UK contractors should be more proactive in recruiting from the EU

Contractors should follow the lead of bus companies and ambulance services and actively recruit from Poland and Romania, says Nick Leslie-Miller, managing director of international headhunting organisation HMA International. 

Nick Leslie-Miller

The EU workers that have made the journey to the UK come with a wide variety of skills. Some are extremely confident in their skills and abilities and have made the journey knowing that they will be employed, while other less skilled workers may have made the journey because they are desperate and have nothing to lose.

Although this means that the most entrepreneurial workers with high levels of construction skills are already working here, there are still many skilled construction workers based in countries such as Romania and Poland, that would relish the opportunity to work in the UK. These workers have not made the move, however, because of the risk and the fear of the unknown.

At present UK employers are taking EU workers on the basis of who arrives here. We believe that this is a very ad-hoc method, and does not ensure high-quality staff are employed. Contractors in the UK should be much more proactive and actually go to Romania and Poland to carry out their recruitment. Many more workers would come here if there was a job on their arrival, particularly if the job matched the skills they have.

As a company we have been helping businesses in a variety of industries to hire, train and relocate workers from the EU for more than 10 years. In the past we have recruited bus drivers for Go Ahead Group, engineers for National Grid, Doosan power and Skanska and are presently sourcing paramedics to work for the North-East Ambulance Service. 

It is time that construction followed suit and started to be more proactive in its hiring from the EU. Of course, this is not an easy task. How does one check an applicant for skills, references and criminal records? What if the applicants are not what they seem and speak very little English? Many have little money so the cost of coming to the UK, paying for four weeks’ rent, food and travel is too onerous. If the employer pays expenses what guarantee do they have that the worker will show up? Furthermore, there is the matter of regulatory requirements such as CSCS cards, which will need to be obtained.

I believe the reason that construction companies are not rising to this opportunity is that they do not know how to go about it. I have spoken to companies, such as Persimmon Homes, which have had bad experiences trying to recruit from the EU. Newspaper adverts are not going to work, so a much more targeted approach is needed.

In other industries we have taken on the risk for both the employer and employee because we perform these tasks for them. And it can be the same for construction. Where workers do not speak sufficient English we will get them to learn and only introduce them once they are ready. We will ensure they get the necessary cards and deliver them to site ready to work. If they do not perform or leave for any reason then we will replace them. 

There is a cost to this of course but most of this is absorbed by putting a lot of the onus on the candidates/workers (to learn English). Furthermore, by paying a candidate a lump some up front to allow them to get settled, then dropping the hourly rate payable – if employers so wish by £1 per hour for the first six months – the system can be self financing. 

At present very few construction companies are taking this approach seriously, but as the skills shortage becomes more serious contractors will have to be more proactive in their recruitment strategies. The formula is the same for bus drivers as bricklayers or groundworkers, so it will work for the construction industry and may offer the UK contractors an easy path to numerous skilled employees.

HMA International