For engineers considering moving over to the green side, a recent ICM survey may provide the push they need. More than half of the 500 companies questioned in the survey predicted that their need for green-collar skills and services will increase in the future, and nearly a third believed that their workforces would have to increase by between 6 and 10% to accommodate the new employees.
One in five of the companies questioned already employed someone with environmental responsibilities, and, of the companies that didn’t, a third predicted they would employ someone for that purpose within the next year. The respondents also confirmed that the number-one driver for acquiring green skills and services was the need to meet legislative targets and criteria, followed by internal environmental policy targets, and finally customer pressure to be more green.
Henry Rowe, a board member of environmental and engineering consultancy Royal Haskoning, says the survey shows that there is a need for more engineers with environmental skills. “As pressure mounts for businesses to implement green strategies, the worry remains whether our domestic skills market can service these demands,” says Rowe.
“We need to foster home-grown talent, to ensure Britain benefits from the green-collar boom.” |
