Despite ongoing cost pressure, hiring in the construction industry remains strong, with 70% of employers planning to recruit. The issue is not demand but delivery, writes Brendan Ryan, director of construction and property at Hays
The UK’s construction and property sector is entering a critical phase. While pressures exist, the headline is that construction is hiring. New insights from the Hays Construction & Property Industry Workforce Report show widespread skills shortages, rising burnout and changing workforce expectations coming together at the same time.
The numbers are stark: 92% of construction and property employers are experiencing skills shortages. The silver lining is that 70% plan to recruit in the next 12 months. Taken together, those figures show that strong demand is meeting a real challenge in finding people who are ready to step into the roles. How this is addressed, and how employers and jobseekers bridge that gap, are key questions facing the sector.
A talent mismatch, not a shortage
It would be easy to see these numbers as a simple supply problem, but the reality is more structural. Employers are responding by lowering their hiring thresholds, with two-thirds now open to taking on candidates who do not fully meet the requirements and upskilling them once they are in post. That marks a real change in approach.
For years, the instinct in construction has been to hold out for fully formed talent. The current market is pushing employers towards a more pragmatic stance, focused on training and development rather than waiting for the perfect candidate to appear.
Pay alone will not fix retention
Over half of professionals are planning to change jobs, and pay is only part of the story. Most salary increases across the sector have kept pace with inflation, yet 39% of professionals remain dissatisfied with what they earn.
Workload, flexibility and career progression are all significant factors influencing people’s decisions to move. When those factors matter as much as salary, increasing pay without improving the wider offer will only take employers so far and may end up with them missing out on the best sector talent.
Look closer at why people are considering a move and a clearer picture emerges of what the 2026 construction professional looks like. 65% of professionals are working beyond their contracted hours and only 45% rate their work-life balance positively. Perhaps most strikingly, 51% say they would take a pay cut for a better balance.
The findings suggest salary now sits alongside flexibility, progression and wellbeing as a key factor in career decisions. It is a significant mentality shift for an industry where site-based roles have traditionally made flexibility harder to offer than in other sectors.
As I said when this data was published, over half of construction and property professionals plan to move jobs within the next year. With flexibility now ranking alongside pay as a top priority, employers that offer competitive salaries, hybrid options and clear career pathways will be best placed to secure and retain the skilled talent this sector urgently needs.
Building for what comes next
None of this means construction is about to become an office-based industry. Much of the work is necessarily site-based and that will not change.
But flexibility does not have to mean remote working. It can mean compressed hours, more predictable scheduling or simply giving people more say over how their week is structured. Employers that find practical ways to build flexibility into roles that have traditionally had little of it could move to the front of the queue in a market where over half the workforce is weighing up a move.
There is also a longer-term shift to prepare for. Digital tools and AI are beginning to influence how projects are delivered, creating growing demand for new skills in some areas of the sector.
Employers are already taking a practical approach to upskilling. Rather than waiting for the perfect candidate, they are training people as needed. That approach will continue to work well as AI becomes more important.
This also applies to jobseekers. Learning how to use AI and understanding how it is being applied will increasingly be expected by employers. Building these skills early, before they are essential, will help people stay competitive as these tools become part of everyday work.
A more rounded approach
The foundations for sector growth are there. Hiring intent is high and most employers are already consistently investing in pay. What is missing is a more rounded offer, one that
treats flexibility, progression and wellbeing with the same seriousness as salary.
Employers that close that gap will not just fill vacancies. They will be more likely to keep hold of the people they have spent time and money developing, at a point when the sector can least afford to lose them.
