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We're delighted to announce Iain Brown's appointment to the newly created role of Head of People Services to put learning and development at the heart of our business.As Head of People Services, a newly created role, Iain will help us deliver our People Strategy and intentions of improving learning and development opportunities for staff across the business so we can nurture, train and develop our own talent.  Iain has over 20 years of experience within the recruitment industry and has created and led people strategies, improved learning and development, employee engagement, onboarding and staff retention, at other leading recruitment firms. Iain joins Thorn Baker from The Best Connection Employment Group, where he enjoyed a 15-year career as Head of People Services supporting over 1,000 members of staff in their professional development and career progression.Through his newly created role, Iain will align the People Strategy and HR function of the Group with the overall strategic plan. This will ensure that staff benefit from having industry-leading learning and development opportunities and effective onboarding and employment engagement policies and are supported through a person focussed HR policy.The formation of a ‘Head of People Services’ role and Iain’s appointment is part of the continuing evolution of Thorn Baker. Having grown consistently over recent years, including throughout the pandemic, experiencing strong demand for staff from our clients in the construction, industrial and estates and facilities maintenance sectors. Thorn Baker is on course to achieve close to a £40 million turnover in this financial year, a landmark for us.By creating the Head of People Services role, we are aiming to become one of the leading employers within the recruitment industry so that it can attract the best talent and achieve excellent staff retention and productivity. Paul Jackman, Thorn Baker Group CEO comments: 'I am very proud that we are continuing to grow as a business and are able to support our clients with the people they need to help their companies thrive. As we grow, we want to ensure that we are continuing to invest in our people, supporting, training and nurturing their talent, so that we have outstanding teams across the UK. I am a firm believer that if you put your people first, then everything else will follow.'I am delighted that Iain has joined Thorn Baker and I’m sure his complementary skillset will be a valuable addition to our senior team. Through Iain joining us as ‘Head of People Services’ it sets our intention as a business and shows that we are taking staff welfare and their learning and development seriously. Upon joining the business, we want our staff to know there is a career pathway for them and to ensure they are supported with effective onboarding, engagement and learning and development opportunities. For our clients, they benefit from working with highly trained recruitment specialists who will be on top of issues affecting their businesses, such as compliance and Modern Slavery.'Iain Brown comments: 'I am hugely excited about my new role with Thorn Baker and I am looking forward to working with the senior team and staff at all levels to help shape the People Strategy for the business. The Thorn Baker board and I share the same view that looking after our staff and becoming a leading employer must be at the heart of the business, especially if we are to continue to grow successfully. I have been impressed by how the company responded to the pandemic, the culture and ethos and how it has supported its staff, and this played a large part in my decision to join the business.'I love supporting people to enable them to progress in their careers. This role will help me reconnect with that purpose and the part of my role that energises me the most, working with people at all levels of the business to help them progress and become excellent at what they do.'

The country's labour shortage is one of the hot topics right now. No doubt as a worker you are being bombarded with new job offers with increasingly enticing benefits every day. How could you as a worker make the most of what is most definitely a candidate-driven market?Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & MaintenanceWe’ve all seen the impact from the severe shortage of HGV drivers on everything from our local supermarket shelves to our pharmacies to possibly not having turkey this Christmas. This is not a Talent or a Skills Shortage (although, that has long been the bane of the construction and technical markets) – this is a Nationwide Labour Shortage.TwinFM reported recently that In 2018, 19.5 per cent of engineers working in the UK were due to retire by 2026. Additionally, there’s been a lack of engineering graduates over the past 10 to 15 years, with approximately 182,000 additional engineer graduates needed per year until 2022.There are simply not enough people looking for work in this country to fill all the jobs available.Jobs in the UK: What are the numbers saying?The ONS’s vacancies and jobs in the UK October report said that in July-September:Job vacancies were at a record high of 1,102,00012 out of 18 job sectors saw an increaseAll sectors are above or equal to their pre-pandemic levels, food and accommodation services seeing the biggest rise of 59%All industries had a record number of vacanciesUnemployment is currently at 4.6%Employment is at 75.2%Nett Migration is at minus 10% (more leaving than arriving), with an estimated 1.3 million EU nationals have left the UK in the last 12 monthsAverage pay has increased by 7.4% (excluding bonus payments)However, the rate of vacancy growth is beginning to decrease, with a rise of 27.7% it is down from the previous quarter (38.9%).As recruitment specialists this is a trend we can confirm, the difficulties of Summer do indeed seem to be easing.As a Group we work across a broad range of industries and the conversation with the offices has been that although it is still tough market conditions are getting better. Applications are increasing, advertising spending has eased (a little) and candidates are once again asking what work we have available.And the announcement this week the UK’s “national living wage” is to go up to £9.50 an hour from next April, meaning a pay rise for millions of low-paid workers. This is a 6.6% increase from £8.91, which applies to workers aged 23 and over. For those aged 21 to 22, the minimum will increase from £8.36 to £9.18.So, if things are looking brighter why do we still seem to have an issue?Is migration the easy answer?This could be seen as a yes and a no answer. On the surface, it would be simple to blame Brexit and the difficulties around worker visas. However, according to Alan Manning, economist and professor of economics at the LSE we need to look at it from a different view – are there not enough people to do the job or do people not want to do the job (because of poor pay and/ or conditions)?In his blog, Alan Manning discusses these issues more in-depth and it’s a great read, you can see it here.A summary for you is that:The Pandemic: At the end of June 2021 there were still 1.9 million workers on furlough from 580k employers, some of them in the same sectors that are also reporting shortages.Brexit: Some European workers have returned home, or perhaps they believe they now have better options elsewhere. ‘One horticultural company quoted a loss of 25% of staff since Jan 2021 due to those returning to Europe as pay is now much better in Norway’. IR35: It has forced many drivers to swap their status resulting in falls in the income of up to 25%​What ‘real life’ top tips could benefit you right now?There’s no denying it’s tough out there at the minute, but there are things you can do to help your job search.Think about your career goals. What kind of career do you want? Which job/s appeal to you in the long term? If you’re just about to enter the job market this is a key moment to figure exactly what you are looking for. In the current market, you will have a whole host of options in front of you, it could be as simple as indoors vs. outdoors or maybe you like to be active and the thought of being at a desk is just not appealing. These steps can help you narrow your job search to positions you are passionate about and will help you advance professionally.Be bold in your applications. Maybe you really like the sound of a particular job but you only fulfil some of the requirements. Now is the time to take that risk, employers are definitely thinking outside the box in terms of transferable skills.Been thinking about upskilling? This is a great time to look at taking a course to help develop your career. Maybe this is something you could talk to your Manager about if you’re currently in a job, it’s worth asking the question. An employer or a local jobcentre could have access to training funds that you could benefit from.Research businesses. Right now you will more than likely have every person and their dog throwing jobs at you, it can be overwhelming. Especially when they have enticing joining bonuses etc. But does that mean you’ll be happy there? Does the company reflect your values and can they offer more in terms of investing in your future than just additional £’s?Be confident. As the job seeker, you have a monopoly on the market. Make the most of it. But remember that these markets can and do change, keep in mind if you are working with recruitment agencies who helped you, who understood your needs? Hopefully, you won’t need to get in touch again but it’s always best to shake hands on a good note.At Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance we’re absolutely committed to improving our recruitment process and helping our candidates find the very best jobs for them during this labour shortage.Contact the team today to find how they can help you today, or if you know someone looking for work fill out our form here and you'll be entered into a draw to win a £250 Gift Card.

The country's labour shortage is one of the hot topics right now. There’s been a lot of debate as to what is causing the shortage from migration to wages, but what is the solution? From a recruitment agency point of view, our aim is less why is there a shortage and more of how do we help solve the shortage problem?Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & MaintenanceWe’ve all seen the impact from the severe shortage of HGV drivers on everything from our local supermarket shelves to our pharmacies to possibly not having turkey this Christmas. This is not a Talent or a Skills Shortage (although, that has long been the bane of the construction and technical markets) – this is a Nationwide Labour Shortage. There are simply not enough people looking for work in this country to fill all the jobs available.TwinFM reported recently that In 2018, 19.5 per cent of engineers working in the UK were due to retire by 2026. Additionally, there’s been a lack of engineering graduates over the past 10 to 15 years, with approximately 182,000 additional engineer graduates needed per year until 2022.Jobs in the UK: What are the numbers saying?The ONS’s vacancies and jobs in the UK October report said that in July-September:Job vacancies were at a record high of 1,102,00012 out of 18 job sectors saw an increaseAll sectors are above or equal to their pre-pandemic levels, food and accommodation services seeing the biggest rise of 59%All industries had a record number of vacanciesUnemployment is currently at 4.6%Employment is at 75.2%Nett Migration is at minus 10% (more leaving than arriving), with an estimated 1.3 million EU nationals have left the UK in the last 12 monthsAverage pay has increased by 7.4% (excluding bonus payments)However, the rate of vacancy growth is beginning to decrease, with a rise of 27.7% it is down from the previous quarter (38.9%).As recruitment specialists this is a trend we can confirm, the difficulties of Summer do indeed seem to be easing.As a Group we work across a broad range of industries and the conversation with the offices has been that although it is still tough market conditions are getting better. Applications are increasing, advertising spending has eased (a little) and candidates are once again asking what work we have available.And the announcement this week the UK’s “national living wage” is to go up to £9.50 an hour from next April, meaning a pay rise for millions of low-paid workers. This is a 6.6% increase from £8.91, which applies to workers aged 23 and over. For those aged 21 to 22, the minimum will increase from £8.36 to £9.18.So, if things are looking brighter why do we still seem to have an issue?Is migration the easy answer?This could be seen as a yes and a no answer. On the surface, it would be simple to blame Brexit and the difficulties around worker visas. However, according to Alan Manning, economist and professor of economics at the LSE we need to look at it from a different view – are there not enough people to do the job or do people not want to do the job (because of poor pay and/ or conditions)?In his blog, Alan Manning discusses these issues more in-depth and it’s a great read, you can see it here.A summary for you is that:The Pandemic: At the end of June 2021 there were still 1.9 million workers on furlough from 580k employers, some of them in the same sectors that are also reporting shortages.Brexit: Some European workers have returned home, or perhaps they believe they now have better options elsewhere. ‘One horticultural company quoted a loss of 25% of staff since Jan 2021 due to those returning to Europe as pay is now much better in Norway’. IR35: It has forced many drivers to swap their status resulting in falls in the income of up to 25%​What ‘real life’ solutions can you implement?There’s no denying it’s tough out there at the minute, but there are things you can do to help your business recruit great staff.Focus on why working for your company is great. The support, flexibility, improved technology, training budget etc. Whatever it is you are doing well, shout about it! Spend some money on your recruitment. Whether that is with agencies like us, advertising, specialist job boards, sponsored Facebook adverts or an internal refer a friend scheme etc. A free advert on Indeed is not going to get you the staff you need.Work with an agency. Make sure they are promoting your business (not just the job). At Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance we focus more on what staff are looking for now. Working with your recruiter will ensure you get the best outcome, it’s what we do all day, make the most of our knowledge and connections.Competing with other businesses. This is something that’s not always thought about but if you’re already working with an agency communicate with them what your own plans are. You will undoubtedly end up in competition with each other on jobs – and in the end, you’ll end up spending more money than you need to.Remember it’s a candidate market. If you want to hire the best, you’re going to have to treat them with respect, flexibility and sensible job offers.Flexibility. Can you offer different shift times? A selection of our clients has already done this, and they’ve seen great results. By changing their previous hours to suit school hours as well as part-time they’ve attracted more staff and retained them.Promote your business online. Building an online community is a great way to attract staff. Pay rates will always be an attraction but it doesn’t always compensate for being happy in your job.Invest in training. There’s a wealth of excellent Candidates out there with the right attitude and the wrong qualifications.Benefits packages. Enhanced maternity and paternity pay, pension plans above and beyond the statutory minimum, increased holidays, private healthcare, and a whole host of flexible benefits and rewards. There are so many ways to improve your offering above and beyond improving the basic salary.Remote working. People want less commuting and more leisure time (at least a couple of days a week) and that attitude is here to stay. Plus allowing your people to work from home where possible will boost your environmentally friendly creds too. If it’s feasible for your business to offer this, why not?At Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance we’re absolutely committed to improving the recruitment process and helping businesses during this labour shortage.We work with businesses that struggle to hire Maintenance Engineers and Gas Engineers every day. Contact the team today to find how they’re already helping your competitors and how they could support your hiring needs. Or complete our enquiry form here and we'll contact you.

Fruit is rotting in fields, buildings are going un-cleaned and we’ve all seen the impact from the severe shortage of HGV drivers on everything from our local supermarket shelves to our pharmacies.This is not a Talent or a Skills Shortage (although, that has long been the bane of the construction and technical markets) – this is a Nationwide Labour Shortage. There are simply not enough people looking for work in this country to fill all of the jobs available.Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance.However, this does not mean that candidates are impossible to find. Quite the opposite.The ONS recently reported that there are still 1.6m people actively seeking work, and the group with the most potential are the 8.5m people who are economically inactive. People who are currently not involved in the labour market in any way either through early retirement, long term sickness, stay at home parents, students or similar.​When the going gets tough through either recession or candidate shortage, there are always companies that are winners and losers. ​Keep reading to discover our predictions as to what type of companies will come out on top and who will be the perennial losers...Winners: Companies with flexible working hours and job sharesWant to tap into that huge market of experienced early retirees, returning parents and people who otherwise can’t work full time? Be flexible with your working hours and shift patterns, change the start and finish times to suit the school runs and baby classes. Create a job share program to split shifts, there are so many options. They’ll appreciate it (and you) all the more for it.Losers: 'We can’t change our hours, if we do that everyone will want to!'And? What an awful suggestion, to make things easier for your current workforce as well as attracting your future employees?! Yes, if you un-restrict working hours, your current employees will want to take advantage of that opportunity as well – and this is a GOOD thing. If they secretly want a more flexible work schedule, they’ll find it somewhere else.Winners: It's not just about increasing pay, it's about the whole benefits package!Enhanced maternity and paternity pay, pension plans above and beyond the statutory minimum, increased holidays, private healthcare, and a whole host of flexible benefits and rewards. There are so many ways to improve your offering above and beyond improving the basic salary. Companies who are creative and flexible with their benefits package will have the pick of the bunch.Losers: '28 days paid holiday, Auto Enrolment Pension and half an hour unpaid break'.Companies still advertising the above under their ‘Benefits’ section on their job adverts and wondering why they don’t get any applications… It’s not a benefit if it is the statutory minimum you have to provide by law! If you're an employer genuinely unable to improve your benefits package, you need to really think about why it's great to work for you. Those are the benefits you should be listing.Winners: Companies who trust their employees to work from anywhere The pandemic changed a lot of things but few would argue against the change in daily working environments and habits was the single biggest change to the working environment that this country has seen since the industrial revolution. People want less commuting and more leisure time (at least a couple of days a week) and that attitude is here to stay. Plus allowing your people to work from home where possible will boost your environmentally friendly creds too.Companies who have embraced this fundamental change to our working practices will win this war for people – but it looks like from our recent LinkedIn poll, there are still some hiring managers hanging on to the old ways…                Losers: 'People who want to work from home are just lazy and don’t want to be monitored'.Newsflash – people who are lazy are lazy EVERYWHERE. In your office, outside your office, on a beach etc. If someone you employ is not doing what they should be doing it's because they're in the wrong job, are disengaged, or are just otherwise unhappy. Where they work has nothing to do with it and basing your WFH policy (or lack of) on this is a sign of much bigger issues. Of course, some jobs simply can’t be done remotely but if yours can, then chances are the people who you want to employ will want some flexibility over where they work.So, what’s the key to being a winner? Flexibility, open-mindedness and putting your employees (and future hires) wants and needs first.Are you a winner or a loser? Let us know in the comments!Want to talk to us about jobs you need to fill? Complete our enquiry form here.

