The Sector Skills Council for the places where we live and work
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As a way of continually improving and extending the Labour Market Intelligence offer to stakeholders the Asset Skills Research Team have produced a series of Intelligence Papers. These are a series of in-depth intelligence driven reports, that focus on the 'hot topics' facing employers within the Asset Skills footprint
Issue 1 - Migrant Workers
Issue 2 - The Impact of the Economy
Issue 3 - Technology
Issue 4 - Employability and Ex-Offenders
Issue 5 - Sustainability and Low Carbon in the Housing Sector
Issue 6 - Employability and Graduates
Issue 7 - 2012 and the Skills Agenda
Issue 8 - Management and Leadership
Issue 9 - Future forecasting
Issue 10 - International profile of the cleaning industry
Issue 11 - Sustainability in the Facilities Management and Cleaning Sectors
Issue 12 - High Performance Working
Issue 13 - Customer Service and the Housing Sector
Issue 14 - International Profile of the Property Industry
Issue 15 - Employability and the long term unemployed
Issue 16 - Asset Skills and Apprenticeships
Issue 17 - Women in Senior Management
Issue 18 - Client Services in Facilities Management and Cleaning
Issue 19 - Technology in the Parking Industry
Issue 20 - Sustainability and Low Carbon in Property
Upcoming Editions
It is generally accepted that migrant workers now play a significant role in the UK economy across a number of different industries. This paper focuses on migrant workers that have entered the UK at working age and examines the profile of these workers. The paper then goes on to discuss the role migrant workers has had in Asset Skills industries in particular, and examines issues such as what they bring to the workforce and the problems they both solve and create for employers.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper Issue 1 - Migrant Workers
The UK recession officially ended in Quarter 4 of 2009, after 18 months, and was the longest UK economic downturn on record. Despite entering a period of recovery, the industries that make up the Asset Skills footprint, are still feeling the effect of the challenging economic conditions, and significant challenges are expected to remain due to the expected cuts in public finance. The impact the recession has had on each of the industries that comprise the Asset Skills footprint is considered in turn. Particular attention is given to the implications that the economy has on skills needs, training, learning and development within the Asset Skills industries.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper Issue 2 - The Economy
Technology plays a crucial role in the vast majority of industries across the UK and its importance is growing all the time. Technological change has been highlighted as a key driver of change for businesses and this paper examines the role that technology plays within Asset Skills industries. It focuses on issues such as the impact technology has had on working practices, the problems it has solved for employers and staff, and the skills demands that it has created.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper Issue 3 - Technology
The issue of employability is a significant one, with a number of groups of particular interest. This paper looks at the employability of ex-offenders. It focuses on a number of different areas, such as the barriers offenders have to overcome to find work within Asset Skills industries, to the potential benefits they can bring to employers.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper Issue 4 - Employability & Ex-Offenders
The Government is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supplying more energy from renewable and low carbon sources. This paper examines the role the housing sector plays in addressing the sustainability and low carbon agenda. The paper highlights the different legislative requirements placed on the housing sector that will help to create sustainable homes and communities for us now and in the future.
Employability skills amongst graduates are becoming increasingly important. With the number of people attending university rising each year employers are increasingly looking for more from those leaving university. This paper looks at what factors make a graduate employable, particularly within Asset Skills industries, what employers are currently saying about the employability of graduates and how this may change in future.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper Issue 6 - Employability and Graduates
Skills will play an important role in making the 2012 Olympics a success, helping ensure that it is an event that is not only well run and entertaining, but also one which delivers on its promise to improve the lives of local Londoners. This paper examines the specific skills needs of the 2012 Games, within Asset Skills industries in particular, and the steps being taken to ensure that these skills needs are met in a way which leaves a lasting legacy.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper Issue 7 - 2012 and The Skills Agenda
This paper examines why good management and leadership skills are essential to an organisation and how employers are responding to these needs. It also highlights the commitment Asset Skills industries have towards management and leadership training, as well as providing an overview of the qualities employers look for in their managers and leaders to compete successfully in the current economy.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper Issue 8 - Management and Leadership
Future forecasting can play an important role in businesses; helping employers to be proactive and make better, more informed decisions. This paper focuses on the factors that are likely to affect Asset Skills industries up to 2015 and what skills are likely to be required of staff as a result. The paper primarily draws upon research conducted with Asset Skills Board members and employers within Asset Skills industries.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper Issue 9 - Future forecasting
To gain a clearer picture of how the UK cleaning industry is performing, Asset Skills have carried out international research to examine the profile of the cleaning industry in Australia, Singapore, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand, Finland and France. This paper examines a number of key issues, such as the causes of staff turnover, the role of migrant workers, the extent of learning and development provision and the skills demands these issues have created.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper Issue 10 - International Profile of the Cleaning Industry
The drive towards social, environmental and economic sustainability is having an increasing impact across the entire Asset Skills footprint.
