Integra People is a national recruitment consultancy, providing quality contract, temporary, and permanent staffing solutions to clients from our wide network of UK offices.
Back in 2008 when our business was established, we wanted a name that revolved around our fundamental values of ‘integrity’ and ‘people’, and from this Integra People was born.
People are the biggest assets to our business, therefore we only hire the best, to ensure we deliver an outstanding level of client and candidate service. From our consultants to our administrators, our team is professional, always ready to listen, and will go the extra mile.
We are one of the fastest growing recruitment companies in the UK, and as a corporate member of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation Ltd (REC), we are committed to upholding the excellent standards of practice set by the REC.
Partnering with the right recruitment specialist can add value to your business, and as a dynamic recruitment agency, we possess the right skills, experience, and knowledge to match your recruitment requirements.
Combining our deep industry knowledge and an unmatched understanding of human potential, we provide professional talent resourcing in the areas of construction, engineering, manufacturing & industrial, IT & telecoms, commercial & business support, healthcare and education.
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News & Blog
October 10,2017
Resource efficiency in Manufacturing will ensure good jobs stay in the UK
A recent Green Alliance report calling for the government to build a more resource-efficient manufacturing strategy, to close the UK’s regional productivity gap, ensuring good jobs stay in the UK.
In a bid to tackle the UK’s sluggish productivity and in a crucial effort to rebalance the economy, several leading trade and business organisations are urging the government to place resource efficiency at the heart of the UK’s Industrial Strategy.
Angela Francis, senior economist at Green Alliance, said: “The UK’s industrial strategy must help British businesses keep up if they are to retain their competitive advantage post-Brexit. There are huge economic opportunities here which could help to reinvent manufacturing in the North.”
Currently, Manufacturing contributes 15-20 per cent of the UK economy in regions that are experiencing low productivity. Although this includes some of the UK’s most productive firms, there is a long tail of poor performers contributing to the problem.
Around half of manufacturers’ costs are on resource inputs. In the past ten years, the best manufacturers across the country have cut their energy use by 50 per cent, but the majority have only managed a reduction of 10-15 per cent.
Mike Spicer, director of research and economics at the British Chamber of Commerce, said: “As the most successful firms know, improving resource and energy efficiency is essential to meeting that challenge.
A comprehensive upgrade programme for manufacturing, taken forward by the new industrial strategy and supported by government would be a welcome step in the right direction.”
The group says that the government can help manufacturers via the industrial strategy by providing a long term view of risks and an understanding of the role of technology in improving efficiency, through the use of alternative materials, optimised processes and recovered materials.
Steve Evans, Director of research at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing, said: “The government’s industrial strategy should provide foresight and benchmarking for UK manufacturers to realise the untapped potential of resource efficiency and help build long term manufacturing competitiveness.”
The strategy has the potential to add $10bn to the profits of the manufacturing sector, increase productivity, support growth in the North and Midlands, where manufacturing is more dominant, and keep good jobs in the UK.
The 5 Step Programme to upgrade manufacturing is as follows:
1) Target decision makers – Target resource intensive manufacturing, extractive and construction sectors with tailored programmes engaging CEOs and finance executives.
2) Holistic support – Deliver holistic support covering the whole range of inputs: energy, water and materials, which is more effective than single issue interventions.
3) Trusted providers – Build a network of trusted providers, guaranteeing confidentiality of operational information.
4) Fund innovation – Use the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to identify resource efficiency innovation opportunities across supply chains and sectors.
5) Reward leaders – Design government procurement policy, including forward commitment contracts, to encourage resource efficient processes and products.
News & Blog
October 03,2017
Giant Bins On M6 To Allow Workers To Fix More Potholes
Highways England is installing giant litter bins across the North West in a bid to cut down on the 40,000 sacks of rubbish collected from motorways in the region last year.
The bins are being installed at around a dozen service areas in the North West over the next months, following the North West Litter Initiative, which also involves trialling new signs that read ‘Workers lives are put at risk picking your litter’.
To collect the rubbish often means workers are put in danger as they are working next to busy traffic. Not only this, but littering can lead to flooding if drains become blocked – creating more work.
Paul Elliot, Service Delivery Team Leader at Highways England, said: “Our teams of workers do a fantastic job removing litter from motorways every year but we’d much rather they were able to spend more of their time carrying out maintenance work.”
On average there are 108 sacks for every mile of motorway, and picking up litter costs the tax payer around £40 for every single one collected. To fix a pothole costs roughly the same as this, so it is clear that the money and time could be better spent elsewhere.
The initiative also aims to put a stop to littering, and reduce the amount of lane closures that are often needed, which cause needless disruption to drivers.
Two different sized bins are being installed next to Give Way lines at the exit to service area car parks, that both car and lorry drivers can reach from their vehicle windows.