In support of Gas Safety Week (13-19 September 2021), we will be sharing the gas safety registers' top safety tips over the week to remind everyone of the importance of having an annual gas safety check by a Gas Safe registered engineer.Gas Safety Week is now into its second decade of keeping people safe and this year has an ongoing focus on keeping communities gas safe, as well as advising on topics such as illegal gas fitters, and avoiding carrying out DIY gas work on your own appliances.Gas appliances that have not been maintained properly can cause gas leaks, fires, explosions and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. Carbon monoxide is known as the ‘silent killer’ because you can’t see, smell or taste it. Therefore, it is highly important to have your gas appliances checked by an engineer who is listed on the Gas Safe Register.Jonathan Samuel, chief executive for Gas Safe Register, said: “It’s really important to keep community safety at the forefront of everything we do, and gas safety is no exception. This Gas Safety Week we’re delighted to have the support of [insert name of organisation] and by working together we  can keep the public informed of gas safety and help reduce the risk of dangerous gas appliances across the UK, helping the whole nation to stay gas safe.”Top tips on how to stay Gas Safe this Gas Safety Week:Know the symptoms of CO poisoning; headaches, nausea, breathlessness, collapse, dizziness and loss of consciousness.If you smell gas or think there might be a gas leak, call the free 24-hour national gas emergency number immediately on 0800 111 999.Never attempt to work on a gas appliance yourself, always seek the help of a qualified Gas Safe registered engineer who can work on your gas cooker, boiler or fire in a safe way.Don’t cut corners - only employ a suitably qualified Gas Safe registered engineer when having gas work carried out in your home.Always ask to see your engineer’s Gas Safe ID card. Make sure you check the back of the card, which will state which gas appliances they are qualified to work on.Gas Safe Register is the official register for legally qualified engineers. You can find a registered engineer in your area by visiting the Gas Safe Register website at GasSafeRegister.co.uk

With like most events in the last year, the Facilities Show has adapted to times (we’ve definitely seen changes in our business!) and there will be a mix of in-person and digital events. In this blog we look at the top 3 things that we’re most looking forward to at this year’s Facilities Show, do you agree with our choices?Connect 2021: Digital Product Demo’s and Panel TalksSome people may not like the idea of virtual events and some people may love them – a little bit like marmite. But, what is key in this is finding new ways to connect and it’s definitely a great, safe solution.Also, I think we all know that being out of the office for the whole show can be a challenge. So, most people will pick the day that has the most events they’re interested in and book that one. You need to make sure people know you’re out for the day, organise travel – possibly a hotel, sounds like a lot of work!The online portion, Connect 2021 is a great solution to that! As the title suggests it’s a good way to connect the FM community. You can book the demo’s and panel talks that you’re interested in, and attend them in the comfort of your office (of home if you’re not back in the office yet). How great is that?No need to pre-plan as much as normal, see everything you want to see and it’s stretch out over the month - great stuff.And they have created a great video to walk you through your dashboard area and everything that’s available to you!Workplace Wellbeing ShowThis was an addition to the show in 2019 and with companies becoming increasingly aware of wellbeing in the workplace – it’s definitely been a great addition. It’s been a tough year and now more than ever people are focused on their own wellbeing as well as the wellbeing of their staff.We’re particularly looking forward to the live event on Wednesday the 16th of June: Panel Debate: Wellbeing Considerations as We Return to Work in ‘The New Normal’ – the event is sponsored by the charity Mind.The panel will be discussing:Adjustments to consider and helping colleagues adapt to changeMaking people feel safeSupporting those still at risk of infection or with fear of infectionSupporting employees with new or pre-existing social anxietyGuidance for wellbeing leaders and line managersYou can register for the live event here.Resources, Resources and More ResourcesAnother great area available on the FM Show site is the resources section. In here you’ll find their top 10 free FM resources, these include:Building a Better Workplace - From Technology to WellbeingThe Future is BIM FM - Adapt & Adopt or Get Left BehindThe Smart Buildings eBook, Sponsored by ENGIEThe Road to WellbeingProperty Owners Risk ManagementTechnology & Innovation in the Facilities Management IndustryYour Guide to Office MovesTop 10 IoT Challenges FMs Face and How to Solve ThemYour Guide to Flexible WorkingTop 10 IoT Challenges FMs Face and How to Solve ThemIf you want to take advantage of these great free papers you can download them all right here.So, If you haven’t already booked your spaces for the event don’t miss out, you can register here. Let us know which talks your looking forward to!

The 2021 Euros are nearly upon us and I don’t know about you but we can't wait! To celebrate Thorn Baker would like to invite you to take part in our 'Guess the Goals' competition.Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & MaintenanceDates for Your Diary: The Euros start on the 11th of June with Turkey taking on Italy  The final is on July the 11th (England currently 5/1 to win!) England’s first game is on the 13th June against Croatia, followed by the 18th of June against Scotland and 22nd June against the Czech Republic Closing date to enter our competition 9th June @ 5.00pm So What Do You Need to Do to Enter? It’s Easy!All you need to do is to email eurosefm@thornbaker.co.uk the following predictions along with your name, trade and the best number to contact you on (so we can confirm your entry!)How many goals you think will be scored in total throughout the competition (penalty shootout goals not included) As a tie-breaker in case, we have a draw: How many yellow cards you think will be dished out through the competition? The Prize: The full football strip of any country taking part in the tournament. Will you go for England or maybe something a little more exotic like Macedonia or Austria? A bottle of Moet  Good Luck!

In her latest blog, Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker EFM talks about people’s attitudes towards vaccinations in the workplace.Our weekly LinkedIn poll created a surprising amount of engagement recently – after having my 1st Covid-19 jab in early May (and feeling considerably worse the wear for it), we had a spirited discussion within the Thorn Baker team – should employers be allowed to require new and existing employees to have the jab?Having decided to post the poll on LinkedIn, I went on with my day and forgot about it – until my phone starting dinging with the notifications...                                 Seeing the incoming results and comments, I was surprised with just how many people were not only opposed to the idea of an employer expecting their workforce to have the jab, but also how many people also considered it immoral, illegal and in direct opposition to their civil liberties.            I myself voted to question the legality of employers potentially restricting applications from prospective candidates – could this be seen as a form of discrimination?Potentially not, as another contributor argued. Having the vaccination (unless prevented by a medical condition) could apply as AFARP (As Far As Reasonably Possible) under H&S law, and freedom of choice does not apply under these circumstances. He went on to point out that the courts had already upheld a ruling that a lorry driver was not unfairly dismissed for refusing to wear a mask.So it could be reasonably argued that refusing to offer a job to someone who chose not to have the vaccine would also be applying H&S protection protocols to their existing workforce/clients/the public who could come into contact with the potential new employee.There was further discussion about differences in working environments that might have more stringent requirements in place – for example, its reasonable to expect healthcare professionals and those working in the prison service to, as an absolute minimum, complete a screening for risk of Tuberculosis and are strongly advised to have the BCG vaccination (although the guidance stops short of stating that they absolutely must have the jab).Should similar guidance or advice be included on employment guidelines for organisations like the NHS or HMPS for employees to have the Covid 19 jab?                         NHS Regional Vaccines, Published 11 May 2021And for those that are vocal in their anti-vaxxer stance, is there a risk of unconscious or even conscious bias against those that have refused the jab in terms of future employment or promotion prospects?In the world of Facilities Management outsourcing, there is a further layer to this – when will we hear of the first client who tells their FM provider that all of their cleaning operatives or engineers must show proof of vaccination before attending a site, in the same way, that some end-user clients require all supplier personnel to have a DBS or credit check?Until the vaccination rollout is complete and offered to all adults of employment age, there can be no clear cut answers – certainly, we will not see any specific examples until after the adult population in the UK has been offered their jab.But with the advent of vaccination passports incoming shortly with an update to the NHS app, airlines, pubs, restaurants and hotels could all start to specify ‘only vaccinated customers please.’​Do you think it's only a short hop from there to ‘only vaccinated employees please’? Let us know! You can leave a comment below or contact the team here. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

With less than 13 working days to go before the changes to IR35 kick in, the last few weeks have seen a huge amount of client activity as the recent 3rd March Budget confirmed that HMRC wouldn’t kick it down the road another year once more.Rob Ford, Construction Brand Director Working in Partnership with EFMInterestingly, the approaches being taken by our clients are far from consistent, even though the challenge is the same – so rather than regurgitate the changes that are coming (the links at the end of this blog are always useful) we’ve decided to share what’s going on in an effort to stimulate some thought and discussion amongst those who are hurtling towards this imminent deadline.To lighten the seriousness of IR35, we’ve been able to categorise the 4 main types of approach we have experienced in recent weeks and would invite you to assess your own approach and plot your own position with the following Matrix.                                   No need to share but if you or your business are in any way involved in getting ready for the changes then a bit of self-reflection won’t harm.The ‘Headless Chicken’ has high IR35 knowledge and knows the importance of getting things right but finds themselves either disorganised or in a disorganised business that has left it late. Compliance is important and implementation is proving tricky.The ‘Ostrich’ represents those individuals within impacted hirers that have their heads in the sand when it comes to understanding what needs to be done; there is a business to run right now in a global pandemic and that’s what matters – not some more legislation. Ignorance is bliss?Our (Anxious) Deer, in contrast to the Ostrich, is alert to the danger posed by non-compliance, of getting the Status Determination wrong and of upsetting their supply chain, but lacks the detailed knowledge that is required to get this right and is unsurprisingly frozen in which direction to go as every path looks trickyThe Wise Owl has it all under control. They’ve audited everything in good time to assess the scale of the issue, they’ve assessed all the roles where they have contractors in place and passed the Status Determination Statement down the supply chain. Whether roles are inside or outside IR35 they are safe in the knowledge they have taken reasonable care of and can provide evidence to HMRC if required.Well done if like many of our clients you’re a Wise Owl; but if you’re not then please do get in touch with me or my team to gain some additional ‘know-how’ on IR35 to help you implement the changes over the next few weeks. We are very well placed to help your organisation whether you currently use our services or not, and if necessary we can refer you to some even more knowledgeable experts.In the meantime, here are some very useful links from HMRC that the Wise Owl will almost certainly have read.Guidance overview (landing page)April 2021 changes to off-payroll working for clientsDeemed employer responsibilitiesCEST toolCEST tool guidanceDetailed off-payroll guidance

Last month, we wrote about how interviewers can ask the best questions to really understand the people they are looking to hire, and how to interpret the answers to see if the person sat in front of them (in person or via Zoom!) would be a good fit for their organisation.Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & MaintenanceNow we’re turning the tables and looking at how an engineer can ask questions that will give a true reflection of the company they might join. After all, in this time of skills shortages (and yes, despite the pandemic there is still a shortage of qualified maintenance engineers on the market) interviews should be a two-way street with every interviewer being willing to promote themselves as an employer of choice.In reality, however, it appears the balance of power still lies with the employer when it comes to interviewing situations, with a lack of confidence in asking questions about the company’s values and future prospects.Prior to writing this blog, we conducted a survey of over 6000 maintenance engineers from the FM sector. We asked them how confident they were when it came to questioning potential employers. Although 97% of our respondents said that it was quite or very important that a company’s values, prospects, environment and ethics match their own, and yet only 41% said that they were confident to ask questions about these during their interview.​​We’ve outlined below 5 top questions that an Engineer can ask their prospective future employer to help them understand more about their potential fit, and why these questions are important!​1. Why is this position available?Asking this question is absolutely vital; you absolutely need to understand why the company is hiring right now. The answer you get can give you a lot of information that will help you make a decision to accept an offer. If the answer is due to expansion/ new contract wins, this is a huge plus. The company winning business and expanding its workforce is one that is on the up.However, if the role is to replace someone who has left don’t be shy in asking follow up questions like: ‘Why did the last person in this job leave?’ You’ll learn a lot about the company and your interviewer depending on their answer.                               2. What support is in place for your Engineers?If you are looking to work for a company that has a good support network in place for its Engineers then listen out for how easily your interviewer finds this question to answer. Our best clients often talk about how experienced and agile their contracts Admin team are. How they go out of their way to help Engineers out on the road; most companies are especially proud of their management mentors and employee wellness schemes.If however, your interviewer finds it challenging to come up with real examples of support within the organisation you may find that they are of the ‘sink or swim’ mentality. It won’t necessarily be a bad place to work, but it may be an organisation that better suits very experienced Engineers who are used to working entirely self-sufficiently.                                3. What are the expectations required of someone in this role?This is different from asking about daily tasks and SLA’s. This question will help you understand more about what kind of character and responsibility your potential future employer is looking for.When your interviewer replies, listen out for how they describe what they are looking for in your personality, problem-solving skills, attitude etc. It will tell you a lot about what kind of environment you could be stepping into. If they explain that their expectations are, for example, you to check in regularly with the office, work late when needed and stay calm in difficult situations, you can reasonably expect that the contract you’ll be working on will turn out to be a challenging one.                                4. What is great about working here?Great employers will have great answers to this question. Your interviewer should be the best ambassador for the company (after all, they're usually your first upfront experience of what/ who the company is!). So, if it is a truly great company to work for they will be prepared for this question. An enthusiastic answer with lots of examples about living and breathing their company values, good additional benefits packages, and flexible working policies.Mediocre employers will not find this as easy to answer – if your interviewer struggles to come up with anything concrete, or only talks about how good the salary is, be wary. Follow up with questions about why your interviewer likes working there, and why they took the job.                                  5. What future opportunities are available for me?Bear in mind that ‘future opportunities’ can be a wide variety of things, from promotions, gaining managerial experience to undertaking additional training and skills/ tickets. Lots of companies will consider helping their Engineers become ever more multi-skilled (and paying for the training) is a fantastic opportunity and investment. Others will want their Engineers to be the succession plan for future management opportunities.The key with this question is again how easily your interviewer finds it to answer – if they have no concrete plans for your potential future development, this will be obvious. Again, it does not mean that you should not take the job if offered – it all depends on what your ambitions are.​It can be easy to make a decision on accepting a job based on facts and figures such as salary and additional benefits, but ultimately it is questions like the above that will help you decide if the company you are interviewing with fits with your expectations and ambitions in the medium and long term.Do you have a killer interview question to share with our community? Leave a comment below!

A lot has been written recently on how to prepare for video and telephone interviews in the time of Covid-19, but not much has been written about the actual questions you should be asking. In this blog, we'll look at the top questions our clients ask in their interviews and how you can make the most of them in yours.Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & MaintenanceTechnical based questions like these (betterteam.com/maintenance-engineer-interview-questions) are great for delving into the skills and experience of your Engineers, but what do you ask to find out what makes them tick? Or what their personality is really like? After all, your interviewee is on their best interview behaviour – how do you figure out if they will act the same when they are on the job?If you are interviewing Engineers over the phone or on a video call, it’s even more important to get these questions right. Remember you may not have the opportunity to take into account the nuances of body language and facial expressions as you would in a traditional face to face interview. Considering that your engineers are often the public face of your company, it’s so important to find out if they will fit with your culture and values.Here at Thorn Baker EFM, we all have our own opinions about the best questions to ask engineers during an interview, but we thought who better to compile this list than the hiring managers themselves? So we spoke to our clients and asked them to nominate their favourite interview questions.1. 'What can you bring to our company?'Nigel Tomlinson, Horbury Property ServicesWhat to look out for: A great way to find out if your interviewee has researched the company and their practices, their ambitions for the future, and their ability to self-analyse. A good answer would show that the engineer knows how their skills could match and benefit different sectors your company works in; a great answer will highlight that they’ve read your company values and can provide examples of their own experience that matches those values.What to be wary of: Vague, non-committal answers to this question show that they may not have done their homework on your company, showing a lack of enthusiasm for the role or may not be great at self-analysis which can provide barriers when managing performance issues down the line.Follow up questions include:What attracts you about working for our company? What’s your impression of our company culture?What to look out for: This question will give you an insight into their real enthusiasm and motivation for the job – if their answer focuses on making the client happy, then you can reasonably assume that they will be a good ambassador for your company. If it’s about problem-solving and fault finding, they could be your next technical superstar.What to be wary of: If your interviewee struggles to answer this question, or they give a flippant answer like ‘Getting Paid!’ they might not be the most committed employee, and will struggle to maintain a can-do attitude.Follow up questions include:What training have you most enjoyed? What part of the job do you wish didn’t exist?What to look out for: People who remember (and take on board) good advice tend to be forward thinkers, good planners and cope well with change, so good well-rounded answers to this question with real-life examples is what you are looking for if you want someone who can take on responsibility and adapt easily to changing environments (great if you have a big portfolio of different clients)What to be wary of: We’ve asked this question many times, and occasionally we’ll get answers along the lines of ‘Nothing really, I’ve always made my own way’. Whilst there’s nothing wrong with being self-sufficient keep an eye out for red flags that could indicate a lack of critical thinking, or an inability to take on criticism and adviceFollow up questions include:Who has been your most influential manager? What do you wish someone had told you at the beginning of your career?4. ‘How important do you believe it is to achieve a good team spirit, and what type of things might you be able to do within your role to ensure a good team ethos exists?’Paul Cronin, Cambridge Maintenance Services LimitedWhat to look out for: This is particularly important to ask engineers who could be working on static sites in a team of mixed experiences and backgrounds – a good team player will give an enthusiastic answer with real-life experiences of where working in a great team has benefited the whole operation, and will talk about friends and connections they have made on the job in the past. Great answers will include examples of where they have helped younger or more inexperienced team members to grow in skills and confidence.What to be wary of: Candidates who struggle to answer this question might still turn out to be great team players, but may not have had much experience working in a team, especially if they have worked primarily a mobile role or on single person sites - they may take longer to settle into a team environment.  Explore further by asking about how they communicate with their managers and other engineers.Follow up questions include: What’s the best team experience you’ve had in your career and why? What role do you think you take when working in a team?What to look out for: An Engineer who gives real examples and explains what the initial problem was and how it was solved demonstrates that they can learn from their experience as well as having the confidence and interpersonal skills to deal with your tricky clients in difficult circumstances – especially important skills for mobile engineers who might have to fault find and fix at short notice.What to be wary of: Vague and uncertain answers to this question (look out for ‘we would usually do….’ instead of ‘I did…’) demonstrate that they may have little practical experience of these situations or maybe unsure or unaware of how to handle angry and upset clients. These Engineers would likely need more hands-on and in-person support when dealing with challenging clients and difficult situations. So be careful about what contracts you may choose to employ them on in the first instance.Follow up questions can include: What preventative measures help diffuse difficult client situations? What support would you need when dealing with difficult clients?Of course, these are just the top five questions that we picked for this blog – there are many more and we’d love to hear your suggestions and comments on the above. Want to know more about how we help our clients? You can read about how our Proven Process will overcome your recruitment challenges right here.If you'd like to have a chat with the team about your upcoming interviews you can contact us here or you can complete our enquiry form and we'll contact you.Enquiry FormLook out for our follow up blog, where we turn the tables and list the top questions Engineers should ask their prospective employer during an interview!

