Richard Webb, ICAEW member and Managing Director of construction firm Newton Steel Frames, worries about skills. “Skills are a problem. Getting the right skills and motivating the workforce are a big, big challenge.”

In construction, this is a growth-hindering issue. There’s no way to really industrialise the business, bar modular construction. This comes with its own problems in terms of timescale for delivery, says Webb. “Until you can solve end-user demand and have very regular requirements for housing, the easiest thing to do is just build in a labour-intensive way.”

So while other sectors may have more options for creating efficiencies, for many – including Webb – getting access to the right skills is a problem.

“We’d come from a place where there were obvious places to go to get good people,” says Anne Allibone, fractional CFO. “What I’m seeing is that talent pools have become very diluted so finding good talent has become much harder. Increase in the use of technology, such as LinkedIn advertising, AI-modified CVs and applications, means the pool of candidates is much bigger, but more diluted in their quality and ability. Good talent is out there, but it takes a lot of time and energy to find it. It is also clear that lots of highly skilled and well-matched individuals are getting missed in the more automated early-stage screening processes.”

Aaron Patrick, Head of Accounting at accounting firm Boffix, names access to skills as one of the main factors that could either encourage growth or hold it back: “It’s a double-edged sword at the moment.”

He believes that part of the solution lies in welcoming Generation Z and the way they want to work. “If we embrace the strengths of the new generation of workers coming into the workplace, that could be a real driver for prosperity in business. They’re really entrepreneurial in that they want to learn and take control of their careers, perhaps start their own firms. If we can work with them, [we can] give them more entrepreneurial work and help them cut their teeth properly in an environment where we can train them and help them and support them, without them getting on by themselves and potentially causing more issues.”

You can no longer bring people in on junior salaries and leave them to update the filing system, says Patrick. Younger workers want to feel like they’re progressing and need a safe environment where they can learn and develop. “They pick things up quickly because they want to. They’ve got that hunger for it. The downside to that is that also, at some point, they’re going to leave. So we’ve kind of got to find a way to utilise them when they’re still raw and reward them enough that they’re going to stay for longer.”

Tribosonics produces end-to-end sensing products for customers in the industrial and energy technology sectors, incorporating artificial intelligence to make the best use of data generated. Its CEO, Glenn Fletcher, says that apprenticeship programmes have been essential in building up the company’s skills base. 

In particular, its award-winning Future Leaders programme has been a successful formula for developing people so they progress up the ladder within the company. Tribosonic’s recruitment strategy includes finding apprentices and developing their skills. These apprentices are taken through a process to become qualified and chartered engineers. Employees are also given continuous training and development to keep the skills base healthy. 

“When people ask me, do you find it hard to recruit, I say it’s never easy. We have externally recruited some great people but one of the best ways to do it is to recruit using your own people. If you bring people through and help them develop in various areas of business and you have vacancies as you grow, you can fill them with people you’re bringing through.”

Because of this success, Fletcher would like to see the government continue supporting and expanding apprenticeship schemes. Tribosonic’s apprenticeship programme has expanded from mechanical engineering to include fields such as electronics, data science, commercial, project management and software.

“We’re a relatively small and fast-growing business, but we’ve got a very good team. We’ve recruited and also brought through a large number of future leaders, apprentices and highly skilled workers.”