Paul Cooper, a maintenance worker for Balfour Beatty, has spent 19 years collecting litter from motorways, alongside his other duties of filling potholes, repairing safety barriers and cleaning drains.
“I think most drivers who sling litter out their windows don’t really think about what they’re doing, and that someone like me has to come along and clear up after them.
There’s always an element of risk when you’re working on the network as you’re near traffic, so my message to drivers is please stop dropping litter and use the bins or take it home with you instead.”
News & Blog
September 26,2017
Over Half of UK Construction Workers Worried About Brexit Skills Gap
As the UK hurtles towards Brexit, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) have found that over half of construction workers deem labour shortages to be a serious challenge.
A survey by OnePoll revealed that although the UK construction market is expected to grow over the next twelve months, 53% of construction workers (especially those from London and senior/middle managers), are concerned about a Brexit-induced skills gap.
A report published by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) revealed that UK businesses are finding it “notably harder” to recruit skilled staff as a result of a fall in net migration.
Earlier in the year, the RICS reported that an estimated 8% of construction workers are EU nationals, accounting for roughly 176,500 people. With such a large proportion of international workers, the construction industry has been very vocal regarding the risks of Brexit since last year’s referendum.
In March, the group created a concrete timeline and exerted great effort to invite foreign investment, demanding that the Government pursue for skilled international workers to be able to come to the UK, for an agreement to be reached swiftly for the “passporting” of professional services and for it to seize the opportunity to reset British agriculture by leaving the Common Agriculture Policy.
Although Barry Cullen of RICS embraced the newly introduced apprenticeship levy, which the survey found is increasing the industry’s pool of talent, he noted that it needed post-Brexit assurances. “With Britain set to leave the European market, we must ensure that we are not left in a skills vacuum”, he said.
Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist, said: “If, as we expect, Brexit negotiations continue to progress slowly, more firms will activate Brexit contingency plans, freeing up space and sapping demand for new commercial projects”.
News & Blog
September 20,2017
Britain is now the eighth largest industrial nation
Despite the persisting uncertainty of Brexit, growth has returned to the British manufacturing sector, and it has climbed up to the world’s 8th largest industrial nation.
The UK has climbed one place since last year, and according to the EEF, annual manufacturing output is worth more than £183 billion.
The manufacturer’s group said that the largest sector is food and drink (16%), while the chemicals and pharmaceuticals and transport sectors account for 14% of output each.
Lee Hopley, Chief Economist of EEF, said: “With the focus on industrial strategy, this year we highlight the varying strengths we see across manufacturing sub-sectors, from the strong R&D performance of pharmaceuticals and transport to the high export intensity of machinery and chemicals.”
Manufacturing is spread across the country, with the biggest regional powerhouse in the North West, and strength across the West Midlands and East Midlands across the aerospace and automotive sectors.
Manufacturing currently generates 44% of total UK exports, meaning it is vital for the nation’s future source of income, and will increasingly provide Britain’s link to the world post Brexit.
There are currently £2.6 million people working within the manufacturing sector across the UK, and average earnings have increased from £31,489 to £32,047 which is £3,748 more than the whole economy average pay.
A Business Department spokesman said: “The UK is the fifth largest economy and manufacturing is an important part of our global success as we prepare to leave the European Union.
“Our industrial strategy is supporting the sector, ensuring it can continue to grow and share its success through the creation of good jobs across the whole of the country.”
News & Blog
September 14,2017
New NHS Ambulance Response Targets Start Across Four Trusts
The roll out of new ambulance response target times has begun across four of England’s ambulance trust services, and more will be moving to the new standards in October.
Trusts in the North West, Yorkshire, West Midlands and South West are delivering the new ARP which Health secretary Jeremy Hunt approved in July this year.
Under the new targets, ambulances will be expected to reach the most seriously ill patients in an average time of seven minutes (previously eight), and the clock will stop only when the most appropriate response arrives on screen, rather than the first.
The new targets apply to every single 999 patient, and could put an end to the “hidden waits” that some patients, including the frail and the elderly, are put through.
In the past, patients with severe issues waited as the vehicles sent to them were unable to transport them to A&E. Not only this, but half the calls received classed as ‘green’ were not covered by a national target, and patients had to wait up to six hours for care.
Chair of NHSCC’s National Ambulance Commissioners Network (NACN) Yvonne Rispin, said: “This change is an important step in enabling the ambulance service to provide patients with the best care possible, within an appropriate timeframe, while also making the most effective use of its resources in the face of rising demand.”
Due to the previous system, not only were the targets largely not being met across the country, a growing number of patients were being turned away from emergency departments due to a lack of capacity.
Trials revealed that the new system could bring faster treatment for patients, saving 250 lives a year, giving 750,000 calls a year an immediate response as well as drive improved care for stroke and heart attack patients.
