What employers can do about the green skills gap

Policy matters, and I have spent years arguing for better skills policy. But funding and reform take time to arrive, and the work is happening now. As I said to Management Today in 2023, it is up to business to address the skills crisis together.

Here are five things employers delivering the energy transition can do now.

1. Look beyond the usual pool

Green roles suit far more people than the sector usually reaches: existing tradespeople, young people, and people from groups that rarely hear about these jobs. In Construction News, I argued for moving away from hiring just in time towards recruiting more widely and more deliberately.

2. Upskill the people you already have

Your experienced staff are your most valuable green workforce. Standards change, and people who were competent last year may not be this year. Investing in them keeps their skills current, and keeps them with you.

3. Make learning practical, and fit it around the job

On a Bloomberg-moderated panel, I argued that the UK needs reskilling that is practical, accessible and able to scale. For a site-based team, that means short learning that fits between jobs and reflects the work they actually do, not days away on a course.

4. Treat communication as a core skill

Many retrofit projects succeed or stall on a conversation: a survey visit, an explanation of the works, a call about a delay. Our report, The Retrofit Conversation Gap, sets out the communication skills resident-facing teams need, and how organisations can build them.

5. Know your team is ready, and be able to prove it

A training record shows that someone completed a course, not that they can do the job. Councils delivering the Warm Homes: Local Grant told us that success depends on more than compliance: on team capability, delivery partnerships and resident trust. You can read their lessons from the frontline.

The organisations that win work and deliver it right first time are the ones that can see where their teams’ skills stand, close the gaps and show the evidence to clients, funders and auditors.

That is what Greenworkx is built for. See how the platform works, or contact us to talk about your team.