Despite the investment into regeneration and economic development; there is an ever increasing shortage of the right talent.
Following on from the Egan review of 2004, SQW, an independent consultancy specialising in the area of economic and social development, were commissioned to carry out an audit of the Yorkshire & Humber region’s economic and regeneration skills in order to identify the sectors capacity to deliver on agendas outlined in the Sub National Review.
The audit focussed on the region’s potential in terms of skills available, to deliver current and future agendas. The individuals approached for their responses included senior regeneration professionals within local authorities, and a range of private and third sector bodies including Badenoch & Clark.
Although most of the group were extremely positive about their organisation’s ability to meet current and future challenges, some key themes came to light: there are some highly qualified professionals and some excellent skills within the sector in this region, however there are simply not enough of them, resulting in difficulties to deliver on the key agendas.
Audit key findings include:
- 90% believe that the lack of skills and capacity are currently inhibiting delivery of agendas.
- Almost 90% of all authorities regularly report recruitment and retention difficulties with one or more professional/managerial occupations.
- 60% of respondents were keen to stay working in this sector within the region.
- 20% expect to retire in the next 3-5 years.
- 50% identified issues such as change management and cross-sector partnership working as relative areas of weakness.
So what recruitment trends are we seeing? In an aim to bridge any skills and knowledge gaps to ensure sufficient capacity to deliver on challenging agendas, we are seeing an increased demand for regeneration skills, particularly at the senior level.
And with 20% expecting to retire in the next 3-5 years, it’s often the most valuable expertise at the senior level which is most likely to be lost. However it’s not all doom and gloom as many of those individuals are keen to continue supporting this sector but in a more flexible manner. As a result we are seeing many look to becoming advisers or programme leaders on an interim basis.
What has also exacerbated this skills gap is the cost efficiency drivers which have led to certain redundancies at a senior level. Steve Crocker of West Leeds Area Management team agrees:
“With the recession, Yorkshire and Humber specifically is unlikely to experience any major problems in relation to a sustainable communities skills gap, apart from in one or two specific areas. However the key task for recruitment consultancies will be in supporting candidates that are being made redundant in helping provide interim opportunities. They can also help to encourage interchange and secondment opportunities within organisations, diversifying the skills available.”
Making the most of an interim consultant is vital to the success of any interim recruit and knowing how they fit into an organisation is key. Beverley Compton, Deputy Director Policy & Performance, of North East Lincolnshire Council, has recently recruited two interim consultants for her policy and performance team:
“The beauty of interim managers is that they can come in with an objective view, appraise a situation quickly and identify key actions for change. They bring expert knowledge about how things are done in similar organisations and can ask the right questions, out of a genuine interest in trying to get to know how things work, that we otherwise would not ask ourselves.”
It will remain important to ensure that generic skills as well as specialist expertise are developed within this sector. We expect those who indeed possess these much sought after skills and knowledge, will be in high demand in order to deliver on the ambitious targets set out in the Sub National Review on both a regional and national basis.
An executive summary and full copy of the regional skills audit can be found at http://www.integreatyorkshire.com/reports-and-studies.htm
