National Careers Week focuses on bringing young people into the world of work. It aims to provide children, teens, and young adults in education visibility of a large range of roles across all sectors. The Facilities Management sector has invested time and resource into showcasing the sector for this age group and is working to increase the talent pool of young people to help encourage the next generation of professionals into FM.

Demand for skilled FM professionals is only increasing in the first quarter of 2023. Many companies have unfilled vacancies and finding the best talent to fill crucial roles is a constant challenge. There has also long been a skills crisis in the sector, which, as has been much discussed, has been compounded by experienced professionals leaving the sector over the last 7 years due to Brexit, the pandemic and retirement.

How Businesses can Reduce Barriers to Re-Entry to the Workforce for Over 50s or How to Reverse The Great Retirement

In the last 2 years, around 700,000 workers aged 50+ have left the jobs market. This is of particular significance to the FM sector as it has an aging workforce which has suffered from a loss of labour over the past 2 years due to Brexit, the pandemic, early retirement, and other factors. This means we have lost some of the expertise needed to productively bring the next generation of FM professionals into the sector. More experienced professionals are a boon to any sector as they can take on a mentoring role for young people who will do their work in the future.

2022 was a year of records for the recruitment industry, with vacancies hitting record highs in the summer and unemployment hitting record lows. The amount of people economically inactive rose too, as people left the workforce due to long term sickness and early retirement. The overall map of employment in the UK showed people moving much more between roles with employment figures maintaining high levels throughout the year, and we expect this to continue through 2023, despite some economic uncertainty.

Comment from 300 North given to Facilitate Magazine for their September / October 2022 edition. To see the magazine, visit Facilitate where links to the magazine are available.

The labour shortage in FM is under increased pressure. The skills gaps and effects of Brexit have been exacerbated as an ageing workforce re-evaluates its options and looks to early retirement.

300 North, the Facilities Management Recruitment Experts, are delighted to have been awarded a place on the Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) RM6229 Permanent Recruitment 2 Framework – Lot 2: Non Clinical General Recruitment.