The current situation we're facing with the new 3-tier system is a reminder of how quickly our current restrictions can change. Especially with restaurants, pubs, and gyms facing tough restrictions if your area goes into tier 3. Do you have a plan in place for your business? In this blog we’ll look at some of the provisions we’ve been helping our clients put in place and how working with a specialist recruiter can be the key to providing the additional support when you need it most.Richard Carey Principal Recruitment Consultant Facilities & Estate ManagementNow more than ever we, as a business as well as our clients, must be able to adapt. COVID-19 has made us all aware of how not being prepared can have a drastic effect on your workforce and business – but how could anyone have been prepared for an event like this?Temporary staff have historically been a means of providing a solution for sudden drops or increases in business. In these unique circumstances we’ve found ourselves looking at our current recruitment process – where can we improve? What else can we be doing for our clients? How can we help our candidates more?Flexibility is a term used a lot these days but it truly is something that the teams have excelled in during the last six months. And the proof is in the pudding as they say, to their credit our teams have 65% more people working right now when we look at a year on year comparison. Given the circumstances, you might be surprised but the reasons why are clear…Bespoke Recruitment: When One Size Doesn’t Fit AllEvery business and every site are different. You have different products, systems, machinery even down to simple things like your canteen. As we navigate our way into a ‘new normal’ I’m proud to say that our teams have succeeded in supporting the bespoke recruitment needs of all of our clientsHow have we achieved this?Supplying cleaners and maintenance staff with as little as 12 hours’ notice for short and long term contracts nationwide91% off temporary workers provided are tried and tested temps Amending working hours of all consultants to enable out of hours on call service Negotiating cost effective charge rates Interviewing, vetting and qualification checking all candidates to ensure compliance with Electrical, Plumbing and Gas legislation Implemented electronic signing of timesheetsImplemented client’s shift management system into our own process Implemented regular service reviews with all sites and provided management information centrally By continuously recruiting and inducting candidates we can ensure that should a lockdown occur, like it just has, we are fully prepared. Thanks to our recruitment process we have additional staff ready to start, the result is that our clients will have no disruption to their business.Temporary to Permanent: The Best of Both WorldsThe REC reported that: Employers’ intentions to hire permanent staff in the short term (over the next three months) improved by 11 percentage points from May, and returned to positive territory at net: +6.Although it might not seem the right time to make any big hiring decisions this really could be the perfect time. Over the last year, 24 of our clients have taken temporary workers on permanently. In perspective that’s 68 people that have found their perfect job, people that made a great impression with our clients and helped improve their business output.Great news – how have we helped our clients and candidates get to this point?We offer clients the opportunity to recruit take workers on a temporary to permanent basisSupplying thorough Key Information Documents so there are no surprises when someone arrives on-siteCandidate health screeningVideo interviewsInterview prepUp to date with how to use video softwareHelping candidates be fully prepared for starting and assignment or for an interview is just the norm for us – technology and inductions may have changed but our core values of being solution-focused, positive-minded and people-focused remains a solid foundation.Jade Simms, Temporary Consultant commented; ‘Candidates need a lot of support right now – people don’t always think of it this way but they’re our clients too. I have a candidate that has an interview this week for a permanent job but they want to use Microsoft Teams and she didn’t know how to use it. So if I need to download it and figure it out so I can explain it to her and support her in her interview that’s what I’m going to do. It’s not an issue for me I just want her to do well in her interview.’As a business we’ve been building our database for over 30 years and having access to that is priceless. Combining this with local market knowledge, bespoke recruitment, and our Proven Process you can be sure that your business really will have the best people working for you. Of course, there’s no obligation to take your workers on permanently. The benefit of temporary workers is that we look after everything for you. 

TC FACILITIES MANAGEMENT WORKING WITHTHORN BAKER EFMWe commenced supply to TC Facilities Management in March 2020, supplying temporary cleaners to a large multi-site client in the Logistics industry. This client increased their cleaning schedules by 30% within the first 24 hours of lockdown, requiring 100+ extra cleaners across 16 sites from Teesside to the South coast. THORN BAKER EFM SUPPORTED OUR CLIENT BY:Mobilising a nationwide recruitment campaign in 12 hours Amending working hours of all consultants to enable out of hours on-call service Supplying 100+ cleaners within 72 hours across 16 sites on a three-shift patternNegotiating cost-effective charge rates across 20+ different pay schedules Interviewing, vetting and DBS checking all candidates to ensure compliance with the clients' security requirementsImplemented electronic signing of timesheets across all sites Implemented client’s shift management system into our own process Implemented regular service reviews with all sites and provided management information centrally As a result, we were able to ably assist TC Facilities Management with their client’s urgent requirements, and we are now a recruitment partner for various other clients in TC Facilities Management portfolio.

As an employer, you’ve probably already considered the benefits of using a recruitment agency to handle your staffing needs. You need to choose the best-suited agency for your business - but how do you know that you’re partnering with the right one? In this blog we’ll look at how choosing the right agency is the key to finding and recruiting the best talent for your business.Richard Carey Principal Recruitment Consultant Facilities & Estate ManagementWhile it’s true that all recruitment agencies perform all of these basic functions, it doesn’t mean that every agency is created equally.Here are our top tips to help you choose the best recruitment partner for you:1. Specialist VS. GeneralistWorking with a generalist recruiter can help you to cover a range of job roles – but working with a specialist will ensure that you have the very best workers right at your fingertips.By working with our specialist teams you’ll be working with not only sector specialists but geographical as well. This means that not only will you benefit from our team’s knowledge of the hiring market; you’ll be working with skilled staffing professionals who understand what you’re looking for regarding skills, experience and team fit.Working with us is simple; we are passionate about FM Recruitment. For 30 years, we’ve been finding candidates for clients in Building Services & Maintenance, FM & Soft Services, Helpdesk & Support and Estates & Property Management.2. Recruitment ProcessMost agencies use pre-screening tests and candidate verification steps to ensure that their candidates are as skilled as they say they are, and asking to review these steps and strategies can give you great insight into how well a potential recruitment partner will work with you. If you feel that these strategies aren’t up to your standards, it’s time to move on.This Is where our Proven Process shines. We understand that finding the right talent is the biggest issue our clients face, while our candidates may have so far struggled to secure the perfect role. Taking the legwork out of matching the candidate with the client, you can be sure we always have your best interests in mind and the results speak for themselves3. Reputation MattersLike any business, reputation in the recruitment industry is essential and it’s something we take pride in. It’s easy for an agency to boast about its hiring skills, but what matters to us is what our clients think.'We have worked with a few other agencies in the past and I find them to be a bit of an annoyance at times, you get candidates who are really not vetted or checked before being dropped on your doorstep. Speaking with Jade lead me to build a trusting relationship and drew me to Thorn Baker.'Graham, Wheatley Facilities Management4. Customer ServiceAs a client of a recruitment agency, the quality of customer service that you receive should be high. You shouldn’t feel abandoned or confused during any part of the hiring process, and the communications stream should always be open.We’re people-driven, positive-minded and solution-focused – from the moment you start working with us, you'll benefit from how we approach everything we do with a positive mindset. These core values provide an ideal foundation for the Thorn Baker EFM team to successfully link people with jobs.Our passion for the industry is clear from the moment you begin working with us. We don't just find and fill temporary jobs; we our candidates into rewarding and long-lasting careers. It means that you can rely on us to make things happen; turning candidates into trusted employees and jobs into careers.5. The Candidate PoolRecruitment should come without compromise, shouldn’t it? It’s why our team's recruit candidates for a host of jobs across the country. With our positive and passionate approach to your business, you can be sure we’ll meet your requirements.We’ve been connecting companies to the right candidates for over 30 years, our database is bursting with qualified people. Our extensive knowledge of the local labour market ensures you can trust us to find the best people for your jobs – quickly.Ready to talk to us about how we can help take a load off your mind when it comes to recruitment?When you’re looking to work with recruiters that specialise in Building Services & Maintenance, FM & Soft Services, Helpdesk & Support and Estates & Property Managementwe’re proud to be your go-to recruiter. Contact your specialist team today to discuss how we can support your temporary and permanent staff needs.

In support of Gas Safety Week (14-20 September 2020), we're participating to highlight gas safety issues and to remind everyone of the importance of having an annual gas safety check by a Gas Safe registered engineer.Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & MaintenanceThis Gas Safety Week we're celebrating the tenth year of keeping people safe and focusing on how you can help your local community to stay gas safe during these difficult times, what to do if you suspect your gas engineer is an illegal fitter, and advise not to DIY when it comes to gas - leave it to a Gas Safe Registered engineer.Gas appliances that have not properly been maintained can cause gas leaks, fires, explosions and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. Carbon monoxide is known as the ‘silent killer’ because you can’t see, smell or taste it. Therefore, it is highly important to have your gas appliances checked by an engineer who is listed on the Gas Safe Register.Jonathan Samuel, chief executive for Gas Safe Register, said: 'In these uncertain times, it’s important to regard the safety of our local communities. This Gas Safety Week we’re delighted to have the support of Thorn Baker EFM and by working together we can keep the public informed of gas safety and help reduce the risk of dangerous gas appliances across the UK, helping the whole nation to stay gas safe.'Top tips on how to stay Gas Safe this Gas Safety WeekKnow the symptoms of CO poisoning; headaches, nausea, breathlessness, collapse, dizziness and loss of consciousness.If you smell gas or think there might be a gas leak, call the free 24-hour national gas emergency number immediately on 0800 111 999.Never attempt to work on a gas appliance yourself, always seek the help of a qualified Gas Safe registered engineer who can work on your gas cooker, boiler or fire in a safe way.Don’t cut corners - only employ a suitably qualified Gas Safe registered engineer when having gas work carried out in your home.Always ask to see your engineer’s Gas Safe ID card. Make sure you check the back of the card, which will state which gas appliances they are qualified to work on.Gas Safe Register is the official register for legally qualified engineers. You can find a registered engineer in your area by visiting the Gas Safe Register website at GasSafeRegister.co.uk.

Applying for a job can be overwhelming at times – especially if you’re facing redundancy, feeling pressed for time or you haven’t been in the job market for a while. In this blog, we’d like to share with you three quick tips to help you check your application and make sure that you’re successful in your job search.Richard Carey Principal Recruitment Consultant Facilities & Estate Management1. Spelling & Grammar: check, check and check againSpelling and grammar are so important. Double-check your application, CV and cover letter for errors can help you make the best first impression possible. Take your time and read carefully through what you’ve written. One way to do this set it aside then come back to it with fresh eyes – you could even try reading it out aloud.Of course, you can’t rely on spell check to be completely accurate, and everyone struggles to proof read their work. It’s a good idea to have someone else to read through before you send it off – often another set of eyes will pick up things you’ve missed.Alternatively, software like Grammarly can make light work of checking your documents.2. Attachments: What’s in a name..?Please find attached my CV.Essentially there’s nothing wrong with that sentence if, in fact, your CV is attached.As recruiters, our teams receive a lot of applications every week so we can tell you that CV’s aren’t always attached. Save yourself from having to send an immediate follow-up email and take your time before pressing send.Another thing to consider is how you have named your files. You can label your CV simply CV.doc but how professional would it look if you named it as your full name, and even the title of the job you’re applying for and the area?For example:Joe Blogg_CV_Gas Engineer_Northampton.doc3. Final checks: Just before you press sendDouble-check that a) you’ve included your contact information, b) it’s up to date.It might seem obvious but this is an easy one to assume that you’ve updated already (and you know what they say about assuming…). Make sure it’s easy for the employer or recruiter to call you back – check that your contact details are correct and easy to find.A top tip would be to add them in a couple of different places, for example on your CV, cover letter and maybe even within your email as a signature.It’s really easy to rush through the process and forget to apply some small tips to help you stand out from the crowd. Before you press send take a few minutes to look back through what you have written. Have you checked your spelling and grammar? Have you labelled your documents? Have you attached everything required to apply?All looking great? Press send! We wish you the best of luck.

Making a permanent hire right now can seem like you’re taking a risk. But, what if this is really the perfect time for hiring the best talent? Ensuring you have the very best people working for your business is everyone’s goal. In this blog, we’re going to take a look at our top tips to ensure you bag the best talent during the pandemic.Richard Carey: Principal Recruitment Consultant Facilities & Estate ManagementPeople are available that wouldn’t normally be…Great talent won’t stay available for long. We all know some people by reputation as big hitters in their sectors and they rarely become/ stay available for long.For a long time, job seekers have had the upper hand when it comes to employment but this is shifting to employers. It’s sad to see any business have to make redundancies but you can support people who are facing this reality by snapping them up for your team.Deciding to hire someone permanently right now can seem daunting – everyone is watching their cash flows, what if you have to make redundancies? The Labour market overview, UK: August 2020 has said that ‘Early indicators for July 2020 suggest that the number of employees in the UK on payrolls is down around 730,000 compared with March 2020.’It can be easy to focus on the negatives and forget that there are positives – whilst quarter on quarter employed levels are down, by comparison, year on year they are up.Lean on your recruitment partner so they can ease the pressureWe work in an industry where service level agreements, procedures and deadlines determine what we do every day and in what order. So why should your recruitment process be any different?Agree with your internal recruitment team, your specialist agency and most importantly yourself what service levels you will work too.For example:24 hours to respond to a CV/application.Three business days to arrange an interview.One week to get an offer of employment out.Whichever part of the process you are at you should have a relevant service level, which has been agreed and communicated to everyone involved. This will prevent frustrations with the expectations set for yourself, your internal and external recruitment team, and most crucially - your candidates.Don’t forget that as specialist recruiters this is what we do – all day, every day. Looking for someone specific? Chances are we already know them – don’t miss out on having the very best talent available on your team…Reassess your recruiting strategy and talent criteriaMany companies will need to quickly pivot their recruitment strategies from we can only find a few to how can we deal with so many?Our tips to help you deal with the volume applicants would be:Give applicants a variety of ways to easily apply online – can they apply with their LinkedIn account?Assess your role requirements – could someone from another sector have transferrable skills?Aim to lower your time-to-hire – this is usually seen as a huge roadblock, how can it be improved?Get people in place quickly to support critical functions – this really is what it all comes down to.Most of that is sound advice but is it always within your control? Another way you could make your hiring life a whole lot easier is by making the most of a specialist recruiter.Whilst we’re not trying to make this about the sell a great specialist recruiter is worth their weight in gold. They will understand your business needs, already know the best people who are becoming available (because they go to them for help)Some positions will always be needed to make sure you’re one step ahead of your competition and making the most of the current talent pool. Give me a call on 07814 516 220 or pop me an email here and we can have a chat about making sure you don’t miss out on the very best talent available.

