Understanding and dealing with recruitment challenges in the Grounds Maintenance Industry

Recruitment challenges are quite common in the Grounds Maintenance industry, particularly in the UK and similar markets. Problems encountered by employers in the Grounds Maintenance industry typically include:

1.       Labour shortages

Many roles are seasonal, leading to difficulties retaining staff year-round. There is also a national shortage of skilled horticultural workers, worsened after Brexit and reduced access to EU labour. Younger generations are often less attracted to physically demanding outdoor work.

2.       Low pay vs. high expectations

Wages are typically close to minimum wage, yet the work can be physically hard and weather dependent. Skilled grounds staff (machinery operators, landscapers, arborists) expect higher pay, which smaller contractors struggle to afford.

3.       Seasonal & weather dependent nature

Demand fluctuates with the seasons – busy summers but quieter winters. Many workers prefer stable, year-round employment.

4.       Perception of the industry

Grounds maintenance can be seen as "low-skilled" despite requiring knowledge of machinery, health & safety, and horticulture. This poor image deters new entrants, especially school leavers or career changers.

5.       Skills gaps

There is a lack of formal training or apprenticeships in many regions, but an increasing need for staff with knowledge of eco-friendly maintenance, pesticide alternatives, and modern machinery.

6.       High staff turnover

Temporary/seasonal contracts make it hard to build a long-term workforce. Many employees move to construction or warehouse roles where pay is higher and hours are more stable.

What this means for us

At Forward, we have a major emphasis on providing employment opportunities to those who may find it difficult to get employment otherwise, with a big focus on the wellbeing and job satisfaction of our staff.

Here are some solutions which we have implemented at Blue Sky Services in order to deal with these challenges:

Increase pay & benefits

At Forward, all our staff are paid the Real Living Wage rather than the industry standard minimum wage. We also offer an excellent Contributory Pension Scheme where we match employee contributions of up to 6% in the first two years’ service and up to 9% thereafter.

Apprenticeships & trainee schemes

We have found that offering apprenticeships and trainee schemes is an excellent incentive to attract and employ young adults into the industry. We have partnered with Capel Manor College to offer horticulture training and apprenticeships and have already had staff successfully complete their 2-year apprenticeships.

Promote career progression

This is something which is core to our ethos at Blue Sky Services. We ensure that all employees are aware of our promotion and career progression pathways. In fact, our current Team Leader and two Senior Supervisors all started working for Blue Sky as Grounds Maintenance Operatives and have progressed throughout their time with us into their current roles.

Highlight environmental impact

We value the importance of environmental sustainability at Blue Sky Services. We always recycle waste, such as green and concrete, at local facilities and have begun our transition from fuel powered machines to battery-powered/electric versions. Through investment, initiatives and time, we will achieve our target of being Net Zero by 2025.

We believe that these efforts will help to attract environmentally conscious recruits to work within the industry.

Encourage underrepresented groups:

We strongly believe there are a host of benefits of having a diverse workforce at Blue Sky Services and actively provide opportunities to everyone. We want to ensure we have a diverse team with a range of lived and professional experiences, which includes those with ‘Lived Experience’ of addiction, offending, or homelessness. Therefore, when we recruit, we welcome applications from everyone. This is inclusive of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion and/or belief, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity and socio-economic background.

These are all practices and initiatives which we have implemented at Blue Sky Services over the last decade or so.

We are now seeing that a number of new work opportunities ( Housing and Local Authority Tenders and Tier 2 Contractual arrangements) now include a social value score and our recruitment practices including offering apprenticeships and volunteering opportunities go some way to help us provide an excellent social value offer.  Blue Sky Services stands out by supporting our workforce beyond industry standards, leading to a happier workforce and better quality work for commissioners.

Of course, we often still struggle to recruit in to our workforce but have found that such practices have really helped to identify and recruit more people into the Grounds Maintenance Industry. It’s worth adding however that we believe in constantly improving our policies and practices and will continue to explore any other measures to help welcome new people in to the world of Grounds Maintenance.

Learn more about Blue Sky Services

If you are interested in finding out more about Blue Sky Services, both in terms of working for us and commissioning work, please contact me on dominic.rodgers@forwardtrust.org.uk.