How can we encourage more young people into the KBB industry?

With the skills shortage continuing, Diane Berry of Diane Berry Kitchens in Manchester and Tina Riley of Modern Homes in Leamington have spoken out on how to attract young people into the industry.

The pair discussed many of the issues on the latest episode of our award-winning kbbreview Podcast.

With millennials (now aged 25 to 40) accounting for more than a third (35%) of the UK workforce, the retailers talked about what motivates that age group, starting salaries and how long it takes to be successful in the industry.

Berry shared her thoughts on how to motivate those younger than her. She said: “I think that the younger generation is so motivated by money – it is unbelievable. We need some strong figures to be able to say, ‘This is how much money I earn, this is the house I live in and the car that I drive’.”

Riley pointed out that with so many people being money-driven, it could mean that they may only want to work for national brands that offer higher commissions and salaries. This attitude could dilute future talent because the focus is on sales and not designs.

She said: “Being so money-oriented, they are going to be sucked into large, national showrooms where they are on a low basic and a high commission and then all they are going to be are salespeople, not designers.”

One young designer who started working at Diane Berry Kitchens only lasted four months. Berry said that he didn’t like that he couldn’t move through the company quickly enough and so could not make lots of money straight away. She said: “It takes years to get the knowledge that Tina and I have – to be able to do the job as well as we do.”

Berry recalls a conversation she had with an architect who took on university shadows for a day. He said that they were more interested in learning about how much he made rather than his daily work.

In terms of pay scales, she believes it is important to find a balance between giving a designer the financial incentive to close a sale and making sure it’s not their only motivation – so the design work will still be strong.

Berry said: “It is a struggle what to pay people to make sure there is a balance and to motivate them to close the deal. You have some who can design but not sell, and some who can sell but not design.

“My motto is lead by example and I hope that people will be inspired to copy us. Show your success. Don’t be frightened to mention if you have a nice car and home and try to inspire these young people and make them realise that being a kitchen designer is as fruitful as being an architect.”

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