Utility Week Live: what we learned about skills

Utility Week Live brought together the great and the good of utilities with business gurus from the outside world. Here’s what the exhibition, seminars and conference taught us about how the sector is addressing the core issue of skills.

In the Streetworks theatre, the skills challenge – and the looming skills crisis – was the hot topic. The fact that half of the current workforce within the utility sector will leave in the next decade – either by retiring or by going elsewhere – is an issue companies cannot afford to ignore.

It is being addressed in two ways: attracting new talent, and retaining the knowledge and skills base the industry already has.

Attracting new talent

Utilities and their contractors need to “tap into the PS4 generation”, according to Glen Tymon, group training manager for Morrison Utility Services, who was speaking in the Keynote Theatre.

He said the skills needed for the sector are changing with the development and adoption of new technologies. He told delegates: “There is no longer just a toolbox of spanners, shovels and picks. The new generation need to be able to pilot drones and have the dexterity to be able to handle high and technically skilled tasks – and even to be able to use things that have not yet been invented.” Tymon added that to attract these new types of people, the sector needs an image refresh. 

Jan Atkinson, talent and organisation development director at Kier, agreed that an image overhaul is required to “tap into the millennial generation”. This, she said, would encourage people – in particular apprentices – to join the sector.

Atkinson said the sector needs to “reframe how we describe what we do and what we offer”.

She added that companies and contractors should offer “inclusive pathways” to encourage women to join the workforce, as well as ex-offenders, NEETS, and younger people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Retaining existing talent

Getting people to join is only half the battle. The other is keeping those who are already working in the sector.

Atkinson said companies must ensure there are obvious, clear and achievable career pathways, “matching aspirations and enabling employees to continue on their learning journey”.

Selling the sector as a learning pathway, with transferable skills, is vital. This will ensure that the staff – both new and old – are prepared for the new technologies the sector will adopt. This “learning agility” enables engineers and staff to transfer within the sector to different areas, ensuring new challenges are available, and keeping staff engaged.

One way this can be done is by using the existing talent pool as effectively as possible. Atkinson told delegates Kier is running a ‘development academy’, whereby senior members of staff are mentoring juniors, helping them develop people management skills as well as passing on essential skills and knowledge.

Tymon agreed that those “in their later years” should be used as coaches. Aside from benefitting the younger staff, he added that senior staff are being enthused and “re-energised” by this approach, which is encouraging them to stay on in the sector.