Professor Jonathan Wenger, NHS England’s national clinical director for Urgent Care, said: “From now on, the bar will be set at 90 percent of calls to be reached in the target times, rather than 75 percent under the old system.”
NHS England have calculated that there will be up to 14,500 occasions each week in England where an additional ambulance is freed for response to the most serious of cases, which will ensure that those in the most need get to an emergency department quicker.
News & Blog
September 06,2017
CITB buys 16 simulators to help train the next generation of operators
The Construction Industry Training Board has spent £1.2m on 16 plant simulators, in order to fill the operator skills gap.
The investment is part of a wider challenge to find 5000 new plant operators over the next five years.
Trainees and apprentices will be able to test drive excavators, cranes, crawler dozers, telehandlers, tractors, and dumper trucks amongst the wide range of plant machinery.
The simulators have been set up in a dedicated virtual training centre, the National Construction College in Bircham Newton, Norfolk, and were made in Sweden and Canada.
Graham McPhail, Head of Education and Training at CITB, said: “This is the first large scale investment into plant simulator technology anywhere in the UK.
New methods of technology are playing an increasingly important role in construction and this investment will help us modernise the way we train.”
Not only can trainees experience the machinery virtually to gain some practice and familiarity, they can also experience them in all weather conditions. The simulators minimise health and safety risks before a trainee moves onto real machines.
The machines record and analyse how users behave in different situations, and therefore can be helpful in tailoring help to individual needs.
Josh Missin, a 24-year-old plant apprentice from Wisbech, was one of the first to train on the new simulators. He said: “As someone who had never used any form of plant machinery before, I was quite nervous before doing so.
“However, the simulators allowed me to quickly learn how certain controls worked, which meant I felt much more confident when using machines in real life."
Mr Missin believes that they should be used in everyone’s plant apprenticeship training.
News & Blog
August 23,2017
NHS Digital backs ‘Every nurse is an e-nurse’ campaign
National Health Service IT organisation backs e-nurse campaign with the launch of its first e-nursing week. The RCN's campaign launched in 2016 following previous calls from the RCN to increase nursing input into IT and provide more IT training.
Anne Cooper, chief nurse at NHS Digital, said: “The RCN is absolutely right to be placing such a priority on ensuring nurses across the NHS have the tools, skills and resources they need to make the best use of technology and act as effective e-nurses.”
NHS Digital has pledged to play a supporting role in realising the campaign’s ambition. It will now highlight various elements of e-nursing, to promote effective use of information and digital technologies, including use of technology at bedsides, data-sharing, digital security and the role of apps and wearables in changing care.
In July 2013, a RCN survey of 1000 members found the majority of nurses had no influence on the way technology was used in their workplace. The campaign aims to equip nurses with the skills and tools needed to take advantage of digital technologies.
Janet Davies, chief executive and general secretary at the RCN, said: “Technology and data are transforming healthcare, presenting huge opportunities to improve treatment, patient safety and wellbeing. It’s vital that nurses have the skills they need to make the most of these opportunities, and that’s what this project is all about.”
One University that have been paying attention to technology in healthcare is the University of Manchester. They began training student nurses to record patient observations digitally in 2016. Using a system called Patientrack, allows students to patients’ vital signs at the bedside, and enter them straight into a tablet device.
The RCN congress passed a motion last year that by 2020 every nurse in the UK should have the appropriate digital skills. The areas from the joint report with Health Education England that need to be improved are:
Digital identity, wellbeing, safety & security
Communication, collaboration and participation
Teaching, learning and professional development
Technical proficiency
Information, data and media literacies
Creation, innovation and scholarship
The recent ‘WannaCry’ ransomware attack in May 2017 was a wake-up call to the NHS, highlighting that serious attention is given to cyber security from now on. The RCN and NHS Digital spearheading this campaign could potentially bridge the digital skills gap within healthcare, and ensure the NHS is as secure and innovative as it can be.
News & Blog
August 16,2017
Employer engagement can inspire future engineers
Engineering businesses should offer engagement programmes to primary school students in order to tackle the skills gap, says Simon Biggs, the Education Outreach Officer at global engineering company Renishaw.
Too few young people are deciding to take subjects related to engineering careers, meaning they lack the skills needed for science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) careers.
STEM expertise is crucial in tackling important issues that the climate, economy, and medicine will face in the future, yet not enough young people actually understand what engineering really involves.
It has been forecast that the UK requires 265,000 skilled entrants each year in order to meet employer demand for engineering enterprises.
This doesn’t spell completely bad news though, and perceptions of engineering as a whole have actually grown more positive over the last five years, with the proportion of 11 to 16 year olds who would consider a career in engineering rising from 40% in 2012 to 51% in 2016.
