Smooth Operators?
Unfortunately, for most in the aggregates related industries the answer to the question in the title is usually no. Finding and retaining skilled plant operatives is a full time job for many companies, both small and large. MQR went out to find some of the opinions of firms in the quarrying and recycling sectors as to how they secure and retain plant operatives and to develop an insight into what they see as the way forward.
If someone asked you the question: “Do you have a problem securing and retaining competent, skilled and reliable plant operators?” would you groan and hold your head in your hands? If the answer is yes then don’t worry as you appear to be in the majority.
MQR has been asking aggregates companies about the difficulties they have securing quality plant operators in the UK and one thing most firms agreed on was that it is a big challenge, whatever the size of company.
Jeremy Elvins is national minerals manager for Lafarge Cement. Along with Barry Robinson MBE, plant instructor for Lafarge, and former Lafarge quarry manager Dave Beetham, Elvins is developing a “structured, tailored training and development programme” based on NVQs for operators set to industry best practice (see box right).
Finding operators is bad enough, he says, but finding the ones with capacity for growth in an NVQ system is even more difficult: “It is time consuming, particularly identifying the right candidates with potential to develop and willingness to learn,” Elvins told MQR.
Time spent securing competent plant operators also hits those with fewer resources who feed into the quarrying industry. Contractors, for example, complain of the time spent on tracking down people to keep plant running.
“We work with a lot of quarries across the UK,” one contractor told MQR, “and need a constant stream of qualified and competent operators. Often we can’t get them as they do not have the right qualifications. So we have had to dedicate an entire function of our operation to just getting hold of the right people.”
The larger operators are increasingly using contractors, creating a just-in-time pressure down the line for these smaller firms. It is a pressure that will only grow as the major quarry companies demand increasingly competent operators in a bid to reduce H&S incidents.
However, Elvin says the contractors are being slow to catch up, especially in terms of NVQs: “Is it a problem finding contractors with required NVQs? Often contractors have never heard of NVQs,” Elvin told MQR.
However, this focus on training in the larger firms is having a positive trickle-down effect on the rest of the industry, say the smaller players.
Surrey-based J&J Franks MD Peter Crate explains: “Operators often feel like a small cog in a big machine when working for large firms and look to smaller firms such as ourselves for more freedom.
“I know the names of all the operators and even know their families. Many operators like this. We also pay well. It works well for us because we receive ready trained operators who work to demanding standards,” he told MQR.
Crate also pools operators from farming communities: “With some it is a family business. We hire the fathers and the sons,” he says. He is also a keen advocate of talent poaching as are other smaller operators.
Paul Hillier is SHE manager at Oxfordshire-based Smiths Bletchington. He says he isn’t a poacher. He is also one of the few who says he doesn’t find securing operators a problem, a situation that he feels may be down to location.
However, with Hanson nearby he admits benefiting a little from the major company trickle-down effect and like Crate also turns to farmers as a good source of operators. But he has another ace up his sleeve. He finds the construction industry is the best source of local plant operatives.
“There is usually a good supply and they tend to have CITB cards and so have a good understanding of plant. We put them under a more experienced operator’s wing for a couple of months and then call in an Epic assessor,” Hillier told MQR.
He says he is not planning to go down the NVQ route with staff as the larger players are doing: “The Epic assessment provides a good enough indication of skill for our needs,” he says.
Day Aggregates operations director Nick Sadler also feels that Epic is a good route to show competency. He feels the Epic assessment is more “strenuous” than CITB. But training most staff in-house rather than seeking trained operators on the jobs market, he is looking to take matters a step further by ensuring his workers are trained to NVQ level through Epic.
“I believe it is worth it. It offers staff an industry-wide badge of competence and shows our willingness to invest in them,” he told MQR. Ironically, in light of the major company trickle-down effect, he fears that if he does train them up to NVQ level, then his operators may be snapped up by the larger companies!
However, despite the cost – in both time and money – and the inherent risks, all those getting involved in the NVQ system see it as an investment that will increasingly show rewards through improvements such as lower H&S incident rates, easier attraction of recruits and lower staff turnover costs.
To gain an NVQ through Epic you first need to gain your Epic card to show you have basic competency. The card lasts five years before it needs replacing. Once you have the card it takes about six months to gain post-card experience before entering into three to six months’ on-going assessment for an NVQ. explains Epic’s Dave Hudson.
To aid firms with a contracting arm, Epic is also currently in negotiations to offer the Construction Skills’ Construction Plant Competence Scheme (CPCS) – the construction industry card – which is another route to an NVQ for plant operatives.
However, aggregates firms with contracting arms contacted by MQR were less than complementary about the CPCS in its current format. They said they invested in it because they had to not because they wanted to. The general consensus was that it lacked rigour and was a costly exercise that did little to promote training.