Working from home as a Recruiter didn't seem possible pre-COVID-19. Businesses have embraced the change and are now finding that they can work this way - but is it best business and employees? In this blog, I’d like to share with you what we've found both positive and challenging working remotely and how our future way of working is looking.Richard Carey, Principal Recruitment Consultant Facilities & Estate ManagementAs a team we're all starting to head back into the office - this is a mix of full-time, part-time and even one day a week, all combined with remote working. Are you finding your staff don't want to go back to office life? Have they taken the opportunity to work more from home, or perhaps for your business it's key for them to be in the office? (COVID-19 safely of course).We recently conducted a survey of our own staff to find out how they were doing during lockdown. How were they coping with working from home, did they prefer it? What had they found challenging, what did they like? Of course, these conversations can be had with someone’s Manager at any time but a survey does allow time to reflect before commenting.Our results were interesting and have definitely given us a lot to think about regarding what our ‘new normal’ will look like.Some highlights from the survey include;91% of people said that they had minimal interruptions that didn’t materially affect their ability to work from home90% of people said that whilst lockdown remains as it is they would like the option to continue working from home as much as possible84% of people said that post lockdown they would still like the flexibility to work from home regularlyPositives they had found working from home:No commute/travel time to and from workBetter work/life balanceMore productive at homeLess distractions/interruptionsFlexibility to deal with childcare issuesBut is remote working bad for business?Three of the main issues to come from remote working are:Communication issuesDistractionsLoneliness/ IsolationA recent article from Executive Grapevine has said that communication between colleagues has suffered in some business as people are now working different schedules to accommodate their new working from home life. These distractions come from simply answering the door, moving cats from their laptops to dealing with a lack of childcare. And the other aspect is 'cabin fever' - feeling like you need to get out and see something other than your own home is a very real feeling for some people and can be a big distraction when working from home.Has COVID-19 has really only expedited what was already on the horizon?It’s important to look at how we work currently in terms of offices and remember that ‘cubicle style’ offices have only been around since the ’80s. And even before Covid-19, this style of work was already being questioned and its future wasn’t too bright.In September 2019 The HR Director wrote an article stating that ‘According to the 1999 Labour Force Survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the percentage of people working flexible hours in the UK was 9.5% at that time. Recent statistics from CIPD, however, show that this number has drastically increased, with 54% of workers currently having the option to operate outside of typical nine-to-five office hours.’We'd like to get your feedback and to share ideas, best practices, and general feedback on how you're finding the 'new normal'. What did you as a business see as scary but you’re now embracing? Do you have positives that you can share? Contact the team today, we'd love to get your feedback.​

PM Boris Johnson has announced the most radical reforms to our planning system since the Second World War. So if you’re looking for a new project to get stuck into now could be the perfect time to spruce up your CV and we’ve got 5 top tips on what all Facilities Engineers and Managers should be including in their CV’s.Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & MaintenanceThere’s no shortage of CV writing tutorials, we understand that as a busy Facilities Engineer or Manager you just don’t have time to wade through all of the advice. So we’ve put together a quick top 5 tips on what to include in your CV.1. Profile: simple and to the pointIt is important to keep this section brief and to focus on your experience and personality. Using generalised comments such as “I am a hardworking, pro-active, honest person” won’t make you stand out - everybody says that (but you’re not everyone!)This section is your chance to demonstrate what makes you uniquely suitable for the roles you’re applying for. Try turning the tables, if you were hiring what would you be looking for in that person?You should always include:Skills that are significant to the role you are applying forPersonality traits that would benefit the job and the companyAreas or sectors you’ve worked in previously that are similar to the projectRemember the person hiring may have to read a lot of CV’s. Simple, clear, and to the point. Avoid CV cliché’s and you’ll help yourself to stand out in the crowd.2. Skills/Expertise: expand but keep it relevantDo you feel like you have more skills to talk about but you couldn’t get them into your profile? This is the perfect place to put them.Bullet points are your friend here, list out all of your skills that would perfect for the role. Again keep it relevant and bear in mind the person reading this, it’s a great area to make their life easier.3. Education/Qualifications – keep it simpleThis might feel more significant if you’re looking to get your foot on the career ladder, but it’s important to include this information whatever your level. Reference as a simple, chronological list: what you studied, where, and when.You don’t need to include all of your GCSE/ O Levels. Keep it concise, for example, Eight GCSE’s inclusive of Maths and English. Those are the two main things people are looking for so make reading your CV simpler where you can.4. Experience: consistent and mind the gapsThis should be brief and chronological. You don’t need to go in-depth on every project you’ve been involved in or the company you’ve worked for. A good idea is to focus on your last five projects or the last three companies, include your other work history but expand on these.Again make use of bullet points rather than lengthy descriptions.Highlight the major achievements of your job. Did you complete the project on time/ early? Was it on budget? What kind of budgets are you used to working with?A simple format that will hit all of the bases is:DatesCompany name (if you used an agency ensure you use the company name, not the agency)Job titleKey duties and projectsBe sure to include any promotions, they’re achievements and companies want to know what you have done successfully.5. References: show that you’re confidentDon’t be afraid to name people on your CV. Add their job title as well, if you’re not comfortable adding phone numbers just say that you can supply contact details on request

At the end of last week, the government reported that 1.1million companies were using the furlough scheme – it’s currently helping to keep 9.4million jobs secure. But how are the people still working coping? Whether staff have been furloughed or they’re still at work they will be accruing holidays. Do you have a plan in place to ensure your staff take their holidays, how will you help to avoid your staff burning out? In this blog, we’ll share with you our top tips to avoid employee burnout.Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & MaintenanceThis is the other side of furlough that is becoming more of a hot topic, the well-being of furloughed employees was spoken about at the beginning and during lockdown, but what about the people who were still working? The reality is that employees are still accruing holidays whether they have been furloughed or not. Redistributing staff to other areas of the business was an essential task during lockdown initially for one of our clients, but now they’re back in their original positions it’s left a gap in areas and them needing more staff.This is where working with a specialist, local recruiter can be a real lifeline.Below is a list of the real pro’s our working with our team:​We are specialists. Your consultant is an expert in their Estates, Facilities & Maintenance sector. Experience: Our recruitment consultants come from facilities, property and maintenance. Our specialists really understand your needs.Reliability: If we say we can help you, it’s because we can. You can rely on us to find you the best Maintenance Engineer, Cleaning Manager, Helpdesk Operator or any role on the market. Trust: Because we live and breathe our People-Driven core value, you can trust our specialists to fulfil your needs. 93% of our clients tell us they trust us to look after their recruitment needs.Award Winning: We're a 3 star Best Companies organisation, and a Sunday Times top 100 Best Small Companies, embodied by our Positive-Minded core value. You'll be working with happy and engaged consultants who go the extra mile.TalentMatch: Our unique and bespoke sourcing system guaranteeing you a fast, accurate and efficient candidate and job matching service.Focused: Our 15-point TalentMatch, our knowledge and our market-leading Adapt database driven by our Solution-Focused approach gives you the fast, accurate access to the candidates or jobs you need. Proactive: Recruitment planning ensures that we can source skills and talent in advance for your seasonal uplifts, contract wins, and expansions.Reactive: We react quickly and efficiently within existing Service Level Agreements, as well as emergency requests, to give you a faster turnaround, minimising your downtime and costs.Unrivalled levels of communication within the industry for our clients and candidates – we'll keep you informed, updated and supported throughout the recruitment process.SLA's: Our client and candidates value our commitment to all applications and jobs within one business day. If you have an active vacancy or job application with us, you’ll hear from us every two business days until your process is completed.Toolbox: We'll give you a collection of crucial resources. This includes CV and interview prep support, bespoke technical and psychometric testing, salary surveys, and up to date market information.Transparency: Our People- Driven core value is based on trust, honesty and complete openness about the job search process. This means you will always be informed throughout your journey with Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance.For 30+ years, we’ve been finding candidates for clients in building services & maintenance, FM & soft services, helpdesk & support and estates & property management. It’s what we do and what we know.We’re just past the halfway mark for the year and a lot of our clients have spoken with us about their concerns covering all of their staff holidays. By working with our specialist team you can relieve the pressure of recruiting staff to cover these holidays. Our team is available to help your business 24/7 -contact us today or click here to request a callback.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve spent a fair amount of time engaging with our clients, talking about how they’re returning to their working environments safely. As of this week, we’ve got 90% of our typical client base back open and using workers from our Industrial teams. In this blog, I’ll be sharing the top 10 best practice tips we’ve identified…Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & MaintenanceWe've been looking at effective ways that all sites could get their message across to their workers regarding social distancing at work. And we’ve been having a lot of conversations with our clients about some of these tips; have they found them useful? Were they already in place? What else are they doing on their site? And as promised we’re going to share the results with you.The majority of our clients operate in the building services & maintenance, FM & soft services, helpdesk & support and estates & property management sectors. Although there are different requirements on each site there is definitely a common themeHere the top ten changes our clients have been making on their sites:Providing their workers with individual hand sanitiser and/ or hand sanitiser stationsStaggering their breaks with a maximum capacity allowed in the canteen and smoking sheltersProviding their staff with additional PPE: masks, snoods, face visors and glovesStaff health check-ins including questions about the workers’ family healthAdding signage throughout the site and marking out work areasAdded more/ staggering shiftsTemperature checks when entering the siteIncreased cleaning, this included: staff cleaning their personal work stations and crockery, contact points cleaned throughout the day and hourly cleaning of common areasRe-inducting workers with the updated Health & Safety policyNo visitors to the siteAdditional answers we received included;Schedule for hand washingReduced delivery serviceScreens in place for receptionOne-way systemEnsuring all employees follow the WHO and GOV.UK guidelines and instructionsNo business travel outside of the UKRequesting workers to have the flexibility to cover shiftsDoes this sound familiar? Have you implemented anything different on your site that you think other businesses could use? Let us know!The Government announced this week that from the 4th of July the social distancing measurement from ‘where it is not possible to stay two metres apart, guidance will allow people to keep a social distance of ‘one metre plus’. How will this affect your current set-up on-site? Will this make your day-to-day running easier? Will you keep the same measurements you’ve put in place?We’d love to hear from you. We'd like to continue getting your feedback so that we can share ideas, best practices, and general feedback. If you’d like to have a chat with your Consultant feel free to call us or ask for a call back (at your convenience).

Earlier this month in our survey EFM Industry Overview: Coronavirus, What Is Your Opinion? We asked what your opinion was on how COVID-19 has changed the way you work (possibly forever), what long-term changes you thought would happen and what support you would need from your specialist EFM recruitment team. In this blog, we’re going to share our findings and see if you agree with them. Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance When we were all making predictions in January of how the year would look none of us could have predicted this. But, from this experience we can definitely take a lot of positives –I know that as a team we’ve grown and adapted not only the way we run our office, how we support our clients and candidates but how we see our friends and family as well. And we know from our survey results that you’ve adapted too... It’s shown that in times of pressure we can (and do) rise to the challenge, our core values as a business have been a strong foundation and there’s no doubt that as a team we are positive-minded, solution-focused and people-driven. In our survey results: FM Businesses Have All Pulled Together during the Crisis                     Nearly 40% of the people we surveyed answered that the positivity of colleagues pulling together was the best aspect. This result is something that we can fully relate to – it shows that in a crisis having the right people on board your team will not only produce great work but it lifts everyone’s spirits. Over the last few weeks who hasn’t needed or appreciated that? A very close second with 35% was the change of work pattern – working from home, no commute etc. As a business, this has been, forgive the slightly dramatic phrase, revolutionary. Working from home as a recruiter at one point would’ve been a scary prospect – would people answer calls, would they be as productive? The simple answer is yes. What seemed scary no longer is, we have all dropped our commutes and this has vastly improved our work-life balance. I’m sure that for those of you working from home as well would agree (as you have on the survey!). In the long term, this is very well likely to change how we work as a business in terms of being based in an office.  Goodbye to the Commute! We're All Going to Be Working from Home a Lot More                 Again our top answers are close. In terms of the long term changes you thought would happen in your business over half of you said that where possible staff would be working from home in the long term. As I mentioned above this is something we are looking at for sure, there are just so many positives to working from home compared to negatives. Employee health has to be paramount and this covers Coronavirus through to mental health. Just behind this answer was changing business to focus on new revenue streams. Being adaptable is key to making It through the Coronavirus – the companies that can adapt, learn and grow to suit their client base will succeed. Not only will they improve by offering more support where it’s needed but you may also find a new niche within the industry that you never thought you’d love. Your Specialist Recruiter Is a Mine of Information and Top Tips       ​           And finally (but most importantly for us) what would you like to see from us in the future. Asking this question is vital for us, the best way for us to grow as a team is to ask for feedback from you. By a landslide, our top response was that you’d like us to share best practice and advice from other clients. This is definitely something we love to do – and I can feel another blog coming on already from this answer alone… We’re all in this together and sharing best practice and top tips is key – do you have a great tip we could share? Maybe you’ve had some great feedback from your team about a new process you’ve put in place. Let us know in the comment section below or give us a call, we’d love to get your feedback!

Video interviews have been on the rise for a while, video tech is now being used by 60% of hiring managers, it's become essential during COVID-19. Just because people are working from home doesn’t mean you have to miss out on talent or jobs. In this blog, we share our top tips for video interviews as well some tech tips for Zoom, Skype and WhatsApp. Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance Setting the Stage Ahead of the interview, you need to think about and decide where you’re going to get set-up for the interview. Choose a space that is quiet, tidy and will be free from interruptions. This could be a space that is away from where you normally work from at home, does it need a quick tidy? What’s on the walls? Does the space look professional? Does it have good lighting? We would recommend thinking about the direction your camera will face and take a look at the room from that person’s perspective and make any changes you think are needed. This will help you to focus and what you’re doing and serve as a reminder that you’re taking part in a formal interview. You can show your personality for sure but if you have a secret, under the stairs Harry Potter-themed space it might be best to pick another room. The aim is to create a professional and distraction-free environment for both you and the person you are speaking with. P.S don’t forget to prepare what you’re going to wear as well! Find out the Format You need to start your preparation by knowing whether this will be a live interview or a pre-recorded interview. For both types of interview, you need to prepare yourself to get a feel for personality fit, look a little further into your experience and to get to know each other a little more. Live: Pro’s and Con’s A great benefit is that you can build a rapport together – it’s always a good idea have a look at both your interviewers LinkedIn and the businesses social media platforms. What kind of news have they been sharing recently? Make some notes on recent articles or blogs that they have written and you can bring these up within the interview. The flip side to the above is babbling. Being prepared can help to limit this, remember the person conducting the interview may have several people to speak with and running overtime with anecdotes could force an interview to be stopped short and you could miss out on highlighting your great work experience. Pre-recorded: Pro’s and Con’s A plus side to a pre-recorded interview is that you can really have a think about your answers and practice them as more often than not each answer will have a time limit. Why not ask ahead if you can have a copy of the questions? If you get a copy of the questions practice just enough so that you’re confident but not that your answers sound rehearsed. The downside is that you lose the personal experience. Meaning you won’t have the opportunity to ask direct questions or bounce off of each other’s responses. But perhaps you could turn this to your advantage and send the interviewer a follow-up email with any questions that you’d like to ask. Test the Tech It may seem obvious but this is a crucial step whether your interview is live or pre-recorded. Here is our top test the tech tips: Do you need to set up an account? Whichever platform is being used you’ll need to set up an account, make sure to do this well ahead of the interview. Login and have a look around the interface and get familiar with the features Test your audio and webcam – again do this before the interview. Could you test this with a friend or family member? Make sure everything is working so that on the day you are calm and maintain professionalism. Internet connection issues. This is something that everyone has experienced and unless you have a superfast connection you could run into problems. If you know your internet speed is not always the best make sure that no-one in the house is adding to that. Is anyone online gaming? Are downloads happening?   There are several options available these days for video interviewing and we have a top tip for the four that we have experienced the most. Zoom Did you know there’s a ‘touch up your appearance’ feature? Click on one of the icons in the top-right corner to access your settings menu then click ​Video​​. Alternatively, you can start or join a meeting, then click the arrow next to the video icon and choose ​​video settings​​. When you’re in the video settings click ​​‘touch up my appearance’​​. Skype Struggling to get a background you’re happy with? When you start or join a meeting in the bottom right you’ll see a ‘blur my background’ button, turn this on. WhatsApp Using voice notes during pre-interview or even for the interview? Instead of pressing and holding the microphone icon press and swipe up, this will lock the function ensuring nothing you say will be lost if you take your finger off. Did you know there's a desktop version? It's really simple to set up and It mirrors your account perfectly. You can read about how to set it up here.  

In what is being described as huge news for the FM industry, and for the provision of vital public services by private contractors, Interserve announced this morning that the merger of their support services business with Mitie is now complete. Read below for the breaking news story from Sky News and press release from Interserve.Last night Sky News reported; 'Two of Britain’s biggest government outsourcers are locked in talks about a merger of their support services arms that would create a business employing more than 80,000 people in the UK... City sources said Mitie was expected to launch a £200m rights issue to help fund the deal and strengthen the balance sheet of the combined group.They cautioned, however, that a deal had yet to be formally signed and could still fall apart.If confirmed, the combination of Mitie and Interserve's support services businesses would create the largest such operation in Britain, with over £3.5bn of revenue.'This morning's press release from Interserve Group said;'Interserve Group Limited welcomes the announcement from Mitie PLC of the proposed merger of Interserve Support Services with Mitie for a combined consideration of £271m, comprising £120m in cash and a 23.4% shareholding in Mitie to be held by or on behalf of Interserve’s shareholders. Interserve Support Services is comprised of the company’s facilities management operations in the UK and overseas across both public and private sectors.Completion of the transaction is subject to certain conditions, including approval from Mitie’s shareholders. Should these conditions be satisfied within the expected timeframe, the merger of Interserve Support Services is expected to complete by the end of this year. Mitie will also be engaging with the CMA as part of the merger process.Interserve and Mitie are both leaders of the UK FM outsourcing industry. The combined organisation will be uniquely placed in the UK market to deliver best in class, market leading services to customers. Interserve’s expertise in delivering frontline critical public services together with Mitie’s pedigree in delivering technical and business services to the private sector will enable us to share best practice, innovation and technology to the benefit of our combined extensive customer portfolio.The combined organisation will be evenly balanced between the public and private sectors and will be the largest facilities management company in the UK, employing over 77,500 people.'To read the full press release from Interserve Group Limited click here.Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance comments;'This will be welcome news for the Government, especially with the additional scrutiny on private outsourcers offering public services – stability and healthy balance sheets are what the industry sorely needs as it continues to recover positive public opinion from the fallout of the Carillion collapse. However, it is unlikely this will be welcomed by the wider FM community where this merger will only decrease competition and could drive down prices even further. There is also a worry that as the two companies combine their resources, the resulting restructure will lead to redundancies at a time when jobs are already in short supply as we recover from the Coronovirus crisis.'

