BASSE Solutions has always understood and appreciated the importance of building strong relationships with local communities and businesses, but in light of COVID-19 and the current skills shortage in the UK, we’ve worked to further improve our understanding of our own corporate social responsibility.
As a result, we hope to continue serving the reactive maintenance and building repair needs of our residential and commercial clients by expanding our network and utilising more local talent and tradespeople where possible.
The UK’s biggest skills shortage
Did you know that 91% of organisations are having trouble finding the right people with the right skills? Facilities maintenance will lose £6.3 billion due to the current skills shortage in the UK, and are having trouble attracting young people to the field, which could result in an even greater shortage of maintenance specialists in years to come.
We think that all property maintenance companies and industries can cooperate to support localisation and address the shortage of skilled workers, even with the added challenge of rising living expenses.
Sharing the responsibility
There are some things that other facility maintenance companies can do to help address the current problems in the UK:
- Wherever possible, support local talent by making connections and referring work to local tradespeople.
- Promote flexibility and white-collar hybrid for appropriate roles.
- Offer internal training and mentoring programmes/schemes in order to retain and develop talent.
- Provide regular incentives, whether they be financial or related to the company culture, and educate young talent about the various career paths that are available in the sector.
- Join forces to share talent available through partnership programmes.
Join the discussion
It seems businesses outside of the total facilities maintenance sector are also utilising the potential of post-pandemic localisation, with a staggering 62% of survey respondents (according to data from the YouGov COVID-19 Tracker) saying they’ll support local businesses or buy local produce going forward.
How are you, as a property maintenance company, dealing with the current skills shortage and bridging the age divide in the facilities maintenance industry?
For all other industries, do you find that you favour local businesses more often than not in the post-pandemic world?
Visit our LinkedIn page to join the conversation; we look forward to hearing your opinions.
BASSE Solutions is always eager to encourage and welcome new members to our experienced team. If you’d be interested in joining our unique network of facility maintenance experts, please contact us directly.
Looking beyond total facilities maintenance and in the spirit of community, BASSE Solutions is always keen to support local organisations through sponsorships. If you’d like to explore sponsorship opportunities for your society, please contact our team on info@basse.co.uk.
