Leading horticulture recruitment specialist AndersPlus provide comment on the positive impact of foreign labour on the industry, and what considerations employers need to take into account when trying to recruit the best staff in a difficult market.
Skills Shortage
Down the ages, Britain’s culture and economy has benefited from a tradition of travelling the world and visiting distant lands to seek new ideas, cultures, methods and techniques, then bringing them back and making them our own. The days of empire building and great expeditions may be long gone, but our willingness to learn from other nationalities is now having a profound effect on our horticultural and agricultural industries. What began as a need to close the skills gaps by looking further afield for a skilled and available workforce has become an exchange of knowledge and techniques that will help the industry answer the challenges of increased demand and climate change.
The horticultural industry, similar to numerous other British industries such as education and healthcare, is experiencing the positive impact foreign labour is having on a sector starved of skills and manpower.
There are numerous areas of the industry where migrant workers are providing essential labour, both qualified and unqualified, including hard and soft landscaping, labourers, gardening, horticulture, agriculture and forestry.
But not only are they supplying an urgent service, they are helping to enrich the industry by introducing a diverse range of skills and horticultural traditions.
As a result, looking outside the UK for workers should not simply be about plugging a gap in the workforce, it should also be about employers considering that different nationalities have to offer in terms of skills and horticultural traditions, as well as the more mundane issues of work permits and legal requirements.Who, where, what…
At AndersPlus we have used statistical evidence based on our database of more than 7,000 workers to identify which nationalities make up what proportion of the workforce and the type of roles each national group tends to take.
Nearly half of all non-UK nationals working in the industry are Antipodeans, with Eastern Europeans, predominantly Polish and Slovakian, making up almost a third of the labour force. The remainder of the world constitutes the rest of the workforce.
When evaluating potential candidates for a particular role it is extremely beneficial to remember that some nationalities are particularly suited to specific areas of the industry thanks to their skill set and cultural heritage.
Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans are generally all qualified and appropriate for relevant roles including landscape architects, and hard landscaping with trade skills such as paving, decking and carpentry. New Zealanders specifically tend to fill roles in horticultural plants and nurseries as qualified maintenance gardeners and soft landscapers. South Africans are usually qualified in both landscaping and horticulture and fill a large proportion of management and supervisory roles.
Western Europeans, mainly Spanish, French and Italian, are often very good gardeners and North Americans also tend to occupy this kind of role. The Spanish specifically also tend to specialise in forestry, and he French in soft landscaping.
Amongst the Eastern Europeans, the Polish have a good reputation for hard landscaping such as carpentry and paving, as well as for forestry, while the Czechs fill roles predominantly in nursery, gardening and forestry. Hungarians, meanwhile, are usually general gardeners or labourers, and the majority of Lithuanians and Slovakians take roles in agriculture and labouring.
Legal considerations
Now that you know who is most likely to be appropriate for the role, it is time to give consideration to the legal considerations of employing a worker from overseas. The prospect of employing workers from abroad can be daunting, and the complications involved can sometimes act as barriers, preventing companies from experiencing the benefits of using foreign labour.
English competency
A good level of English competency may seem like an obvious requirement, but with increasing health & safety legislation, a minimum level of understanding is of paramount importance. Inductions, presumably already part of the employment process, will need to consider foreign employees and their level of understanding, particularly when laws in their own country may differ, along with any culturally influenced work practices.
Work permits
Give consideration to the type of Visa or work permit requirements, such as how long, where and what type of work can be undertaken. For example, Bulgarians and Romanians can only work in UK on a self-employed basis.
Qualifications
As qualification standards and education systems differ across the globe it is essential to check relevant qualifications - where they were obtained, the criteria required to meet the standards and their comparability to UK standards and qualifications.
Commitment
Depending on your requirements it important to ascertain how long a potential candidate plans on staying in the UK and their level of commitment.
References
The best candidates will have readily obtainable references that have already been translated into English so ensure you request these.
The process of checking a candidate’s background can be complicated and this is an area where you can really reap the rewards of using an agency. A good agency will carry out all the necessary checks into work permits, qualifications and references before introducing a candidate and therefore it is only a matter of matching the right person with the job.
A day in the life…
Gavin Jones, a significant commercial landscaping and grounds maintenance company, has been employing a number of workers from overseas for more than 10 years, and have found this resource to be a valuable complement to their local labour force.
By using the combination of direct recruitment and agency assistance, the company now has a dynamic and motivated workforce, having addressed local skills gaps and labour shortages with workers from overseas particularly in the London Area. Throughout a seven-year relationship with the agency, Gavin Jones has consistently used AndersPlus when the company has large projects to be completed at short-notice and require a significant “instant” skilled labour force.
The company has found the use of labour from abroad to be a very positive experience and have generally found staff from overseas, often antipodeans in the London area, to be motivated and able workers. The seasonal nature of horticultural work tends to appeal to those who are working to fund their travels and Gavin Jones migrant workers often fill roles such as operatives (eg gardener) for anywhere between 2 months and 1 year; however there are examples of those who are able to commit for longer filling roles such as Foreman, Supervisor and a even a Contract Manager.
“Although we undertake our own assessment when recruiting,” comments Gavin Day from Gavin Jones, “It’s when we require labour at short notice that we really appreciate the benefits of using an agency. Working with the agency alleviates our liabilities in terms of checking visas, references and other details, reducing the complexities of using labour from overseas and helping us to fill any staff shortages within a very short period of time.”
Read more about gardening landscaping jobs, horticulture recruitment agency and heirloom organic seeds.
November 20th, 2008 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment
