Labor shortage: why construction companies are still struggling to recruit in Occitania

In great tension to recruit since the health crisis, the construction sector still fails to rebuild an image capable of arousing vocations among young people. It is not for lack of having swallowed the facade of the profession to bring it more into conformity with its modernization in progress.

“Today, our professions have evolved enormously and we are recruiting at high levels of technicality, including engineers, which was not the case fifteen years ago”, emphasizes Philippe Zanni, president of the employment-training commission of the Hérault building federation, who must however note the same impotence for two years : “A demotivation of all of our staff and a crisis of vocations since the Covid”.

Despite rising wages

With several of his fellow business leaders, he was invited a few days ago to the Leonard de Vinci vocational high school in Montpellier for a round table on the reform of professional high schools and the attractiveness of professions (files to read in Midi Free in the next few days).

Multiplying the assets to attract young people has become a necessity while Pôle emploi confirms that the construction industry in general and construction in particular are among the strongest indices of tension in the region in terms of tight recruitment. All in a global context of employment where Occitania is the 3rd region of France with the lowest tensions.

Jean-Pierre Garcia, president of CAPEB de l’Hérault, employers’ association of building craftsmen, confirms these difficulties “despite increased salaries and an effort to recruit locally.”

Craftsman pattern renewal issue

“Construction represents 55% of our crafts and we badly need qualified people, especially in the field of energy renovation” adds Christian Poujol, vice-president of the Occitanie Chamber of Craft Trades, who mentions a problem of generational renewal: “The average age of our business leaders is over 50. We have a real problem of buyers.”

Accentuated by the development of self-employed businesses in the sector, a model that appeals to many young self-employed people who see it as a way to reconcile work and family life more calmly, at their own pace.

To cope with this competition, some companies are experimenting with the four-day week, offering long weekends to their employees.

Make known the richness of the professions

But the profession is aware that it must seduce at the source, in schools. “We have to do a lot of work on attractiveness and management, recognizes Philippe Zanni. This involves questioning and understanding how young people operate. It’s up to us to make it known that the construction industry is not just a mason pushing a wheelbarrow of cement, but a very rich range of trades: design office, buyer, works supervisor”

Florent Gianardoli, secretary general of the Regional Federation of Public Works Occitanie, also highlights labor needs that can be very fluctuating, which complicates the situation: “We are 70% dependent on public procurement and local authorities, but this generates cyclical activity often linked to elections. Currently in Montpellier, between the tram lines and the bicycle plan, we have intense activity and a little difficulty in to face.”

Seducing girls, the big challenge!

For the branch as a whole, perhaps salvation will come from the recruitment of girls, who are presently too few. “Women are the main absentees from these formations, confides a national education inspector. Construction companies would be very fond of it for diversity because when you only recruit from half of the population you are more quickly in failure.

The multiplication of “discovery” days in colleges and high schools is a first response, but the fight against gender determinism in the orientation of students is a long fight that has only just begun.