Top 5 reasons Health and Safety Professionals are seeking a move!

In the 1st part of my series on Environment, Health and Safety professionals, I looked at the reasons behind the growing demand for this skill set in the market. Today I am looking at why EHS professionals are seeking a move!
Having spoken to hundreds of EHS professionals over the years, I have heard a myriad of reasons as to why they are looking for a move. Much is down to career progression and search for new challenges but more stem from a sense of frustration with their current role. Since June this recruiter has spoken to over 50 EHS professionals across Ireland and the UK. Below is a list of the top 5 reasons they are seeking a new employer;
Travel; This can be broken down into two areas. Firstly, many EHS candidates I am speaking to are involved in a demanding daily commute of 90 minutes plus. One chap I spoke to sets his alarm for 4:45am to make it on a construction site for a 7am start. He arrives home each evening after 6pm meaning a 13 hour day and consequently a poor work life balance. The second part of travel for many EHS staff is those who are covering increasingly large geographical areas. One candidate I spoke to was covering up to 10 counties for a large pipe laying company. He was spending between 4 and 5 hours per day in his van. This sedentary existence is very bad for mental and physical health.
Administration; The demands being placed on EHS professionals with regards the production of documentation such as risk assessments, method statements, compliance plans, accident investigations, KPI reporting etc continues to grow. Many companies are not supplying sufficient administrative support meaning EHS staff are catching up on their admin in their cars on the side of the road or on their arrival home that evening.
Span of control; Due to a lack of EHS staff to meet with the operational contractual demands, many EHS professionals are having to cover too many contractors or indeed sites at one time. This is placing undue stress on the EHS teams as they fear that their inability to be on site will result in below par control of the environment. This inability to be present can result in needless risk and will ultimately affect the reputation of the EHS professional and company.
Recognition; For some companies, the existence of EHS programs and staff is considered but a necessary evil by senior management. By not promoting a culture of health and safety adherence from the top down, the EHS professional can often be found banging their heads against a wall of non-conformance and general apathy. This can result in life becoming almost impossible for the EHS professional as his or her contributions are not valued.
Terms and conditions; Despite the levels of responsibility and knowledge required to ensure compliance for companies, many EHS professionals are undervalued by their employers in terms of pay and conditions. The global recession certainly stalled average salaries for EHS professionals for a number of years but some companies have not kept up with market changes. The economic uplift over the past couple of years allied to the lack of EHS professionals means that candidates can expect increases should they look to move. The fear of the unknown that kept many in their roles during the recession is vanishing as employees are more inclined to move once more. On this last point, a word of warning. The fatter salaries on offer with some companies can come with other disadvantages……more travel, more responsibility, less support etc etc. Make sure you consider all the facts before jumping for the bigger pay check!
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!
Dean Slattery
Recruitment Specialist
Dean is a recent graduate of Business and Accounting from Maynooth University. Along with his undergraduate degree, he has years of professional experience in the car sales industry. Through these experiences, Dean has developed outstanding communication and interpersonal skills.
Dean’s background as a professional mechanic combined with his years of sales experience equips him with the ability to identify and understand the different market sectors in recruitment. These key attributes enable him to assist in understanding the needs and wants of both the candidate and the client for a positive long-lasting relationship.
Outside of work, Dean’s interests include a love of travelling, having spent time in Asia, along with captaining the Allenwood football team to many victories.
Elizabeth Brady
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Elizabeth takes an integrated and person-centred approach to recruitment, to ensure she not only delivers talent, but encourages prosperous relationships for all involved.
Elizabeth holds a BSc in Podiatric Medicine from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Her diverse career background within the areas of Healthcare, Event Management, Customer Service and Sales has strongly developed her ability to understand, communicate and facilitate the unique needs of individuals and companies.
Elizabeth’s affable and diligent nature ensures that both clients and jobseekers alike find what they’re looking for, whilst making the process as stress free and enjoyable as possible. She loves a challenge and her commitment to finding the ‘perfect fit’, takes her across a variety of sectors, from Telecoms to Medical and Pharmaceutical – and everything in between!
Peter Brady
Recruitment Manager
Peter has a keen eye for detail and is highly skilled at discovering key client and candidate information for the purpose of achieving a great recruitment fit.
Peter holds a degree in Business and Management along with a Master’s in Strategy and Innovation from Maynooth University. During his studies and after graduation, Peter has honed strong negotiation and communication skill’s from his time in retail, sales, and account management.
His key areas of expertise are technical and general recruitment across a range of industries from IT, Telecoms, Construction, and Engineering. Peter is highly adept at dealing with candidates and clients alike and has received awards for his customer service skills over the course of his career.
Peter is also a keen sportsman and has played both golf and rugby at a high level.
Evie Carter
Recruitment Specialist
Evie joined the Sparktel team in 2021. She is a Business Studies and Spanish graduate from Trinity College Dublin. During her school and college years she has worked in a number of diverse customer service roles both here in Ireland and in Valencia, Spain. This has served to hone her excellent communication and people skills. Evie is also passionate about languages – she is fluent in Spanish having spent an Erasmus year studying business in Madrid.
Evie’s academic and professional background has equipped her with many unique skills. Having lived, studied and worked abroad, she is familiar with the career and cultural opportunities associated with relocation. She relishes the challenges of her work and does her utmost to ensure that talented people are placed where they will shine and deliver the best results for Sparktel’s clients.
Niall Browne
Managing Director
Niall’s vision in any project is to deliver talent to an organisation to alleviate pressure and achieve results. How has he learned to do this?
Niall holds a BA in Business Studies & Human Resources, a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, specialist training in Aptitude and Psychometric testing and analysis along with a Black Belt in Online Recruitment Search. He has over a decade of experience in HR and Recruitment. Throughout his career, he has recruited and led recruitment teams for technical, high volume and executive search for SME’s right up to large multi-nationals.
An expert in recruitment, Niall has found thousands of job seekers their next career move whether as part of a one-off project with a small company or as part of a volume campaign with a blue-chip brand. Thousands of conversations, interviews, CV’s and stories have helped Niall become a specialist professional in dealing with job seekers and hiring managers alike to ensure that the right fit happens!