The Highways Sector Council is calling on professionals from across the highways sector to spend a few minutes filling in a survey designed to make highways a career of choice.

It was launched by the Highways Sector Council Future Leaders Group earlier in the month, aiming to ensure the highways sector attracts skilled candidates from all backgrounds and retains its existing talent.

The HSC says the aim of the survey is to generate a credible and independent baseline of data and evidence to:

• Explore the reasons why individuals enjoy working for the highways sector in a consolidated and coordinated way
• Explore any barriers and how they could be addressed to fix any promotion, attraction and retention challenges at all job levels
• Identify where training is needed for digital and decarbonisation skills (e.g., by geography or another demographic).
• Better understand the needs of our current early career professionals, emerging leaders and future leaders, and how we can capitalise on this to help them further.
• Use the findings to develop a campaign that promotes highways as a career of choice

The HSC says this survey, which will build on existing data and information, forms a key part of its research to develop the overall campaign to make highways a career of choice. We are seeking views from those in the highways sector, at every level, about what they believe makes it great and some of the opportunities and barriers it faces. The survey’s findings will provide the foundation elements that will take the sector forward, shaping it to attract a diverse range of people and, more importantly, position it as an attractive career option full of potential, opportunity and reward.

The survey is open to all individuals working within the highways sector, including both operational and non-operational employees, from CEOs through to apprentices and job roles ranging from ecologists to site managers, administrators and project directors.

Baroness Vere, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport, said, “I am pleased to be supporting this first of its kind survey to help understand how we can make the highways sector a career of choice for young people across the country. Our people within highways carry out an essential job in keeping our strategic and local road networks running, and it is critical that we can attract new, emerging talent, while retaining the invaluable skills and experience of our existing workforce.”

Anna Delvecchio, Chair of the Future Leaders Group, and a founding member of the HSC added, “The Highways Sector Council promotes cross industry collaboration to transform highways and at the centre of this are our people. We need to attract a new diverse workforce and retain the fantastic people we already have across the sector.

“This survey will help us understand what attracts people to the sector and identify any barriers that we can work together to break down. I look forward to seeing the results and further promoting the sector for the rewarding career that it is.”

Dipesh J Shah OBE, National Highways Chair commented, “I welcome this new survey. For our industry to meet the current and future challenges we face, we need to attract and retain the right people with the right skills. The survey will help us to understand what we need to do to make the highways sector a career of choice for young people and one where our people with a wealth of experience can thrive.”

The survey, which can be accessed here takes only five minutes to complete and all responses are completely anonymous, so please be completely open in your responses.

(Picture – Amey)