There has been a lot of changes to how we work since the outbreak of Coronavirus. For us, it has meant working almost exclusively from home, but also a lot has changed in how we're supporting our clients during the crisis.Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & MaintenanceJade has taken some time to diarise her experience of a typical day of work during the crisis. 6.30 am - Alarm goes off. I get a bit of a lie-in now that I don’t have the commute into the office! Shower, dress and feed the cats before firing up the laptop and making breakfast. Cereal and coffee this morning.7.00 am – Start work. Doing the usual checks of overnight emails and text messages. I run a report every morning that tells me which of our temps are working today – this is essential now that we have so many candidates working 24/7.Before COVID-19 the majority of my temps worked Monday to Friday, with hours ranging from 6.00 am to 6.00 pm which was much easier to track. Now, I double-check every day so that I know who is off, who is in, and which shift they are on. This is important not only from a health and safety point of view, but also to ensure that payroll is correct each week.I’ve had a request for three more temps on a night shift cleaning a warehouse in London (starting tonight!). This is my first priority for the day.8.00 am – Refresh our online job adverts (we always make sure we have a good stream of new applicants so that we are ready to fill urgent jobs) and call through my pre-registered list. These are the candidates that I have already interviewed and got their vetting details, and I’ve put on standby for urgent work. Registering candidates in advance means I can react quickly to fill jobs and today it's paid off as I have three people who are willing to start tonight.9.00 am – Payroll day. Our team administrator is on furlough so that means it’s all up to me to enter payroll on time, and most importantly, get it right! Our candidates are working so hard for us, and our clients, right now - it’s my responsibility to make sure they are paid on time and correctly. Fortunately, all the timesheets have come in on time. I only have to make a couple of calls to double-check some shifts.I’m trying to convince my client to use Zoom for our service visits, but he’s shy (even though I’ve met him face to face before). Today's call is to go over all of the changes to their sites, inductions, and Health & Safety regulations. Lots of social distancing and handwashing rules to discuss, as well as PPE.Discussed how we can sort the logistics of helping to supply temporary workers with PPE – we’re going to look into ordering gloves and masks online for delivery to our temporary workers.We’ll also pass on all of this information to new candidates so that they understand the importance when they start their assignment.1.00 pm – Time for candidate check up’s. We take a lot of pride in making sure that our candidates are happy and working in a safe environment, so we check in with them at least twice a week. Today I helped one of our workers to sort out their tax code problem. Resolved a query over missing hours and had several holiday requests to process. No issues on-site, everyone has all of the PPE they need and everyone is (so far) happy with their shifts this week.2.00 pm – Client catch up calls. So many of my client contacts are on furlough, but I’ve found that they still want to keep in touch anyway. I always try and share as much market information, advice, and news from the industry with my clients and I think that’s even more important now. We catch up on plans for re-opening and re-occupying their buildings, go over who is still working, who is on furlough and discuss what they think will change going forward – for good and bad. 2.30 pm – My plan for this afternoon has gone out the window. One of the candidates I spoke to earlier has called me back to let me know he’s going back to his old job... tomorrow! All hands to the pump as I go back to my pre-registered list and inform the client. They're not happy, but after 15 calls I’ve found someone who can start tomorrow and we get her booked onto the induction. Phew!4.30 pm – Finish for the day. I pop to the supermarket to do my weekly big shop.6.30 pm – Halfway through dinner the phone rings. Mark, one of my night shift workers at a site in Birmingham is panicking. He lives with his mum and she’s got Coronovirus symptoms, he’s very upset.I advise him to call 111 immediately and take their advice. I know our client's policy – he won’t be able to go back to work for 14 days, he'll now have to self-isolate. I advise him that he can self-certify for sick pay and that I’ll catch up with him tomorrow. This is the most upsetting part of working through the Coronovirus crisis for me. It’s not just affecting people’s health, but also their families, work and finances - I feel terrible for him.7.00 pm – The supervisor at Birmingham rings me back. They can cope for tonight but will need someone to cover for the 14 days Mark will be off. That’s my first job for tomorrow morning.

It has certainly been a rollercoaster for the Thorn Baker EFM team recently, and I’m sure you have experienced the same gamut of emotions whilst we navigate through the uncertain waters of Coronovirus!Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & MaintenanceA quick update from us – we continue to provide a full permanent and temporary recruitment service to our clients across the UK, and with the huge increase in requirements for temporary staff from our clients in the soft services and general maintenance sectors, we have never been busier or had a better database of available candidates.We’re always striving for improvement  - we want to understand how we can best support the industry in the coming months, so we’ve put together a short survey and we would be hugely grateful if you can spare five minutes of your time to complete it. There are just three multiple-choice questions, and we’ll use the resulting data to put together a blog next month to give an overview of the Facilities and Building Services industry that we hope you will find useful. It’s completely anonymous.Click here to take partWe’ll also make a donation to NHS Charities for every survey answer we receive, so not only will you be helping us, you’ll be helping our NHS Heroes as well!Many thanks in advance.

In these unprecedented times, the spread of Covid-19 has prompted the Government to postpone the reforms to the Off-Payroll Rules (IR35) which were due to come into effect from April.Paul Jackman: Thorn Baker Group CEOSpeaking last night in the Commons Budget debate, Chief treasury secretary Steve Barclay announced the reforms which effectively clamp down on disguised employment would be pushed back by one year.to April 2021Whilst the majority of our clients and impacted workers had already prepared for the changes, they have proved unpopular and onerous for many to implement.The IR35 rules came into effect back in 2000 and the key part of the reform was that clients would now decide if a role was inside or outside IR35. HMRC estimated that as many as 9 out of 10 roles were incorrectly determined to be outside IR35.  That decision will now remain with the worker (contractor) for another 12 months.Thorn Baker welcome this decision as we have several other legislative changes to comply with from April including the provision of Key Information Documents and Written Statements of particulars to our workers.We’re very much operating as usual at the moment in our desire to keep workers working so please do get in touch if you want to discuss how we can help you.If you’d like to know more about IR35 check out the previous blog here. 

For many people, searching for a job means strictly full-time, permanent positions. Yet taking a temp job can offer many benefits. Businesses have expressed concerns to us including; temp jobs lack stability and Engineers will always be on the hunt for permanent work. But is that how Engineers really feel? This blog will explore exactly that. Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance Research from The Recruitment & Employment Confederation has shown that one in three people in Great Britain has worked as a temporary worker, furthermore, 41% of people would consider working as a temporary worker in the future. So, over the last month, the team and I have been speaking with Engineers to find out (from the horse's mouth) why they choose temporary/self-employed contracts. How Long Have You Worked Temporarily/ Self Employed?               Over 50% of the Engineers we spoke with have been working temporarily/self-employed for over eight years, that's quite a strong majority. It's clear from the people that we surveyed that this is definitely seen as a viable career option as far as Engineers as concerned. As a business do you offer temporary/ self-employed options? You could be missing out on hiring some of the best, most experienced Engineers by not making it an option. 'I use agency Engineers (mechanical)  as temporary staff due to the fact that I can use them when needed due to workload and also on the odd occasion send them back to the agency without any bother if I find the Engineer not suitable for the role. Also using agency staff while an on-site Engineer is on leave for a period of time as cover.' Mechanical Engineering Manager: County Hall Estate Management Ltd What Is Your Favourite Thing About Working Temporarily/ Self Employed?             The top three things that our Engineers favoured were: Flexibility Choice of contracts Being their own boss Work-life balance and flexible working is more than just a trend. Employers have never been more on the pulse with employee welfare than they are right now. This is especially important given that based on CIPD's research three in five employees work longer hours than they would like to. What First Motivated You to Start Working Temporarily/ Self Employed?             Their motivators clearly back up the work-life balance thought. Commuting time can also add a significant additional burden on the time of many workers, equating to an additional work-related time of 3 hours 45 minutes on average per week. Commuting time is longest for workers in London (on average 78 minutes a day).  We're working with our Clients to not look at a temporary/self-employed as a last resort, or not even considering an Engineer because they're not looking for permanent, the key to approaching temporary work is to change your mindset. Focus on the benefits. If you'd like to discuss the benefits of hiring temporary Engineers contact us today on 0844 406 0086 or by email here.

A job’s a job, right..? But how amazing would it be if you could go to work where you would love to go on your day off? Be a tourist every day, do your job and take in the sights. Matt Morgan: Building Services Managing Consultant, South East   If you’re a history buff this is the perfect job for you. From the moment you step into this building's world-famous atrium to the countless discoveries awaiting you in the award-winning galleries, you’ll experience the continuing influence of war on the world. An experience that is as compelling and thought-provoking as it is unforgettable. I'm excited to be recruiting Engineers to help maintain a collection of prestigious, historical buildings and places of interest that are visited by millions each year. If you’re an experienced HVAC Engineer, whether biased toward Heating or Air Conditioning and you, like us, see the attraction of such an environment and the importance of preserving history, I want to hear from you. This is a great opportunity for an experienced HVAC/Heating/Air Conditioning Engineer to join a rapidly expanding company, who manage some incredible sites across the City. Some important bits: The contract has recently received significant investment, so you won’t be twiddling your thumbs The basic is negotiable, £35-40,000 - depending on experience This is days only – 8.00 to 16.30, Monday to Friday The management encourages autonomy but really understand and appreciate your role; they have all worked on the tools previously and are there to help should you need support What will you need? In brief: experience, good attitude, and good communication skills. You’ll need to be an experienced HVAC, Heating or Air Conditioning Engineer – The more experience you have the better. Depending on your role, you’ll be skilled in service, repair and installation of heating systems or air conditioning systems. Skilled in either plumbing, gas, boilers, and heating systems, or VRV's, VRF's, splits, multi splits and chillers. I'm looking for high service orientated individuals, able to fault find and come up with a solution; you will need to be well presented and customer focussed. You will need the usual qualifications – NVQ Level 2 or 3 in either plumbing or air conditioning, or similar. This is a great opportunity to join an established company who continue to expand their portfolio and to have an amazing place of work. If you’re an Engineer who loves history, this company needs you! To find out more and to be considered for this position, please send your CV to me – mattm@thornbaker.co.uk and let’s have a chat.

The Facilities Management industry was a very different beast back in 2010 – I still remember my first ever placement upon joining Thorn Baker to set up a fledgling new recruitment offering (back then simply known as the Facilities Management division).Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & MaintenanceI placed a Maintenance Supervisor with a small outfit in Leicester (who have long since been swallowed up by one of the big boys). I had no team to celebrate with, no bell to ring announcing the placement success, no high fives around the office. But nothing could wipe the big cheesy grin off my face as I skipped home to open a bottle of wine and celebrate the sheer joy of being off the mark in my new career.My vision (created ambitiously in the middle of the worst recession in recent memory) was to provide an honest, no bullsh*t recruitment service specialising in what I knew best. I kept it simple – asked my clients and candidates what they wanted, and went out and found it for them. It was a relationship built on trust and good communication.A lot has changed since then. I’ve seen clients come and go as the never-ending merry go round of mergers, acquisitions and sadly bankruptcies and liquidations that have transformed the Facilities Management landscape. The increasing reliance on recruitment portals have challenged the communication between hiring manager and recruiter like never before. The Facilities and Property industry has seen increasing scrutiny in the media following the backlash against outsourcing after the Carillion collapse.We’ve seen faces come and go in the team (and a couple have come, gone and come back again!) we’ve restructured, relocated and re-branded along with the market trends. We’ve kicked up our marketing and social media game (if you’d have told me ten years ago that I’d be recruiting via Facebook and Instagram…) but at our very core we’re still the same straightforward, straight talking recruitment service that I wanted to create ten years ago.Here’s to the next ten and seeing what further changes we’ll experience in the future of Facilities and Property Management – who knows, perhaps we’ll be managing maintenance via drone rather than humans!

It’s generally well known that changes to the governments ‘off-payroll’ rules (known as IR35) for the private sector come into force in April 2020. If your organisation engages or hires contractors/self-employed workers then you’ll probably find this blog a useful read.Paul Jackman: Thorn Baker Group CEOAs you’d expect with any change in employment legislation we’re well prepared to keep our clients fully compliant. This blog will give our perspective on the challenges ahead and will be updated from time to time as we approach the deadline – it’s not legal advice and we’d strongly recommend you check out the suggested links for further reading at the end of this blog.What is IR35?Introduced back in 2000, IR35 is a set of tax rules that was introduced for workers (who typically refer to themselves as contractors) who provide their services via an intermediary, typically their own limited company. The aim of IR35 is to tackle tax and National Insurance avoidance by individuals who are effectively known as what is termed a ‘disguised employee’.Workers are either ‘Inside IR35’ where PAYE deductions must be made or ‘Outside IR35 where PAYE deductions do not need to be madeSimply put, if the workers' relationship looks like one of an employer/employee relationship, there is a good chance they are inside IR35 and PAYE and National Insurance deductions must be made.What Changes will happen in April 2020?The responsibility moves to the end client for deciding if an engagement is inside or outside IR35. Currently, this decision is for the worker to make.  If however the end client is deemed to be a ‘Small Company’ then the responsibility stays with the workerIs My Business a Small Company and Therefore Exempt From These Changes?If your business meets at least two of these requirements you don’t need to be too concerned about the changes to IR35Annual Turnover less than £10.2mBalance Sheet total less than £5.1mNo more than 50 employeesWe’ll be using Companies House to verify the status of our clients accordingly. If you are a small company then you don’t need to read any further.How Do I Know Where These Types of Workers Are in My Business?Only by carrying out a thorough audit of everyone in your business that is not a direct employee and who may be in your business next April. We have discovered that many of our clients have limited knowledge of the methods that non-direct employees are engaged. For example, your recruitment agencies may be using a wide variety of vehicles to provide the people who fill your vacancies, be that through PAYE, CIS intermediaries, Umbrella Companies or Personal Service Companies.  Many clients have a significant number of ‘direct hires’ that IR35 impacts such as IT consultants, part-time FD’s or those individuals that are brought in on a project-specific basis. Things to consider: Who in your company is best placed to do this audit? Who may be joining you between now and April 2020 and what is their employment status?Deciding If a Role is Inside of Outside IR35?Making this determination runs to a level of complexity way beyond a mere website blog but a good starting point is to use the online tool CEST (Check Employment Status for Tax). HMRC will stand by the outcome providing you have used reasonable care to use it. The latest version came out as recently as the end of November 2019.There are other methods, most commonly being the use of IR35 consultants – or your own professional advisors.You’ll need to decide who is responsible and accountable within your business for making the decision (s) and how you will maintain appropriate records. If you have a HR department they should be well underway with IR35 preparations.Anecdotal evidence for the roles that we specifically recruit for in the Construction and Facilities Management Sectors suggests that they will virtually all fall within IR35Cascading the IR35 DecisionIf a client makes a decision on a role, the decision and the reasons for that decision need to be passed down to all parties in the supply chain including the worker. This is usually done via a ‘Status Determination Statement’ (SDS) which the end client has to prepare and issue. We’ll have to assume that all our roles are within IR35 unless we receive an SDS to the contrary.Who Makes Deductions if Inside IR35The Fee Payer (i.e. the organisation last in line who makes payment to the worker’s intermediary) is liable for making the correct deductions for deemed employment so clients can rest assured that Thorn Baker can operate this compliantly and make the necessary quarterly reports to HMRC.LiabilityIf an incorrect decision is made and a worker is treated as outside IR35 when they should be inside IR35 then liability will rest with the party that has failed to fulfil its obligations – so if the wrong decision is made then the end client will be liable for unpaid PAYE and National Insurance.Ok, I’m Starting to Get This. What’s This Likely to Mean in Commercial Terms?So this is the really interesting thing – let’s examine this from two perspectives, the cost to hirer and the cost to the worker.Workers/contractors are very vocal online about how these changes are going to significantly impact their take-home pay.These are the workers who 1) currently deem themselves to be outside IR35 and thus benefit from let’s say ‘beneficial’ arrangements and 2) believe they will be deemed to be inside IR35 once the end client makes the decision. (One could argue that in this case perhaps the workers have made an incorrect determination – but nevertheless they currently are liable and responsible for that decision)We’ve done the sums and they are quite startling. For a hirer that may have a worker via a PSC outside IR35 on £25 hour x 40-hour week = headline pay of £1000/week, a typical weekly ‘take-home’ pay will be £805. Moving this worker to full PAYE employee status with Income Tax, National Insurance and Holiday Pay Contributions will increase the cost to £34.22/hour to maintain the same take-home pay. And that’s before any agency, including Thorn Baker, adds on their desired mark up.How many people can afford to have a significant reduction in take-home pay? How many end-users can afford to pay 37% more for the same individual doing the same work as before? If the end-user cannot or will not pay any more, the take-home reduction will be of the order of 20%Quite simply, the costs of end users making ‘inside IR35’ decisions may be quite alarming for many clients, especially if tied into long term contracts where the cost of workers is a significant proportion of overheads.SolutionsIt’s not the scope of this blog to talk about workarounds or explore loopholes but with planning, the right advice and enough time it may be possible to redesign roles to fall outside of IR35. With our first-hand knowledge of our clients and the sector’s that they operate in we expect the vast majority will deem all their roles to fall within IR35. What will then happen may includeTransition to Perm (We will happily discuss a sensible take on fee)Continue to pay as a PSC but make PAYE deductionsMove workers to Umbrella solutionsMove workers to agency PAYEWith the exception of taking on permanently, it will cost a fair bit more. Small Companies may find themselves gaining a competitive advantage as their hiring costs are impacted less.The Thorn Baker ApproachAs Corporate Member of the REC (Recruitment and Employment Confederation) and APSCO (The Association of Professional Staffing Companies), we have frequent updates on IR35 and access to qualified legal support. You can be assured we’ll keep you, our clients, compliant.Because the scope of IR35 is so vast, across all of UK businesses and not just our specific sector knowledge, and carries significant liability issues we would remind you that this blog is simply our current perspective.What we are doing is talking to clients on a daily basis to ‘nudge’ them towards dealing with their IR35 challenges and our Directors and Senior Managers are putting IR35 on the agenda of every relevant client meeting to ensure we’re adding clarity and transparency to future arrangements.If you would like to discuss any of the points raised in this blog, or simply  arrange a conversation about IR35 then please contact the writer paul@thornbaker.co.uk 07970 075160Useful Linksgov.uk/guidance/check-employment-status-for-taxgov.uk/guidance/understanding-off-payroll-working-ir35gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-status-manual/esm11000

