星空传媒

Recruiting high-calibre graduates to the ranks these days is about as easy as trying to convince Theo Walcott to leave the Emirates for a stint at Accrington Stanley. Would improving general awareness about the role of the help? Maybe. What about providing a cohesive training structure so more able apprentices can fast-track onto management courses? Perhaps.

However, if the results of this year鈥檚 salary survey from specialist recruitment consultancy Hays 星空传媒 Services are anything to go by, the paltry pay rises offered to newly qualified employees must shoulder a hefty portion of the blame.

The survey reveals that employees at junior levels have experienced surprisingly meagre rises in earnings over the past 12 months. Salaries have increased by just 0.2% for junior electrical contracts engineers. Compare this to the 5.3% rise gained by operations directors, who can easily command up to 拢70 000 if based in central London.

Mike McNally, building services manager at Hays, explains: 鈥淚t鈥檚 certainly a case of employers thinking, 鈥榦k, we鈥檝e a skills shortage, so I鈥檓 willing to pay a considerable amount more than my competitors to make sure I鈥檝e got the best person for the job.鈥� In the long term, this is often a sound investment and where the work is project-led, employers can include any major cost hikes in the initial budget.

鈥淗aving said that, you have to make sure it doesn鈥檛 upset the apple cart within the office,鈥� warns McNally. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to negatively influence people who have been loyal and have been with you five or 10 years, but are not afforded the same salary increases as someone new you鈥檝e had to attract. This is why, of course, the salaries of senior workers who are bought in are often negotiated in private rather than advertised beforehand.鈥�

Unfortunately, it鈥檚 a different ball game for those just starting out. 鈥淓verybody鈥檚 driven by profit margins and completion times and balancing the books today. And the cost of training people for tomorrow is acknowledged, but nothing is done about it,鈥� says McNally. 鈥淭he prominent figures in the industry recognise this problem, but don鈥檛 have a joined up approach to address it.鈥�

McNally also points out, however, that wages increase quite dramatically after just a year in the industry. 鈥淚f people are willing to roll up their sleeves and get stuck into the job, they can quickly increase their salaries, given that they rapidly obtain skills which are in demand,鈥� he says.

鈥淭hey have to be prepared for some short-term pain for long-term gain. Looking at these latest salary survey levels, they are soon well rewarded.鈥�

Candidates who are skilled in one discipline and possess an understanding of another are in demand. Qualified electrical engineers who possess a strong knowledge of mechanical engineering are highly employable.

So what does McNally foresee for the future of the m&e sector? 鈥淚f anything, the gap is only going to get more exaggerated in the next 12 months or so,鈥� he predicts. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got major projects like the Olympics and Thames Gateway starting to kick in now, which is leading to a huge drain in resources.

鈥淗aving said that, I recently spoke to a project manager who鈥檚 on 拢55 000 and had been offered a job for 拢80 000. But he turned it down on the basis that it still wasn鈥檛 worth it because expectations for the job were so high. He got good job satisfaction from his current role and that was enough.鈥�

Unsurprisingly, the search for a higher salary came top of the list when employees were asked what factors influenced them in looking for a new job. However, flexibility was also a highly favoured option, with 55% of respondents considering it important or even vital. This is reflected in the increasing popularity of agency-based labour, where workers have more choice over their hours and site locations.

Hays also expects the number of workers brought in from overseas to continue to increase over the next 12 months, as employers are becoming more open to the option due to the shortage of strong candidates. 鈥淲e鈥檙e increasingly being asked to conduct and run campaigns for clients overseas,鈥� says McNally.

Given that 73% of employers surveyed admitted they had experienced problems recruiting over the past 12 months, and the majority attributed this to a shortage of suitable candidates, the salary gap is an area that desperately needs addressing.

It seems that m&e contractors need to stop merely searching for a quick fix solution and start investing more time and money in the operations directors and project managers of the future.