Leo Quinn, Balfour Beatty Group Chief Executive and founder of The 5% Club, has called for the construction industry to play its part in addressing the skills crisis post-Brexit.
Founded three years ago, The 5% Club seeks to have its member companies pledge to achieving at least 5% of their employee base consist of apprentices, sponsored students or graduate trainees within 5 years of joining, demonstrating their commitment to training the workforce and addressing the skills shortage. Members include KPMG, Ministry of Defence, Parkwood Leisure and Barrhead Travel.
Writing in his capacity as the Lead of the Construction Leadership Council’s Skills workstream, Leo Quinn commented, “A statistic recently captured my attention: a quarter of all construction workers in London are from the EU. Post-Brexit, this has significant implications for the construction industry, a sector which has heavily relied on EU workers to fill vacancies where we have been unable to recruit UK talent.
“We must be advocates: we must do more to attract more people into the sector – and what an amazing sector to be part of. We must show that construction is an immensely fulfilling field, where you have the satisfaction of seeing your work realised and endured for many years”.
To continue reading the full story, click here.
