Contractors must invest more money in staff, warns Denne

Clients need to increase their efforts to help drag contractors from their apparent lack of investment in staff, Kent-based contractor Denne Group has warned today (Friday).

Group chief executive Stephen Kingsman said that clients seemed to be turning the corner and now put an Investors in People (IiP) award high up in the selection process for work.

Denne Group has recently renewed its IiP status which it has had for two years. Kingsman claims this route has changed the thinking of the group and has ruled out waste and improved productivity.

Only 10% of the construction industry has achieved liP status, well below the 35% all-industry average.

"Many contractors think that the process is too bureaucratic, however we couldn't be without it," he said. "It sets a framework for clients and goes through a rigorous process which we have adapted to reduce our defects and improve training."

However, the Confederation of Construction Clients' chairman Terry Rochester said that changing the culture of the industry was a "shared responsibility" and that its Clients' Charter was designed so that issues such as Respect for People would be "filtered down" the supply chain.