Helping you find the best FM & Soft Services team

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.

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

FM & Soft Services

From Cleaning Managers, Facilities Assistants to Catering Managers (or anything else) the team understand the skills and staff you need.