to build a career. I wasn’t able to attend the IOBM Conference last week, but I understand that that message came across loud and clear. So why aren’t we shouting about it?
We’re still nowhere near the first industry that springs to mind when youngsters are looking at their post-school or college options. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve banged on about the fact that this is an industry packed with opportunities, brilliant people, technical expertise, commercial challenges and genuine scope to progress.
If we want a more diverse, skilled and resilient workforce, we need to help create the conditions for people to succeed. That means opening doors, offering support and recognising potential, even when it comes from somewhere we might not have thought to look.
And this seems like the perfect place to add a big plug for the Maddie Rose Foundation. Our aim is to create meaningful opportunities for young people to enter and thrive in building materials, merchanting, manufacturing and the wider built environment. Through grants, bursaries, mentoring and stronger connections across the sector, we want to help turn potential into opportunity.
The Foundation is an opportunity for our industry to come together and make a practical difference. Not just to talk about the next generation, but to help them get started and give them the support they need to build a future.
Whether you’re a merchant, manufacturer, supplier or industry professional, there are ways to get involved. We cannot keep complaining about skills shortages while expecting the next generation to find us by accident. We cannot expect young people to understand the opportunities available if we don’t show them. And we cannot build a stronger workforce for tomorrow without investing in people today.
We all – Government, training providers, schools, colleges, employers, merchants, manufacturers – have our roles to play. So, get in touch with us at the Foundation and let’s see what futures we can develop.