It's hard to believe we're halfway through November already,  it's almost the end of the year and it's a great time to reflect on your successes. But, before we start looking back on the year and looking ahead to 2020 I have some very exciting news to share. Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance At the heart of every building are the people who work hard to maintain it. Our Building Services & Maintenance team understand the importance of a sustainable and robust maintenance strategy – they combine this with their specialist recruitment know-how to ensure they find the right talent for your project. Welcome Matt Morgan With that in mind, I'm delighted to announce that Matt Morgan has joined the Thorn Baker EFM team as a Managing Consultant with over 20 years' experience and will be specialising in placements across the South.  Here's what Matt had to say about joining the team; 'I’ve always worked across engineering industries, which for many years has incorporated building services and facilities maintenance. It’s what I know and enjoy. Simply put, covering the South East, I help clients find the right employee, and candidates find the right employer. I recruit for varied maintenance and service engineering roles to management level. Specialising in Gas, Air Conditioning, HVAC, and Refrigeration Engineers, Fabric Engineers, and Electrical Maintenance Engineers. It’s important to know what my clients and candidates need, and when but understanding why makes all the difference. For me, it’s about making a difference, and changing peoples’ lives. Helping a client solve a problem, or finding a candidate their ideal job is hugely rewarding.' We'd also like to say... Congratulations Laura! Some of you may already know that Laura will be going on Maternity from mid-December, I'd like to wish her all the best - we're all really excited to meet her new arrival! And she's very happy to know that Matt will be taking care of her clients and candidates (one less thing to worry about!). Laura commented; 'I’m really pleased that I am handing over my work to an experienced and trustworthy consultant, and look forward to returning and working with Matt post-maternity leave.'  And Matt said; 'I’m really pleased to be joining the Thorn Baker EFM team, everyone’s made me feel very welcome, and It’s great to be working with Laura before taking on the desk when she leaves for maternity.' So, you can rest assured that all of your needs will be taken care of! If you'd like to welcome Matt and have a chat about your Engineering needs you can contact him here. Also if you'd like to wish Laura good luck click here to contact her.

If you're a Contracts or Operations Manager working in the Facilities Management, Building Services Maintenance or Soft Services Industries, and you often find yourself frustrated and stressed out when hiring new staff - this is the blog for you.Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance​1, Create a timescale by working backwards from the ideal start date.So you need a Commercial Gas Maintenance Engineer in place for a new contract starting on 2nd December - work backwards from that date:One week for onboarding before contract start = ideal start date of 25th November.Taking into account four weeks’ notice (standard for a good Engineer with excellent work history already working elsewhere) means you’ll need to have an offer in writing to them by no later than 28th October.Two weeks to complete 1st and 2nd stage interviews will mean booking out time for the first round of interviews week commencing 14th October.You want a selection of candidates to see on the days you’ve planned for interviews?You’ll need a week of advertising (or better still, a week for your specialist recruitment agency to find candidates ready for interview on your chosen dates) – so that means having your job spec and ideal profile ready by 7th October. Working back from the ideal start date gives you and your recruitment partners a realistic and sensible timeframe to work to.2, Get organised.This goes hand in hand with the above – if you want to hire someone for your team you’re going to need to plan time out of your normal workday for advert writing, CV reading and interviews. Don’t try to just cram it in around your workload – this will only lead to frustration and stress.The most important thing is making sure that you have dates earmarked for interviews – great candidates can form a bad impression of a company very quickly if you can’t put aside time with a reasonable amount of notice for an interview.You can read more about candidates biggest bugbears in this great article from Glassdoor here 3, Make sure you know what you are looking for.This might sound like a no-brainer but in reality, a lot of Hiring Managers start the process without having a clear idea of exactly what they're looking for – leaving them upset when the wrong type of candidates start flowing into their inbox.You need to be able to articulate very clearly (either on an advert, to your internal recruitment team or your agency partner) what specifically you're looking for. Make sure you cover qualifications, skills, experience and personality otherwise you will soon find yourself frustrated at the amount of time you are wasting interviewing the “wrong” candidates.Ask us about our TalentMatch system and how we can help you figure out what you’re looking for – or just fill in our enquiry form here.4, Set service levels for each stage of the hiring process.We work in an industry where service level agreements, procedures and deadlines determine what we do every day and in what order. So why should your recruitment process be any different?Agree with your internal recruitment team, your specialist agencies and most importantly yourself what service levels you will work too.For example:24 hours to respond to a CV/application.Three business days to arrange an interview.one week to get an offer of employment out.Whichever part of the process you are at you should have a relevant service level, which has been agreed and communicated to everyone involved.This will prevent frustrations with the expectations set for yourself, your internal and external recruitment team, and most crucially - your candidates.Give us a call on 08444 060086 to talk to one of our specialists about our Proven Process and how agreeing service levels with our clients helps to reduce their hiring frustrations.5, Enjoy it!A lot of people view recruitment as a necessary chore rather than a positive opportunity to strengthen their team. A lot of the time you’re forced to hire someone new because one of your team has left or had to be let go - it’s time-consuming and in the current climate, from the skills shortage to Brexit to worry about, it’s also very hard work!With the right positive attitude, recruiting a new member of staff can be a brilliant experience. You’ll meet new and interesting people, gain valuable market knowledge from your recruitment partners, have the opportunity to forge great working relationships with internal recruitment staff AND find someone who can actually make your working life easier in the future. What’s not to love?

With so many cleaning products on the market and more and more launched every week it's difficult to know what to choose. Do you go for value for money? Or is it familiarity, the great salesperson or a reliable manufacturer/supplier?Andrew McCafferty Facilities & Soft Services Recruitment Consultant​Whatever the reasons for purchase they are essential to the job and your company. As a cleaning and soft services specialist recruiter, I'm always speaking to people in the industry and here are some of the products that people, like you, are talking about.UBIK 2000 Universal Cleaner ConcentrateThis powerful, versatile cleaner and degreaser from Clover Chemicals quickly dissolves grease and grime to leave a spotless finish.It's been highly recommended for cleaning in the food industry especially as it is great with body fats but it is as good within communal shower areas. FreshnIT Sanitary CleanerThis is top for washrooms as it neutralises odours at the source and has a long-lasting fragrance. An adding bonus to this product is that Freshnit is safe to clean and freshen all washroom surfaces, including; sinks, taps, baths, walls, doors, floors, fittings and fixtures, toilets, bidets and urinals.If that isn't good enough it's also pH neutral.Transgel Graffiti RemoverThis product is highly recommended by the Transport industry. Although it is an expensive product it's fantastic at removing graffiti - designed to remove old, thick and sun-baked graffiti from porous surfaces, tarmac, galvanised shuttering and other galvanised surfaces, murals from wooden fences, road marker paint and thicker paints such as gloss paint. It can also be used for paint spillages.VacuumsVacuums are essential for cleaning companies. Key needs are power, capacity and durability to save time and money in a margin critical industry. Not many people look passed the Numatic range especially Henry. A British Icon with over 36 years of service and still a great performer. It's one of the best value and reliable vacuums on the market and has been since Bonnie Tyler had a Total Eclipse of the Heart.ClothsAnother staple of the cleaning armoury is cloths. This was a tough one to pin a favourite as many different cloths have been mentioned. One of the better cloths that is absorbent and can be used on multiple surfaces was Norwex which is also very easy to clean in just water. Other products include Zwipes and Vibrawipe.Of course, we're all different and people like different things so I accept the products listed might not be your preference. This is why there are so many products on the market. What do you think? Leave a comment below - It would be great to know what you would recommend and why. 

One of my long-standing clients has seen unprecedented growth in the past few years thanks to backing from larger global brands. We've worked with them since they were a small M&E Maintenance Contractor, to becoming part of a global FM business, winning high-end contracts left, right and centre. I'm proud to be working with them.Laura Billinghurst Permanent Building Services Recruitment ConsultantWith the recent acquisition of arguably the most prestigious public sector contract in London, they are seeking only the best Air Conditioning Engineers to work as part of an elite team covering sites in North London. Due to the nature of the contracts, you will be required to go through a rigorous vetting process- so I'm looking to speak with the most honest and hard-working individuals on the market.So what are the best things about working about this company..?Well, where's a better place to start than asking the Engineers themselves? I've placed over 20 Engineers with them in the last three years and in that time have always received the best feedback such as:‘It’s exactly what you said it would be Laura, which is really rare!’‘I’m raking in the overtime, it’s the best job I’ve ever had.’‘They really look after you here; I can see myself staying for a very long time.’What sets this role apart from other positions then?All of the sites you attend are part of a contract that has parking spaces and a permit, which means you spend less time trying to find somewhere to put your van, and more time doing the job you trained in – the technical stuff!The work is on lively sites that are sociable – you need to get your work done, but in between Engineers have been known to enjoy a game of pool with clients before leaving for their next job.The contracts have just received heavy government investment, meaning you won’t be twiddling your thumbs; there's constant work and some meaty projects to get your teeth into.Fair pay for hard work – your basic will be between £34-38,000, but that doesn’t reflect the earning potential. Travel either side of the working day (8.00 am - 5.00 pm) is paid at overtime rates and there is plenty of overtime to be had – some of the Engineers have earnt an extra £20,000 annually on top of their salary with overtime alone, and when you’re taking into account the standby payments of £175 per week every six weeks, the figures soon stack up.Management have all worked on the tools previously – you won’t be working for someone sat in an ivory tower who has no idea about the job and the pressures involved – the team Manager gets on the tools himself still and knows exactly what he’s doing, so he genuinely values all of his employees…Aside from this, you’ll get the usual perks of a company van, fuel card, paid holidays etc.What does it take to get on board?!To start with you’ll need to be an experienced Air Conditioning Engineer – The more experience you have with VRV's, VRF's, splits, multi splits etc., the better, and if you have any chiller maintenance experience that will set you apart. They are looking for high service orientated individuals – so to stand out you will need to be well presented and customer focussed… positions like this are like gold dust, so I need the best Engineers who know what makes their clients tick and how to keep them happy. Being solution focussed is what it’s all about – no job too big, no problem too small – either way, you’ll be the one to get it fixed, and if you don’t know how to, you will be the one to find a solution.You will need the usual qualifications – F-Gas is essential. Ideally, you will also have NVQ Level 2 or 3 in air conditioning, although this can be overlooked for the most competent of Engineers.As you can probably imagine, we have seen high demand for this position, but I'm looking for that someone who can give a little extra – to find out more and to be considered for this position you need to act quickly! Please send your CV to me – Laurab@thornbaker.co.uk and let’s have a chat about what sets you apart from all the other Engineers.

It's Gas Safety Week! Organisations from across the UK are working together to raise awareness of the dangers of poorly maintained gas appliances - how are you taking part? For our participation in Gas Safety Week 2019, we’re giving away a number of Carbon Monoxide monitors for you to fit in your home or office – more info on that below... Thousands of organisations have already signed up to be part of Gas Safety Week 2019. Find out what Gas Safety Week is all about below and what kind of activities supporters can get up to. Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance   So, what is Gas Safety Week and why is it important? Gas safety is important all year round, but it is not always a household’s top priority - Scott Darroch from the National Housing Federation has written a blog about it here. Gas Safety Week - coordinated by Gas Safe Register - provides a platform for the gas industry, consumer organisations and individuals to focus on gas safety in one week, generating interest in the media and having a greater impact among the public. The All-Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group (APPCOG) hosted the Gas Safety Week 2019 launch in parliament last week (11th September), ahead of this weeks campaign. Hosted by Barry Sheerman MP (Co-chair of the APPCOG), the launch saw the coming together of UK wide organisations, colleagues from across the gas industry and parliamentarians in support of promoting gas safety and warning against its related risks.  During this week everyone will be sharing their top tips for anyone who uses gas in their home and needs to be aware of the gas risks and how to keep safe. Top tips this year include: Only use a Gas Safe registered engineer to fit, fix and service your appliances. You can find and check an engineer at GasSafeRegister.co.uk (check out the graphic below) or call 0800 408 5500. Check both sides of your engineer’s Gas Safe Register ID card. Make sure they are qualified for the work you need doing. You can find this information on the back of the card. Have all your gas appliances regularly serviced and safety checked every year. If you rent your home ask for a copy of the landlord’s current Gas Safety Record. Know the six signs of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning – headaches, dizziness, breathlessness, nausea, collapse and loss of consciousness. Unsafe gas appliances can put you at risk of CO poisoning, gas leaks, fires and explosions. Check gas appliances for warning signs that they are not working properly e.g. lazy yellow flames instead of crisp blue ones, black marks or stains on or around the appliance and too much condensation in the room. Fit an audible carbon monoxide alarm. This will alert you if there is carbon monoxide in your home.   Competition time! For our participation in Gas Safety Week 2019 we’re giving away a number of Carbon Monoxide monitors for you to fit in your home or office – to enter, all you have to do is: a) follow our Facebook page and b) leave a comment below with the correct answers to the following three questions: What should you always check before letting a Gas Engineer work on your heating equipment? How often do landlords have to ensure safety and maintenance checks are carried out on gas appliances? Name three of the signs of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning? ​Good luck!

We're delighted to welcome back our Facilities Management expert Richard Carey to help drive and develop our Estates & Property team. As Principal Consultant Richard has a passion for making sure that the right people are in the right positions and will be responsible for recruiting senior candidates into management level roles and building long-lasting relationships within the facilities and building services markets. Typical placements will include Facilities Managers, Regional Managers, Contracts Manager and Operations Managers around the UK.Based our Nottingham headquarters, with the opportunity for remote working from his home in Southwell, Richard is excited about the prospects ahead, adding: “As a father of two, the ability to work remotely and from within the Nottingham office gives me greater flexibility and helps enormously with getting the right work/life balance. The culture of delivering a great employee experience and a customer-focused service from the CEO down is even more evident today and as someone that places great emphasis on great service this is another great reason to be back here.”Joanne Crampton, Head of Estates, Facilities and Maintenance at Thorn Baker added:“I am absolutely delighted to have Richard back with us in the Thorn Baker EFM brand – having known and worked with Richard for many years now, I am confident that he will strengthen our position in the senior placement market within Facilities and Property Management. Richard brings with him a wealth of knowledge and contacts throughout the industry and an excellent reputation for matching management level candidates to the right roles.”If you'd like to speak with Richard about recruiting the best management staff, or maybe you're looking for a new challenge to boost your career you can call him on 07814 516 220 or email him here

Originally due to be introduced on 1st October 2019, the introduction of the VAT Reverse Charge for the Construction Industry has been delayed until 1st October 2010.This blog has been written to help improve understanding of this new measure whilst clarifying that the scope of the legislation does not include supplies of staff or workers by employment businesses such as Thorn Baker.Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & MaintenanceWhat is the VAT Reverse Charge?The reverse charge is a major change to the way VAT is collected in the building and construction industry and means that in most cases, the customer receiving the service will have to pay the VAT due to HMRC instead of paying the supplier. It applies to individuals or businesses registered for VAT in the UK who supply or receive specified services that are reported under the Construction Industry CIS scheme.Why is the VAT Reverse Charge being introduced?To combat VAT fraud in the Construction Supply Chain. The rationale behind this move is to attempt to reduce ‘missing trader fraud’ – that being where VAT is charged by the supplier but not paid over to HMRC.Where do HMRC confirm Employment Businesses are not in scope?Here, on page 6 of their August Bulletin Recruitment Companies are considered an employment business under these new VAT measures and therefore the charge of VAT, and the payment of VAT should continue unchanged.What steps can contractors take to prepare for Reverse Charge VAT*Ensure your software is updatedEnsure you or your accounts team are prepared for a 17% reduction in cash flowYou will need to pro-forma reverse charge invoices and applicationsYou will need to warn your own VAT registered subcontractorsYou will need to check if your customers are VAT registered , and CIS registered and if they are, check whether they are end users*Courtesy of the Federation of Master BuildersWhere can I read more?Check out the Governments own website here

