States Works delivers despite staffing issues

The outfit provides an array of municipal and maintenance services.

States Works board chairman Mark Thompson said that due to the diverse range of services offered and limited labour skills available, it had to revise its business plan last year.

‘To meet these challenges, States Works will seek to work more closely with private businesses, voluntary and charitable groups and, where appropriate, will outsource or sub-contract with partners to deal with peaks and troughs in work volumes,’ he said.

‘This hybrid working model will leave us better placed to respond to the changing needs of our clients and the challenges being faced by the business in a more efficient and effective manner, by offering clients a managed service where appropriate.’

There were particular challenges in recruiting and retaining skilled trades staff and HGV drivers.

However the number of staff did rise – from 196 in 2022 to 202 in 2023.

Some of the newcomers came from Rabeys, which was part of the collapsed Garenne Group. Vehicle technicians and parts staff were taken on by States Works.

The vast majority of States Works’ revenue comes from projects from States committees and trading businesses, but 13% of turnover comes from work for private clients, like parishes.

States Works made a surplus of £744,000 last year, more than the £635,000 projected.

But revenue was £2.2m. below budget at £17.4m., due to a reduction in services like highway repairs.

A new challenge was the implementation of the new job costing and account system SAP. Phase one was introduced in April 2023.

‘Staff have been working extremely hard to overcome significant configuration and data remediation challenges associated with the new systems which, among other things, resulted in some delays to the invoicing of customers,’ Mr Thompson said.

‘We are grateful to customers for their tolerance.'

Phase one was completed earlier this year.