Encouraging winners

Sir Digby Jones
Equip our people — Sir Digby Jones
That champion of British industry, SIR DIGBY JONES, believes the building-services industry is in a unique position to stimulate and encourage the development of individuals.The building-services industry is at a crucial moment in its development, and the contribution it makes to the county’s economy is at a crucial stage. Basic skills We don’t have enough skilled people in Britain. At the same time, whilst our higher education is some of the best in the world, we really do have a problem with a lack of basic skills generally in the economy and coming out of school. Last year, over half those who took a GCSE did not get grade C or above in English or maths — and that is just those who took these subjects. We have three and a half million adults in the workforce of Britain today, pulling down a wage this very day, who can’t read. Three and a half million adults are being paid and they don’t even have the literacy and the numeracy of an 11-year old. What is that doing to the productivity of employers in the building-services industry? As the economy moves into the value-added skilled end of the market, what is going to happen to these people? They actually are terrified. They are not stupid. They have learned to hide their inadequacy. They hide it from you and me, and then one day we provide no work for them because our businesses have moved on. They will never work again, and they go home and their children are brought up in a home where there is no written word. Imagine that. That is when the man on the corner of the street selling white powder seems to have the answer. To fuel that habit, they mug people and steal cars. So we have to skill our people — not only because it helps the productivity and efficiency of our business, not only because it helps the skills of our people, but because socially and morally it is the right thing to do. That is where Sector Skills Councils come into their own, working with the employers to help training and skills. Forefront The building-services sector is absolutely at the forefront of skilling young people into the world of work and helping those already in work go to the next level. This award ceremony [Sir Digby Jones was speaking at the recent National Training Awards for the heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and refrigeration industry] is all about saying: ‘Well done you. It’s brilliant that you’ve put yourself up for judgement and you have come through and won.’ I congratulate everybody who is going to receive an award today. I also congratulate all the people who took part and did not win. To have winners, you have to have other participants, so the other participants are just as important because they provide the environment in which we can deliver winners. But what we all have to do is make sure that everyone in our society is a winner. That could be achieved if everyone just lifted their skills just one level. Someone who cannot read should learn to read someone at level two should go to level three, and someone at level three should progress to level four. Improve skills If all we did in our society was improve our skills one level in the next 12 months, the poorest person in Britain would get richer. Isn’t that what politicians in tell us they want to do, when actually, if we equip people with better skills, more deeply, and wider, the country will deliver it. We have a stable economic environment. We are moving to a value-added, quality, innovative end of both goods and service provision. We need to equip our people to make the most of that, especially in the building-services sector, where you have so many apprenticeships. We can also ensure that people do not ever see an end to training and skilling, but rather see it as a constant dynamic for the rest of their working lives. What is wrong with having a working society where people can think, ‘I’m not going to stop at just learning reading and writing I’m going to go on to level two or level three.’? Promise The building-services industry can promise the top of the mountain, so a determined individual can end up in a few years’ time as a Chartered Engineer, running their own business, creating wealth for themselves and for the country. The nature of the jobs in the building-services industry means that can be delivered. The one thing we have to do to is give people encouragement and hope, ensure they understand that they ought to be skilling and learning and training because there is a better and more sustainable job at the end. If we get this right, our children and their children will say, ‘Didn’t those people at the beginning of the 21st century make the most of that opportunity.’ If we get it wrong, our children will never forgive us. Sir Digby Jones is director-general of the Confederation of British Industry.
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