There are regular debates in the Thorn Baker EFM office about the differences between recruiting and hiring hard and soft services staff – especially seeing as we have specialist consultants for both sectors!  What are the key differences between hiring someone in hard services compared to soft services? What are the key demographics? Are perks and benefits miles apart? How do qualifications and tools impact on daily working life? Is one perceived to be more important than the other? In this blog, my team and I will discuss these points and more to explore from a recruitment perspective what are the differences between hard and soft services.   Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance ​​ Qualifications:  Whilst qualifications and courses can enhance your chances of a job in both hard and soft services, the key difference between the two is legislation and regulation. For certain tasks in hard services such as boiler maintenance, re-gassing air-conditioning units and signing off electrical installations - legislation dictates that you MUST have the relevant qualification to be legally compliant and, of course, safe. Qualifications include 2391 for electrical testing and inspection sign off, F-Gas for air-conditioning maintenance and re-gassing of units, and a CCN1 or COCN1 Gas ticket (depending on whether you are working on commercial and domestic) as well as inclusion on the Gas Safe Register. Within soft services, there certainly are qualifications that look great on your CV and increase your credibility within the industry. However, these are not prerequisites - more an indicator of experience and knowledge level. Relevant qualifications include gaining an NVQ in Cleaning and courses such as COSHH, plus there are also various levels of qualification via BICs. Is it a requirement for the soft services industry? No. Will it help you progress through soft services into a more senior career? Absolutely.  Laura Billinghurst: Permanent Building Services Recruitment Consultant - South East Demographics:  The perception of hard services is one of male dominance, however, the soft services sector is very different - this is especially highlighted within the cleaning industry. According to the British Cleaning Council in its 2017  Industry Trend survey 73% of people employed in the general cleaning of buildings are female and 63% of people employed in other cleaning activities are female. In my experience of recruiting within the cleaning industry, I can reinforce these findings.  A lot of my clients would prefer BiCS qualifications but more as a 'desirable' - experience and reliability is key especially at higher-level positions. When looking at the balance of gender within the industry I have found that the scales in managerial, supervisory and cleaning operative positions across the UK are starting the level with 43% being female and 57% male. Is this a changing trend? Andrew McCafferty: Facilities & Soft Services Recruitment Consultant Tools Vs. Equipment: More often than not the vast majority of Engineers are required to take hand tools as a minimum with them to site - which have been purchased themselves and often very expensive and special to them! They also have the added issue of rising incidences of tool theft to contend with - Napit Insurance recently reporting that a van is broken into every 23 minutes in the UK – this is something that goes largely unreported in the soft services industry, if it happens much at all. An Engineer throughout his career can spend £10,000+ on tools, equipment as well as maintenance and recalibration. Soft services operatives and managers, however, have the majority of their equipment purchased for them that enables them to do their job – a soft services company will typically spend around £100 per month per Cleaner on consumables and renting / ownership of larger cleaning machines such as floor buffers.  Jade Sims: Temporary Building Services Recruitment Consultant Perception of Importance: It would appear on the surface that the perception of hard services as more important in the Facilities Management industry is based on the specific qualifications needed in hard services to enable them to carry out their role, for example, if an AC or Gas unit breaks down only a certified Engineer can fix it – as well as the cost involved. Providing adequate, safe temperatures to work in is a legal requirement in the UK, hence the importance. However if an workplace isn’t cleaned for one day, it tends to be one of the first things that staff and customers will complain about – leading to a potential loss of business and customer satisfaction (especially if they are unable to open due to health and safety concerns). Employees and customers value clean, tidy workplaces – especially when it comes to toilets; there is even now a World Toilet Day!  So for different reasons each both are equally as important as each other.  Take the industry as a whole - Facilities Management in a building is highly important. I’d go as far as to say to operate efficiently day to day, FM is more important than if your Directors or Senior Management decided to take a few days out of business.  Kimberly Leech: Facilities & Soft Services Recruitment Consultant Perks and Benefits Work in soft services has a much lower barrier to entry than working in hard services, as a result of this, it is easier to find a job within soft services with little to no previous experience or qualifications. Jobs within hard services having a higher basic salary, as more of the roles require specific qualifications and often requires specific experience.  Another factor in the higher salaries is that hard services are experiencing a skill shortage, meaning that there is always work available for a candidate in hard services. Soft services is a rapidly growing industry, growing at a quicker rate than the national average. Coupled with the fact that a lot of soft services roles have good training and progression opportunities, means it is a sustainable long term career path.  Due to the nature of work within soft services, there is often more of an opportunity for flexible working hours to be had, whereas within hard services this is much less likely (although both hard and soft services also have roles available working split shift patterns). Jacob Morley: Resourcer, Building Services & Maintenance Do you agree with the above? If you'd like to let the team know your thoughts - maybe you hire for both hard and soft services and you'd like to offer a different viewpoint or maybe you'd like to discuss your current recruitment needs you can contact the team here.

If you're a Facilities or Maintenance Manager who likes to be in the know when it comes to the latest FM, Maintenance and Buildings news this is the blog for you. The FM and Maintenance community is quite sociable, so there's definitely a lot of news out there to choose from. Narrowing down our list of favourites hasn't been easy (but we enjoy a challenge!) Below are our favourite, go-to and possibly less known sources that always ensure that we are up-to-date with what is happening in the world of FM, Maintenance and Buildings. Enjoy! Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance   Exactly what it says on the tin. Facilitate inform workplace and facilities management professionals. They're a well know and reliable source for the latest workplace and facilities management news, covering professional development, the outsourced service sector, market analysis, legislation and key business reports.   This informative Facilities Management Journal blog features regular updates on new products, tenders, surveys and company news around the UK. They also feature white papers, jobs and a great directory full of useful FM and Maintenance industry contacts.   This is a little broader but it has plenty of relevant topics and a whole section for Facilities Management. Insights recent blogs have included: flexible working, environmental policies, redesigning your office and work separation anxiety. Definitely, one to check in with.   A little different to the others as they're only in a digital format, this blog from Tomorrow's FM is definitely for the environmentally conscious! They cover the very latest news on products, service issues, advancements and events. A big bonus to this blog is that you'll never lose it and back issues can be accessed easily. ​ No top Facilities and Maintenance blog list would be complete without ours! We talk about the latest news, insights, surveys and case studies from our clients and candidates - you! What makes it different is our perspective, we're not only industry specialists but we see both sides of the coin and can offer a twist on industry opinions. Make sure you don't miss out on our latest posts - subscribe here These are just a selection of the fantastic blogs available If you'd like to let the team know your favourites, or discuss your current recruitment needs you can contact the team here.

HOW DID WE SOLVE THEIR PROBLEM ATTRACTING EXPERIENCED CANDIDATES?Andrew McCafferty: Facilities & Soft Services ConsultantThe Floorbrite Group are a family run business that specialises in commercial cleaning and facilities services primarily across the North West.As a business, they were struggling to attract the right calibre of candidates to their live jobs - mostly because they lacked the experience required.As a result, areas were not covered in terms of Management staff and Operatives - this affected not only their business but relationships with their clients. As a company, they pride themselves on their client relationships so this could not continue.I met with the team at their Head Office with the HR Director and Operations Director to discuss what problems they had encountered; poor rate of applicants, low presence outside of their geographical area and the overall quality of the applications they had received weren't what they were looking for.The solution was our 15-point TalentMatch system, combined with my speciality market and geographical knowledge and our market-leading Adapt database. The result is that their areas are now fully staffed and this in-turn has brought their client relationships back up to 100%.​HOW DID SARAH FEEL?Sarah Robersin: Senior HR and Operations Coordinator 'Our goal was to recruit Area Managers and Industrial Operatives - both had proven to be problematic. It's been great working with Andy, he offers lots of update throughout the process and we now have adequate cover in all of our regions.Due to Andy's efficiency, I would definitely recommend his services. If I had to sum up working with him in three words it would be; efficient, detailed and professional.'​Register for Estates, Facilities & Maintenance job alerts here​            Looking to hire?  Complete our employer enquiry form here

HOW DID WE SOLVE THEIR CANDIDATE ATTRACTION & PRE-ASSESSMENT PROBLEM?Laura Billinghurst: Building Services & Maintenance ConsultantArthur McKay - an Atalian Servest company - is a global integrated facilities management service. As a business, they were having problems with candidates not being properly assessed for their jobs, this led to them not turning up to interviews. The cost to them was that Managers were having whole days wasted, some days three-four interviews were no shows. They were receiving pressure from their clients because these jobs weren't being filled.As a specialist in FM I already understood the qualifications they needed, but what was really required was to understand the cultural fit, and how this could be a positive career move for a candidate. I went to meet the hiring team and sat down with them to really understand their contract and what made it a great place to work. This, in turn, freed their Managers up to focus on their actual role instead of waiting for un-prepared candidates. The end result was a quick turnaround for the team, consistent management of the recruitment process, and most importantly they hired a brilliant Engineer for their team.HOW DID JOHN FEEL?John Belsham: Contracts Manager'After an initial meeting to discuss the specific requirements of the contract and positions involved it was clear Laura had picked up on the important factors, 24/7 contract, flexible approach to hours, Security Clearance, Quick response to urgent callouts etc. Laura also picked up on the points that could convince candidates over other positions they were being interviewed for. i.e easy to park on clients sites, a good client that respected the engineers.CV’s started to arrive and were shortlisted to a high quality. There was good communication with candidates to ensure they were really interested in the role, all candidates selected for interview attended, something other agencies did not seem to be in control of.When candidates were selected all paperwork and information was chased in and successful candidates were all suitably briefed between Thorn Baker and our HR department for their first day’s work.How would I describe working with Thorn Baker EFM in three words? Flexible, quality and reliable.'Register for Estates, Facilities & Maintenance job alerts here​           Looking to hire?  Complete our employer enquiry form here

​​Summer is here (even if the weather doesn’t always agree) and I know when my team and I speak with our clients about their hiring struggles, these are the topics they are most concerned about:​​​​Sudden demand for more staffing resourcesSkills shortagesIncreasing concerns about the environmentPlanned & Unplanned AbsencesKeeping within a hiring budgetThis blog will explore these issues, how they affect facilities management, maintenance and soft services hiring managers like you and some tips and advice on how you can overcome them.Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & MaintenanceSudden Demand: Keeping Your Clients Happy?2018 was the second hottest summer on record, and according to this blog from E.ON about the 2018 heatwave, the top five hottest years on record have occurred since 2003. This is a trend that will keep repeating and at times, it feels like every building manager in the UK has turned their air con system on at the same moment – and then immediately puts in a maintenance request!The nature of the seasonal beast is to hire the best Managers, Engineers and Helpdesk staff and make sure they’re trained in time for your busy peak summer period – all within an already condensed timeline. At a time like this, it’s crucial to make the right hire, as quickly as possible, the first time around. Plan for sudden surges in work requests as early in the season as you can – if you wait until July, you’ll have missed out. Get a meeting booked in with your preferred recruitment specialist now, and ensure they have an excellent network of available, proven and vetted candidates who are willing to step in at short notice.Skills Shortage: Finding the Best PeopleA skills shortage within Facilities and Property Maintenance is a topic at the very heart of the facilities management and building services maintenance industry – so much so that a panel discussion was held in October 2018 at an FMP event, which you can read about here.Last year, my team and I surveyed the opinion of those at the forefront of the FM industry staffing problems – the Maintenance and Facilities Contracts Managers who are directly responsible for recruiting and managing maintenance engineers. You can read the results of our skills shortage survey here (including our top tips on how to still hire the best talent).​Environmental: Do You Offer Benefits for Today’s Green Employee?You could be asking yourself ‘We have a fantastic benefits package on offer, why do we need to add green benefits?’ Today’s facilities management and maintenance professionals are much more focused on environmental/ well-being issues and are looking to align themselves with employers who reflect these values – in 2015, an article by The Guardian(Click here to read: Millennials Want to Work for Employers Committed to Values and Ethics) stated that 42% of the workplace now want to work for an organisation that has a positive impact on the world and 35% would work harder if they felt their organisation benefitted society.By pushing for a better environmental policy within your facilities management or maintenance provider business you will have much more chance of tapping into the current and next generation consciousness and workforce.Absences: How Do Planned vs. Unplanned absences Affect Your Ability to Deliver your SLAs?This happens in all businesses; we can plan our teams’ holidays or maternity cover but emergencies and last minute requests come up – Illness, holidays, childcare, sudden departures – all of which can cause major headaches when adhering to your client service level agreements.One of the reasons why we developed our unique TalentMatch system was to make sure we could react quickly to our client’s needs in the short and long term – you can read more about this on our About Us page here.We’ve worked in the Industry for over 30 years so you can be sure that we already know the best Maintenance Engineers, Soft Services and Helpdesk staff available.Budget: Hiring a happy workforce whilst maintaining a profitable contractWe work with businesses like yours who want to do right by their employees, but also need to keep an eye on budgets and profitability – with perks such as fully paid travel time, private mileage and top of the range company cars and vans being the most highly sought after benefits in the facilities and maintenance industry, offering great perks and maintenance profitability is a tough balance.By understanding what candidates really want, we successfully deliver the results needed time and time again, as shown by our case studies – we helped our clients Floorbrite and Atalian Servest Arthur McKay hire the best staff by truly understanding what our candidates desired and matching it accordingly!If you'd like to discuss your current and upcoming hiring needs with your Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance specialist contact the team here. Or you can complete our looking to hire form and your specialist consultant will call you.

The Facilities Show is back! Taking place 18-20 June 2019 at ExCeL London the annual event showcases the very best our Industry has to offer in cost-effective smart solutions and the latest FM trends and training. Here is a roundup of what we’re looking forward to – does it match your top list? ​ Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance Seminars and Panel Talks We’ve been through the seminar programme, the show is jam-packed with FM know-how. Highlights include case studies across maintenance, workforce issues, design and sustainability. Not to mention the chance to hear from superstars Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards and Jonny Wilkinson! We’re particularly looking forward to hearing Kelly Howell from our client Atalian Servest speak about Flexible Working on Tuesday 18th. Workplace Wellbeing Zone This is new for 2019 and with companies becoming increasingly aware of wellbeing in the workplace – it’s a great addition. Really interested to see everything that this zone has to offer and what we can learn - particularly the Healthy Eating Café! Keep an eye out for our protein power bowls on Instagram.   FM Games Arcade Always a favourite with everyone. I’ve seen snooker champions, 3D Printers, go-karting games, ping pong, Scalextric – our Marketing Manager has even eaten a dried cricket before! I’m sure this year will be no exception, it’s a great way to network and share some friendly competition. Merchandise There is always an array of interesting merchandise to see (and acquire) we like to pick our favourite and use it as inspiration for own goody giveaways :-). A previous favourite came from Andrews Air Conditioning who had a paper fan – so simple and so effective! It caught our eye straight away. Do you have this years’ favourite???   You! Last but certainly not least we’re looking forward to seeing all of you and having a good catch up on what is happening in your business! If you’d like to pre-book a meeting with your specialist Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance Consultant you can. Laura and Kim will be there on Tuesday, and Sophie and Jade will be attending on Wednesday - if you'd like to pre-book a meeting with them contact them today! Pre-book an Appointment If you haven’t already booked your ticket there’s still plenty of time to – don’t miss out on the Facilities Show 2019 you can register for a ticket here – we’re looking forward to seeing you there!