The views of this company director are representative of other firms MQR contacted for the article: “The CPCS is a money-making medium. Full stop.
“Here’s an example. If I want my excavator driver to be assessed as competent to operate a crusher and a screen then the CPCS will charge me for a new card, for admin charges and other things. Why? Epic will put it all on the same card at no extra charge,” he said.
Whatever the route taken to NVQs, both large and small firms fear losing trained staff, and not just to other aggregates companies. There is another equally as immediate concern when it comes to investment in the workforce. And that is the fact that it is ageing.
As Elvin says, the quarrying industry’s work on proving operator competency through NVQs often means investing money in the development of already experienced operators “...with the risk of losing them either to retirement...or into better paid jobs in a factory.”
And the lure of a job in a factory is not just about pay. As with retirement it is also a matter of age. Aggregates can be a harsh environment in which to operate and older workers can opt for the less strenuous environs of a factory.
Lafarge implemented a 37hour week structure that Elvins says is “...more civilised for older staff who would suffer health issues in sustaining long hours as often found in a contracting environment”. But it is not just in retention where age needs to be factored in.
Many firms told MQR that when they do advertise positions the average age of respondents is 40years – even though age legislation dictates no stipulation of age on adverts. Young people are showing little interest in taking over the role of plant operative, they say, raising question marks over the industry’s future.
J&J Franks’ Crate: “It is a dreadful situation. In 20years I wonder what will be happening. We can’t get young blood. It is not pushed enough at school level and young people don’t see it as glamorous enough.”
Most firms said they felt that more work needed to be done at school level to promote plant operation as a potential career. Although initiatives by trade associations in schools were the right way forward not enough was being done in general, they said.
Not having a stream of younger people coming through also worried some firms in terms of health and safety: “Plant is ever changing and it is a matter of whether you can teach old dogs new tricks. I know it sounds controversial but we need to ask these types of questions. It worries me,” one quarry owner told MQR.
Others, however, dismissed this claim: “I would say the average age of our workers is over 50 and they have no trouble picking up new tricks,” says Hillier.
He continues: “We even have people over 65 who opt to stay on and we encourage this as they have a wealth of experience.”
Many say the aggregates industry is simply reaping what it has sown. In short it has had its head in the sand for too many years.
Elvin: “Reluctance from quarrying companies to develop new operators due to cost and perception that you can easily replace staff [is to blame].
“Recruitment is dependant upon retirement in our organisation, and we have an an ageing workforce. The industry should be criticised for poor succession planning of mobile plant operators,” he said.
However, not everyone appears to have problem securing younger workers. Geography can play a key role.
Day Aggregates’ Sadler says that at many of the company’s London sites most of the plant operators and drivers are under 40, a situation he puts down to demographics and the employment opportunities offered by the company.
However, even in London geography plays its role. Although only a short distance as the crow flies from its other sites, at Days’ east London depot it is a different situation.
“We have a depot out by the Dome and we have a loyal core of three staff who stay but we have always had trouble attracting and retaining other people there,” Sadler told MQR.
Opinion was divided on the use of migrants in the industry to help even out the demographic. Some saw the sourcing of people locally, however difficult, better in the long run in terms of industry image with some saying they felt it helped with difficult planning issues.
Others, such as Vaughan McLeod, executive chairman of Ennstone, said a good stream of migrants from Eastern Europe ensured recruitment difficulties were kept to a minimum. Firms also praised the work ethic shown by accession country workers. However, notes of caution were sounded.
“Around 10-15% of our plant operators are now from Eastern European countries. We have trained a number of them up so they have Epic cards and they are excellent,” one director told MQR. “But they are not a long term solution. They want to work hard, earn money and then move on. The industry cannot rely on migrant workers,” he said.
But the aggregates industry cannot rely an any one simple way to ensure there are operators in future. It is a matter of a range of initiatives.
Many quarry firms pointed to the QPA/BAA drive to target ex-Forces personnel as a good example of the outside-the-box thinking needed. Others pointed out that shortages can be a little like fashions: “We used to have driver problems and now we don’t. Mind you, we didn’t used to excavator driver problems and now we do,” one firm told MQR.
No two companies are alike and all firms have different needs. In certain parts of the country the supply of migrant workers is slow in others it is the opposite. In some firms the lure of an NVQ will be needed to attract and then retain operators, in others flexible hours may be necessary. This is dictated by the jobs market.
But across all firms a succession policy tailored to your organisation is a necessity. Complacency should not be an option.
The Derby University DAPS Diploma in Quarry Management hosts a number of older plant operatives keen to move into quarry management positions as the current batch of managers reach retirement. Doubtless many others will look to follow them.
Already it is difficult to find competent site managers. With no succession policy in place it is a moot point to ask if the former plant operators are trained up to replace them, who will be driving your company’s machinery?
