by Rebecca Walker — July 9, 2010—Companies are spending more time training facilities managers than they did last year, but challenges remain, especially in getting staff to understand new technologies and environmental legislation.
Importantly, skills levels of new recruits have improved over the past six months, according to 38 percent of respondents to the latest Barometer survey by Asset Skills, a training and skills organization for facilities managers.
Even so, finding the right staff with the right skills and then retaining those people is a challenge, says Asset Skills.
Overall, there has been a rise in the level of optimism and staff morale in facilities management companies compared to six months ago, despite falls in the levels of productivity and profitability.
Over the past six months 72 percent of companies invested in technical training and in 64 percent of cases this training led to a qualification.
Almost a third of respondents said they were spending more time on training than they were this time last year. Only 4 percent said they were spending less.
Motivating employees, attracting skilled staff into the sector and retaining experienced members of the workforce were highlighted as some of the challenges that companies were currently facing.
While the economy was not cited as a challenge by employers as frequently as it was six months ago, it remained a concern. Nearly 80 percent of respondents said they planned to expand over the next three years. But a number of employers noted that the economy could restrict their ability to do this.
A fifth of respondents felt that the skills levels of recruits had increased over the past six months, with 61 percent reporting that new employees are either fully equipped or have most of the skills that they require for the job.
However, 17 percent of employers felt that new staff had none, or few, of the skills they needed.
For more information, see the Asset Skills Web site.
