Impact of the increased demand for Health & Safety professionals
Health and safety professionals are in demand like never before, putting an increased amount of pressure on already rising salary levels. This is due to a number of industry specific factors.
Over the past 12 months, the economy has been recovering with high growth, record numbers of vacancies and low unemployment. This has contributed to a high demand for individuals within the health and safety sector.
The importance of health and safety within organisations can never be overstated, but the coronavirus pandemic drove health and safety to the top of the agenda and they became even more essential to business operation. This led to many companies retaining and indeed recruiting health and safety teams throughout the pandemic when many other functions were let go or furloughed.
Adding to demand, the construction mega projects currently in development such as HS2, Tideway and Hinkley Point are recruiting huge numbers of health and safety professionals throughout the supply chain, putting more pressure on the candidate pool.
As a result of this, it has been increasingly difficult for clients to recruit, and therefore there have been major salary increases within the sector as companies battle for talent. Health and Safety Advisor salaries in London are currently soaring from £45,000 to circa £55,000.
Offering a competitive salary in such a demanding market is essential for a successful recruitment campaign. The market has changed very quickly, we always recommend reaching out to a specialist recruiter in the space to ensure salary levels are set correctly for the role you are recruiting. This will save a lot of time in the process.
However, alongside salary, our top tips for successful recruiting in the Health and Safety sector include:
1. Having a very clear, streamlined timetable for recruitment processes in place, which everybody can work towards.
2. Moving quickly when a suitable candidate is identified.
3. Be very clear about essential candidate skills and capabilities and those which could be grown and developed internally once a candidate starts.
Irwin and Colton are a specialist health, safety, environment and sustainability Recruitment Consultancy working across the UK and globally.