As a busy Facilities Management professional you don’t always have time to check what is happening in the world of FM and Maintenance. Here is a roundup of the hot topics that the FM and Maintenance community are talking about. It’s definitely been a busy month in the world of Facilities Management. Below is a quick round-up of the hottest topics that Facilities Management and Building Services Professionals like you (and my team) have been talking about this month. Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance   10 Ways Engineers and Their Managers Can Maintain a Great Work-Life Balance Are you struggling to maintain a good work life balance? Working in the Facilities Management and Building Maintenance industry often comes with the expectation to work long hours to get those all-important deadlines and service level agreements completed. This article looks at ways you (and your Manager!) can make sure that you reduce your stress levels both at work and home by setting realistic boundaries and whilst this focus on engineers it is easily applied to those working in Soft Services and Support roles too! To read the 10 ways Engineers and their Managers can maintain a great work life balance click here. Why Are so Many Companies Struggling to Hire Engineers? We all know there is a skills shortage across the board in the Facilities Management and Building Maintenance. My team and I set out to discuss this with the companies at the leading edge of the Facilities Management and Building Maintenance industries in the UK, and talked to the Hiring Managers to get their opinions on what has caused this skills shortage. You can read about what other industry professionals (like you) thought by clicking here 8 Things That Brexit May Mean for FM Whether you like it or not, you can’t ignore the fact that Brexit will have an impact one way or another on all aspects of our lives, and that includes the Facilities Management and Maintenance industry in the UK. This article was written back in 2016 and still applies now as the looming uncertainty continues – depending on whom you work for (a major corporation in London or an SME in the Midlands for example), there are some good indications here of what Brexit could mean for your employer. Here at Thorn Baker EFM, we work with businesses who struggle to hire every day, understanding what a business needs is what makes us great at what we do. If you'd like to discuss your current recruitment needs you can contact the team here Want the latest Facilities and Maintenance industry news, jobs and updates? Subscribe here​

I know that as a busy Facilities Management or maintenance professional your maintenance and repair team needs the very best support from its helpdesk operators and office support staff – and that’s where we come in! Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance The beating heart of every facilities and maintenance operation is the Helpdesk and Office support staff that ensure the contracts and SLA’s are fulfilled and the clients are kept well informed and happy. We know how important it is to get the right people in these seats – you can be sure you’re in good hands when you work with us.   The Facilities Management and Maintenance providers that we work with say they trust us to find the best Helpdesk & Support candidates because of our specialist industry knowledge, our in-depth interviewing and vetting and our ability to provide candidates to interview within the specified timescales. Introducing your specialist Helpdesk Operator & Office Support Recruiter Sophie Butcher is your Thorn Baker EFM specialist Helpdesk & Support Recruiter and is your go-to recruiter for the following roles: Helpdesk operators. PPM schedulers. Reactive helpdesk operators. Contract coordinators. Accounts/invoicing administrators. Contract compliance administrators. Helpdesk supervisor/manager. Technical support operator. Facilities administrator. Facilities assistant/reception staff. Post room operative. Reprographics assistant.   Read more about Sophie here… ‘I have a wealth of experience in office support and commercial roles, and I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in! I spent the last seven years in the motor trade and investments, so recruitment was the logical next challenge for me. I cover all office based and support roles across the UK so no two days will ever be the same. My favourite part of the job is definitely the diversity of everyone that I speak to on a day to day basis... I love a good story or two. I love being out and about, trying new things (mainly food). I am also a massive Marvel and Harry Potter geek; some may even go as far as to call me a recruitment wizard…’ At Thorn Baker EFM we’re absolutely committed to finding our clients the very best Helpdesk Operatives. We work with businesses who struggle to hire every day, understanding what a business needs from their support team is what makes us great at what we do. If you'd like to discuss your current Helpdesk & Support recruitment needs with Sophie you can contact her via email: sophieb@thornbaker.co.uk or you can give her a call: 0844 406 0086 Want the latest Facilities and Maintenance industry news, jobs and updates? Subscribe here

We’re delighted to have been awarded a three-star accreditation by Best Companies recognising our extraordinary levels of staff engagement. This is the highest level of accreditation that can be achieved and is the outcome of staff surveys that saw over 85% of our staff complete. Paul Jackman, Thorn Baker Group Chief Executive Officer I’m delighted to be able to share the news that we’ve been awarded the highest possible accreditation with Best Companies which demonstrates that our people have ‘Extraordinary’ levels of engagement within our business. What makes the award especially pleasing is that when our staff filled the survey it was towards the end of the largest programme of change that we’ve ever undertaken. The result is 100% derived from these staff surveys and builds on our 2-star rating from the previous year. So what does this mean? To give you some context with the Best Companies methodology and structure, the scoring covers 8 key areas which are Leadership, My Company, My Manager, Personal Growth, My Team, Wellbeing, Fair Deal and Giving Something Back. We improved our scores in 7 out of 8 areas. So what have we actually done that allows me to boldly say ‘the largest programme of change ever undertaken’ – here’s just a sample of what we’ve achieved in the last 12 months. Evolved to become one Group with three distinct Brands, Thorn Baker Construction, Thorn Baker Industrial Recruitment and Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance. It’s been a big structural and mental shift from what was previously Thorn Baker Recruitment with separate Divisions. Re-branded using the fantastic team at Yellowstep to support the evolution Launched four new websites thanks to Volcanic and their marvellous tech We also squeezed in our 30th anniversary in July with a week-long celebration that involved lots of cake, and more cake, and beer and more beer. Launched new core values – Positive-minded, Solution-Focused and People-Driven Changed how we run our company – our Operating System, by adopting Traction. This really is the closest you can get to a secret sauce for a complex UK wide recruitment firm and until now I didn’t want any competitors to know how this can transform your business, it’s the best takeaway anyone business owner will get from this blog. Making a plan for the future The planning for 2018 goes further back, to roughly May 2017, and we can pinpoint our Annual Managers meeting when Kevin Green made a guest speaker appearance with impact – it really got us thinking about moving to this new structure and realigning what we do. Not everything went to plan – It was particularly painful to have to close a branch in Manchester. Our High Flyers trip to Milan in June 2018 didn’t take off thanks to the Italian air traffic control strike, so we rearranged for September and all was good. As for GDPR, what joy; thanks to our Chairman John Robinson for the diligent project management and training that keeps us (and our clients and candidates) incredibly compliant. So back to engagement, If you’re still reading you’re possibly wondering if a more engaged workforce has actually increased sales? Increased the bottom line? It’s a big tick in the box for both. With the same headcount as the previous year, our sales are up around 10%, GP up around 8% and this is starting to wash through on the bottom line. Our Brands are at your service… Fundamentally I believe if our people are happy in their work then our clients and candidates directly feel the benefit. Engagement without capability isn’t much use, and our capability led to the adoption of the ‘know-how you need’ to help better communicate our offering in an incredibly competitive sector. If you’re interested in working for us then please contact Matthew Dann (Thorn Baker Industrial Recruitment) Rob Ford (Thorn Baker Construction) or Joanne Crampton (Thorn Baker Estates Facilities & Maintenance) Want the latest Facilities and Maintenance industry news, jobs and updates? Subscribe here

As a Facilities Management professional, Building Services business owner, Operations and Managing Director who can’t hire enough qualified engineers quickly enough to deliver your service level agreements (SLAs) you will find this blog useful. It will help you see why the people we have surveyed think there is a skills shortage issue, and a list of solutions that can help you in both the short and long term. Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance A skills shortage within Facilities, HVAC, Electrical and Property Maintenance is a topic at the very heart of the facilities management and building services maintenance industry. Taking an outside view you could see many reasons as to why the industry is facing such a shortage of Hard Services Engineers. There’s been no end of speculation and debate across the sector as to what is causing the shortage – looking at it from a recruitment agency point of view, our aim is often less of the “Why is there a shortage of Engineers?” and more of the “How do we help solve the Engineer shortage problem?” My team and I have spent the last four weeks surveying the opinion of those at the forefront of the FM industry staffing problems – the Maintenance and Facilities Contracts Managers who are directly responsible for recruiting and managing maintenance engineers. Expecting the responses to be a lot more about Brexit and millennial attitudes, the answers and opinions I received were pretty surprising.            What do Facilities Management and Building Services professionals think is causing the skills shortage? “Whilst they might be great joiners and carpenters, taking a 6 week electrical install course doesn’t make them an electrician.”   Chris Atkinson, the Mechanical and Electrical Manager for Prime Repair & Maintenance (part of Acis Group) is just one of the hiring managers we spoke to who pinned it down to the rise in ‘short course’ availability, with too many tradesmen being encouraged to do an intense short training course to bring their electrical skills up to 17th edition standards, without going through the rigours of a full apprenticeship. Does the Facilities and Building Maintenance Industry Have the Same Pull These Days? “People no longer find it as appealing to do a trade and work with their hands.”   Like Richard Birtwhistle, Contract Manager at Servest Arthur McKay, many others we spoke to feel that the pull of the Facilities and Building Maintenance industry just isn’t what it used to be. Whilst they agree that the number of people taking up apprentices has fallen overall in the last 20-30 years, there are more fashionable and appealing options for apprentices these days. The trend towards studying academic courses at University has been well documented and discussed, and not just in the Hard Services industry.  Are Training Courses Readily Available for Hard Services Engineers? “Within refrigeration there is a huge lack of training colleges, so if you’re not local to a college there’s not likely to be any engineers in the area.”  Andy Holmes, Service Delivery Manager for LH plc, a specialist Refrigeration company in London, feels it can be a bit of a postcode lottery for some trades, with a lack of support for those wanting to train to be a refrigeration engineer. When we looked to find a refrigeration training course in Cambridge for example, the only obvious example was a distance learning course. This poses a hiring headache for those of you trying to support your facilities clients based in these low-density training areas, unless they are lucky enough to find an engineer to relocate or travel extended distances to site.            Download our full infographic below:  Thorn Baker EFM Hard Services Skills Shortage Survey Infographic.png Size: 506 KB Could Brexit Affect The Hard Services Skills Shortage? What really surprised me was the lack of comments about the effect of Brexit. Whilst most agreed that their workforce has become increasingly multi-cultural and international over the last 20 years or so, since the Yes vote there has not been the mass exodus of engineers that some feared, and has been reported in the national press about skills shortages post Brexit. Less than 8% of the Facilities, HVAC, Electrical and Property Maintenance professionals we spoke to believed that Brexit was adding significantly to the skills shortage, and maintain that this is a problem long in the making rather than a knee jerk reaction to the referendum. What Next for Busy Facilities Management Business Owners and Maintenance Operations Managers? One thing is clear from the conversations I’ve had with my facilities and maintenance contacts in the Hard Services industry; the industry needs to make itself more attractive, and it’s not just about putting a few more pounds on the hourly pay rate of a Commercial Gas Engineer. To attract the next generation of Hard Service Engineers, there needs to be an image overhaul within the Hard Services industry – IWFM (previously known as BIFM) has already recognised this and have gone through a name change and re-brand exercise. Now it’s time for the Industry leaders to follow suit. As a result of this survey we’ve identified a few things that everyone can do to help with their recruitment in both the long and short term: Short-Term Solutions for the Hard Services Skills Shortage : When you are advertising a job vacancy focus on why working for your company is great: the support, flexibility, improved technology, training budget etc. Whatever it is you are doing really well – shout about it!  Spend some money on your recruitment – whether that is with agencies like us, advertising, specialist job boards, sponsored Facebook adverts or an internal refer a friend scheme etc. A free advert on Indeed is not going to get you the Engineers you want. Working with an agency? Make sure they are promoting your business (not just the job). At Thorn Baker EFM we’re focusing more and more on what Engineers are looking for – so if you want your agency to promote you to their Candidate base, give them the information they need to do so. Remember that Candidates are now in control – they have choices. If you want to hire the best, you’re going to have to treat them with respect, flexibility and sensible job offers. Long-Term Solutions for the Hard Services Skills Shortage: Talk to Colleges and Schools close to your office locations. If they know that there is demand for Engineers there is a greater chance of them offering the courses. Promote the positive image of our Industry to the next generation of Engineers on Social Media – make the most of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram - talk about why being an Engineer is such a great career. Invest in training. There’s a wealth of excellent Candidates out there with the right attitude and the wrong qualifications. At Thorn Baker EFM we’re absolutely committed to improving the recruitment process for Hard Services Engineers – understanding where the problems lie helps us to be better recruiters. We work with businesses who struggle to hire Hard Service and Maintenance Engineers every day. Contact the EFM team today Want the latest Facilities and Maintenance industry news, jobs and updates? Subscribe here

I know that as a busy facilities management professional you don’t always have time to check what is happening in the world of FM on LinkedIn and Twitter. Hence why our FM network values our quick round-up of FM News. A lot has been happening over the last month in the world of Facilities Management. Below is a quick round-up of the hottest topics that Facilities Management and Building Services Professionals like you (and my team) have been talking about this month. Joanne Crampton, Head of Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance 1. Peter Booth kicked off his fantastic initiative #noVANber click here to watch the video. The loss of a van and/or tools can severely impact on a tradesperson – if you haven’t read about the petition that is calling for an investigation into what more can be done to tackle van theft and van tool theft you can read about the petition by clicking here. 2. DMA Group Managing Director Steve McGregor celebrated the hire of Paul Dudley to lead their sales team in Solutions Development. As specialist Facilities Management and Building Services recruiters we know how great it is when you find the very best person for your team. I’d like to wish Paul the very best of luck in his new position. 3. Just about everyone in Yorkshire (myself included!) is chuffed with Channel 4’s choice of Leeds for their new National HQ. This is fantastic news for the city which came out ahead of Manchester and Birmingham in the selection process, it will create 300 new jobs by 2023. 4. David Woodford at Spie Facilities showcased their latest raft of apprentices and the importance of future proofing, training and mentoring. The Hard Services Skills Shortage is a huge topic for our industry. We recently surveyed Facilities Management and Building Services professionals to find out what they thought were the causes of the Hard Services skills shortage. 5. Jeff Dewing, CEO of Cloudfm Group went on the road with some of his Engineers and got back to maintenance basics. Jeff was getting stuck in and helping to reduce waste in breakdowns across their clients’ sites. 6. And finally, Sonia Sotoudeh showed that Integral Birmingham can put the Bake Off contestants to shame with her fantastic cakes in aid of Alzheimer’s Society. We received some fantastic feedback on last month’s  #FMBuzz – be sure to read about Cloud FM’s 12 new apprentices and one of the funniest installation fails we have seen in a while here. Want the latest Facilities Management and Maintenance news, jobs and updates? Subscribe here!

Well, the last few weeks have certainly been busy in the #facman community! We've rounded up for you below some of the hot Facilities Management topics that you have been talking about, and a few that have been a discussion in our office.    1. Kath Fontana, Managing Director of ISS Technical Services: Championing the new professional statement on procurement in FM by RICS.  2. Andrew Morris from FM Voice reports on the new exec board for Atalian Servest UK.  3. Laurence Allen from TWinFM reports on the comings and goings of Mitie’s pests and security businesses.  4. Jeff Dewing, Chief Exec of Cloud FM celebrates meeting his 12 new apprentices and their collaboration with Essex County Cricket Club. 5. Looks like the ladies and gents at Jaguar Building Services Ltd had a smashing end of Summer boat party. 6. And last but not least, one of the funniest installation fails we’ve seen for a while... Don't forget to read our round-up of The Best Facilities Management Events in 2018 You Can Still Attend. ​Want the latest facilities management and maintenance news, jobs and updates? Subscribe here!

The year may be past the halfway point, but there’s still time to catch some of the best Facility Management events in 2018.  These events bring together professionals and experts in the field and aim to foster the sharing of experiences in various networking moments. Check out below our the list of events that you still can attend and you certainly will not want to miss.                       1. UK Construction Week: 9th - 11th October 2018 UK Construction Week (UKCW) is the UK’s largest built environment event; bringing together 35,000 construction professionals and 650+ exhibitors at the NEC Birmingham. Free to attend and consists of nine shows: Timber Expo, Build Show, Civils Expo, Plant & Machinery Live, Energy 2018, Building Tech Live, Surface & Materials Show, HVAC 2018 and Grand Designs Live. Showcasing innovation from all sectors, and making it easier for any professional to update their CPD, get inspired by amazing people and projects, and walk away with practical information on new technologies, systems, products and collaborations from around the world that would otherwise take months to research. 2. BIFM Awards Ceremony 2018: 15th - 16th October The BIFM Awards recognise and showcase best-in-class facilities management (FM) and evidence its impact on business, the economy and society. As the industry-leading Awards, the BIFM Awards seek out the gold standard across FM and beyond. Entries come from a cross-section of organisations regardless of size, type and sector from all across the world. This means that being a finalist, or a winner, is a true achievement and testament to the great work carried out by the individual, team, project, collaboration or organisation. 3. Digital Construction Week - Partner Event: 17th - 18th October 2018 Digital Construction Week is an event series in the UK, which is dedicated to innovation and technology in the built environment. The event series features a two-day exhibition with interactive, hands-on demonstrations, free to attend seminars, workshops and classes. networking events, and a full two-day thought leadership conference programme. 4. Smart Buildings: 7th - 8th November 2018 The Smart Buildings Show will cover all key aspects of creating and managing a smart building, including; Building automation systems, energy efficiency, lighting and controls, security, HVAC, smart meters and monitoring,  networks and wireless, software, services and support, building automation and design, building energy management, regulations and consultancy. 5. University & Healthcare Estates and Innovation 2018: 27th - 28th November 2018​ UHEI is a unique event which covers facilities & estate managers across 2 sectors Higher Education and the NHS and is the only national conference and exhibition to bring these two sectors together under one roof which includes everything from design, build and maintaining Higher Education and NHS facilities. 6. International Security Expo (ISE): 28th - 29th November 2018 International Security Expo (ISE) provides a unique platform for the entire security industry to come together to source products, share experience and gain the knowledge needed to address current and emerging security challenges. Want the latest facilities management and maintenance news, jobs and updates? Subscribe here!

Here at Thorn Baker Estates, Facilities & Maintenance, we are supporting Gas Safety Week: 17th-23rd September 2018. The eighth annual Gas Safety Week sees organisations from across the UK working together to raise awareness of the dangers of poorly maintained gas appliances, which can cause gas leaks, fires, explosions and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. This year, Gas Safety Week is addressing a whole range of gas safety matters throughout the week, from tackling illegal gas work to reminding people to avoid DIY when it comes to gas appliances and instead leave it the experts – registered engineers who are legally qualified to make sure your appliances are working safely and efficiently. Jonathan Samuel, chief executive for Gas Safe Register, said: “It’s great to see so many people supporting Gas Safety Week this year to help spread important and, in some cases, lifesaving advice about gas safety. It’s so vital that we help people to know not to cut corners with gas and always ask a suitably qualified Gas Safe registered engineer to work on gas appliances at their home to stay gas safe.” Keep up-to-date with Gas Safe Register’s updates and advice throughout Gas Safety Week by following them on social media (@GasSafeRegister) and search #GSW18.  To keep you and your family safe, follow Gas Safe Register’s top tips:  Know the symptoms of CO poisoning; headaches, nausea, breathlessness, collapse, dizziness and loss of consciousness. If you smell gas or think there might be a gas leak, call the free 24-hour national gas emergency number immediately on 0800 111 999. Never attempt to work on a gas appliance yourself, always seek the help of a qualified Gas Safe registered engineer who can work on your gas cooker, boiler or fire in a safe way. ‘Don’t cut corners’ and always ask to see your engineer’s Gas Safe ID card. Make sure you check the back of the card, which will state which gas appliances they are qualified to work on. Only emp