Companies who want to close the impending skills gap may find it difficult to find skilled apprentices because of the lack of outreach to young people about what careers are available to them. For this reason, businesses are beginning to try and improve the profile of engineering to young people, through employer outreach.
School engagement programmes inspire young people to consider a career in engineering, and if companies start with children at a young age, it could solve the skills shortage.
Renishaw hold engagement programmes for year six students aged ten and eleven, to improve perceptions of STEM subjects and encourage pupils to think about STEM careers early on. They also run ad-hoc activities and even a Brownies group.
Evidence from the Education and Employers Taskforce demonstrates the positive role that employer engagement plays in helping young people make good career decisions, as well as impact on future earnings.
The onus for change must be a joint responsibility, by the government, employers, schools and parents, and initiatives like the IET’s Engineering Open House Day can play an important role in sparking an interest in engineering, encouraging children to want to find out more.
Several companies are already offering this kind of outreach, offering school visits, career talks and work experience opportunities, in order to reinforce what a creative and exciting field engineering is to work in.
News & Blog
August 09,2017
Industry calls for Govt to deliver an industrial strategy for all Brexit scenarios
EEF have published a new strategy named Making the Industrial Strategy Work for UK Manufacturing, following a survey carried out by YouGov which demonstrated a public desire for the UK to be a top five manufacturing nation by output.
The report urges the government to fill in industrial strategy gaps, as an industrial strategy will be a crucial component in managing economic change, regardless of the final Brexit deal.
The data revealed that:
70% of the public think that the UK should aim to be a top five manufacturing nation
82% of adults say a strong manufacturing base is essential for UK economic growth
65% of women would be proud to work in UK manufacturing
8% of manufacturers say the UK has supportive policies for manufacturing, compared to 65% who say Germany does
Steps the Government must take to achieve the strategy:
Set out a clear vision of what a successful outcome for Britain looks like, including clear metrics to track progress
Include a focus on the cost of doing business, which is missing in the strategy.
Provide guidance on the Sector Deals process to clarify the rules and ensure SMEs can engage
Set out a plan to roll out Devolution Deals to all areas in England
Outline how cross-government policy consistency will be achieved, to avoid different departments undermining the objectives of the strategy and each other
What could the strategy help deliver?
Close the productivity gap
Grow businesses with more turnover
Reduce our trade deficit
Increase the diversity of markets we sell to
Keep the UK as an innovation leader in Europe
Catch up with competitors in automation technology
A greater economic growth
Ms Lee Hopley, EEF Chief Economist, said: “The UK is facing a potentially game changing point as we leavr the EU whilst the sector is also on the cusp of massive technological change and grappling with long-term investment decisions.
Industry will have to be nimble in navigating challenges and quickly grasping new opportunities in order to fulfil public ambition for Britain to be a dominant manufacturing nation.”
News & Blog
August 01,2017
REC promotes agency worker engagement
Partnering with the Involvement and Participation Association (IPA), the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) have published a report regarding how employers should promote workplace engagement amongst temporary staff, by applying the same approach as they do with permanent employees.
The report, called ‘Tune into temps: how employers and recruiters can support agency worker voice in the workplace’ provides innovative recommendations about promoting employee voice and staff engagement.
To deliver business benefits such as a rise in productivity, reducing sickness absence and conflict, the following recommendations to employers have been revealed:
Ensure agency workers receive a proper induction
Foster relationships with agency workers by giving regular feedback, or even formal appraisals for those on longer assignments
Make sure agency workers are treated as part of the team when on assignment, receiving informal benefits like inclusion in staff activities and social events
Understand the motivations for someone working in a temporary way and place them in assignments that support their needs
Make sure workers feel comfortable about raising concern about a placement without fear of penalty
Ensure workers are supported with their professional development throughout their employment with access to training and placements that provide an opportunity to develop skills and progress
Kevin Green, REC chief executive, said: “It’s about treating people with respect and extending the same approach managers would take with permanent staff in terms of giving inductions, providing feedback and making sure temps feel welcome and included.”
Patrick Brione, head of policy and research at IPA, said: “Too often in the past regarded as ‘second class’ members of the workforce, agency workers and their hirers have sometimes missed out on the benefits of a highly engaged workforce. This report shows why this does not have to be the case.”
The report reveals that 1.2 million workers are placed into temporary/contract jobs every day, and agency workers are becoming a key part of the workforce, with the average length of assignment being 17 weeks.
According to the latest JobsOutlook by the REC, 45% of employers are expecting to face a shortage of suitable candidates over the next year. The report suggests that businesses may be turning to temporary workers to meet demand as permanent hiring becomes more difficult.
Flexible working is a great success story in the UK economy, and as employers strive to meet peaks in demand and access key skills in the short term, engaging the temporary workforce should be a business imperative.