This paper focuses on sustainability within the facilities management and cleaning industries. It highlights issues such as what is meant by the term sustainability, what is driving change in this area and the impact it is having on businesses, employees and working practices.
High Performance Working (HPW) is a method of organising work, rewarding performance and involving employees in decision making that promotes the development and utilisation of staff skills to raise levels of organisational performance.
This paper focuses on the implications of HPW for Asset Skills employers and examines a number of key issues, such as the fundamental practices used to implement HPW, the barriers to employer use and how these barriers can be overcome.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper Issue 12 - High Performance Working
Customer service in the social housing sector is shifting towards tenant focused service provision with increasing emphasis being placed on providing services that meet the needs of tenants and reviewing or removing those that do not.
This paper examines the value of customer service in the social housing sector across the UK and discusses a number of key issues, such as the importance of understanding the customer, how a customer service culture is formed in the social housing sector and the skills needed for this approach.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper Issue 13 - Customer Service and the Housing Sector
To gain a clearer picture of how the UK property industry is performing, this paper will consider the state of the industry across a number of different regions including Asia, Europe and the Middle East. This paper examines a number of key issues such as the impact of the global financial crisis, variation in skills demand and how these factors influence property salaries and bonuses.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper 14 - International Profile of the Property Industry
With the number of people classed as long term unemployed reaching record levels, employability skills are becoming increasingly important in the search for work. This paper looks at a range of factors around employability and the long term unemployed, such as the skills they require to re-enter the workplace, the barriers they face when trying to do so, and the potential opportunities open to them to re-enter work within Asset Skills industries in particular.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper 15 - Employability and the long term unemployed
This paper examines the value of apprenticeships for employers and staff across the Asset Skills footprint and discusses a number of key issues, such as; what is involved in an apprenticeship, which apprenticeships are developed by Asset Skills, the benefits for apprentices and employers, the barriers to apprenticeships for employers and how Asset Skills can help employers overcome these barriers.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper 16 - Asset Skills and Apprenticeships
The occupational distribution of the Asset Skills workforce indicates that 17% of women are employed as managers and senior officials, compared to 27% of men. This paper focuses on the barriers to senior management facing women within the Asset Skills industries and examines a number of key issues, such as pathways into the industry, part-time employment, flexible working and the skills women employed in the Asset Skills industries need to overcome these barriers.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper 17 - Women in Senior Management
This paper focuses on the shifting trends in the provision of services for clients within the facilities management and cleaning industries by examining a number of key issues, such as; rising client demand for reduced costs, its impact on service provision and the skills implications of this approach.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper 18 - Client Services in Facilities Management and Cleaning
This paper examines the role technology plays in the UK parking industry and examines a number of key issues, such as; the current and future trends in parking technology, how these trends compare with parking industries in other parts of the world and the skills implications for the UK parking workforce.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper 19 - Technology in the Parking Industry
This paper focuses on sustainability within the property industry and discusses a number of key issues, such as who would be attracted by the concept of sustainable property, how are they motivated and what the skills implications are for property professionals in the UK.
Click to view/download Intelligence Paper 20 - Sustainability and Low Carbon in Property
It is intended that there will be at least one new paper released each month. Upcoming topics include:
If there are any topics that you would be interested in or if you require further information please contact the Research Team.
Documents on this page are available in portable document format (PDF) for downloading. The Adobe Acrobat Reader can be freely downloaded from http://get.adobe.com/
