In the Spring Budget 2023, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt addressed the crippling skills shortage in the construction industry, outlining several measures to attract skilled workers.

These measures included a new migration package and a ‘Returnerships’ apprenticeship, as well as increasing the Annual Allowance from £40,000 to £60,000 as an incentive to keep workers in the labour market.

However, these measures don’t solve one of the industry’s most pressing challenges – an ageing workforce. They’re great for attracting experienced, skilled workers to the industry but don’t attract fresh, new talent to address the age diversity problem.

With the number of employees in the sector reaching retirement increasing more than any other age group, the construction industry needs to attract and retain more young people if it is going to maintain its operations.

Holding back regeneration

Regeneration is a key element of the government’s economic growth and levelling up plans. However, a lack of age diversity in the construction and planning workforce can be a barrier to achieving this.

This is because existing communities can perceive regeneration as a conflict between ‘them and us’. From psychology to the social sciences, it is well evidenced that people favour people like them, however, the age of those who develop, build, and communicate regeneration projects often do not reflect existing communities. This increases the likelihood that plans are perceived negatively, ultimately resulting in planning refusal due to strong opposition.

Having an age-diverse workforce leads to more thoughtful and considerate regeneration plans for the communities they sit in right from the start. And when consultation starts, having people of all ages delivering those engagements are better capable of building confidence and trust in communities that their views and concerns will be understood and appropriately actioned.

Diversity is good for business

It has been proven that having an age-diverse workforce is good for business, as it gives you access to various skills and leads to greater innovation and creativity.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the three main benefits of an age-diverse workforce are knowledge sharing, improved problem solving, and enhanced customer service. It also adds that genuine inclusion with equality of opportunity helps address skill and labour shortages and benefits an organisation’s reputation and brand.

So, how can we attract greater age diversity into the industry?

Targeted recruitment campaigns

The construction industry can increase the age diversity of its workforce by running targeted, integrated recruitment campaigns. By doing this, messaging can be tailored to younger audiences, promoting the benefits of a career in construction and encouraging fresh, new talent into the industry.

That’s where our property and infrastructure team here at Liquid can help. We’re experts in creating recruitment campaigns with specific target audiences in mind, running across PR, social, and digital channels.

From a PR perspective, our team of experts can work with you to tailor your messaging and ensure that this appears where the applicants you’re looking for will be searching for jobs. Whether through the launch of a creative campaign that will capture attention, the placement of thought leadership articles in relevant titles or the organisation of recruitment events, we can ensure that you get the right coverage in the right places.

Social media is also a key tool for recruitment campaigns, especially using LinkedIn as a professional platform. Organically, we can develop social media posts which showcase your company to your target audiences, using visual elements such as graphics and videos to encourage engagement. What’s more, paid tactics can also target graduates, people with specific job titles and those with an ‘open to work’ status, enabling the right applications to your vacancies.

We understand the importance of digital activity in a recruitment campaign and can seamlessly integrate it into your strategy. Your website is your hardest-working marketing asset, so our team can help you develop a dedicated careers page to boast everything your company has to offer and advertise live vacancies. From site mapping and design to content development and Search Engine Optimisation, our team will ensure your careers page evolves with your campaign. We can also incorporate paid elements into your campaign, such as Pay Per Click advertising, to increase your reach and drive visits to your website.

If you work in the construction industry and want to improve the age diversity of your workforce, we’d love to hear from you. We can provide all the support you need and ensure that your communications are designed to attract the applicants you seek.

To find out more, please get in touch with our property and infrastructure team at propertyinfra@weareliquid.com.