Growing a Green Workforce to Meet Your ESG Targets
The green workforce is growing, but not quickly enough. Sustainability-related jobs have trebled in the last year and are increasing at four times the rate of the UK jobs market.
But there’s a significant skills gap in trades essential to the country's transition to net zero, and not enough focus on ramping up STEM education.
One-in-five green jobs are in London and the majority are professional or scientific. But out in the wider economy, up to 66,000 new tradespeople will be needed each year just to meet the target of retrofitting the 29 million homes in the UK which have low energy performance ratings.
Finding the right staff to fill these roles, and the upward pressures they'll place on a business' finances, will create huge pressures on businesses as the economy plots a path towards net zero.
The new landscape
- Employees have re-evaluated what they want from work. The ‘great resignation’ has been followed by ‘quiet quitting,’ prompting a campaign to entice over-50s back into the workforce.
- There’s a drive among employers to find out how improving working hours and conditions affect productivity. Three-quarters of UK recruiters say a four-day week will be the norm by 2030, according to research.
- The shortage of skilled labour is pushing pay growth above the inflation rate in hotter sectors, including retail, hospitality, finance and business.
- April will see a big hike in the National Minimum Wage, which will top £10 an hour for all workers over 21. The government wants it to reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024 while trade unions are targeting £15 by 2030.
- Many businesses won’t be able to pass on cost increases to consumers or customers. The pressures are already acute in sectors such as hospitality, manufacturing, care and education.
- It's a very competitive market when it comes to attracting the right talent. You need to scrutinise your brand, working culture, benefits packages and community profile, and be alive to what rivals are offering.
Business response
- Be open to flexibility and hybrid working. These now top the wish-list of non-monetary benefits.
- Offer retention bonuses to persuade good staff to stay.
- Build in performance-related bonuses to keep them on board.
- Consider loans, free lunches, benefits.
- Try sign-up bonuses in shortage areas.
- Extend benefits to all staff.
- Provide advice on financial wellbeing.
- Set the tone from the top by addressing diversity and inclusion within your board.
“For many sectors across the economy, the skills shortage is perhaps the biggest challenge in 2023. It highlights the need for employers to respond to the market pressures with proactive and far-sighted policies on pay, benefits and training.”
Joanne Moseley – Senior Practice Development Lawyer
Business benefits
- Invest in workforce training and sponsorship, using in-house programmes to build sustainability skills.
- Increase apprentice numbers. Currently, environmental and climate issues are not embedded across apprenticeships.
- Embed a green culture through incentives and role modelling, sending clear signals on how the organisation intends to operate and which behaviours it values.
- Strive to become an employer of choice, based on ethical and green credentials, and a reputation for paying fairly, being flexible, and treating staff well.
- Future proof your business by building employee and customer satisfaction and retention.