Did you know that CITB-ConstructionSkills’ Foresight report estimates that the UK needs to train 12,000 joiners and carpenters a year to meet anticipated demand over the next decade? We are nowhere near approaching that number – the joinery sector has enough problems finding and keeping skilled workers now. Just look back at the BWF/Michael Rigby Associates Market Trends Surveys, which repeatedly report the lack of skilled labour as one of the major problems facing manufacturers.
One reason for the shortfall is that root of all evil, money. It doesn’t help that site joiners are generally paid more than bench joiners, so many apprentices leave the workshop as soon as they’re qualified. We need a radical approach and attitude to training to recognise how the industry has changed and provide what it needs for the future.
We need to increase the number of recruits – school leavers and career-changers – coming into the industry, and to retain them once they’re in. That means providing interesting, well-paid work. The changing nature of the bench joiner’s job, with computing skills (CNC machines and CAD design) becoming as important as traditional craft skills, will help shift perceptions.
We need to change the means of delivering training. Fewer colleges offer bench joinery or wood machining courses, so we need to harness the potential of our own resources through OSAT (On-Site Training and Assessment).
We also need to develop a clearer concept of a career path in the joinery sector and a way to equip people for it. This means training for factory supervisor, production management, estimating and surveying.
Finally, we must provide a means of training joiners to run small businesses. Some 80% of joinery companies turn over less than £1m and most are run by craftsmen who find themselves running businesses without specific training for it.
Training is about more than the tools.
We need to equip people to develop themselves and their careers as much as to do the job in hand.
