OCS buying Mitie, what it actually means for engineers and the firms hiring them

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You'll have seen by now that OCS has agreed to buy Mitie for around £3.1bn. I'm not going to go over the deal itself, the trade press has done that to death. What I want to talk about is the bit nobody seems to have an answer to yet, which is what it actually means for the engineers and managers on the ground.

The quick version

Mitie's shareholders voted it through in September, but it still needs clearance from the Competition and Markets Authority, the European Commission and the UK's national security rules, plus sign-off from the Scottish court, before it goes live. Both businesses are expecting that to happen in the first quarter of 2027, and when the deal was announced Mitie's CEO said it would be business as usual until then.

The honest answer is nobody knows yet

From the conversations I'm having at the moment, the big thing is uncertainty. A lot of engineers are sat waiting to see what changes, whether there'll be redundancies and what it all means for them once it goes live, and that's completely understandable when the answer to most questions is "we don't know yet".

What OCS has said publicly is that it doesn't intend to make any material reduction in frontline operational staff, and that existing employment rights, terms, pensions and continuous service will be recognised. Some overlapping head office roles, including the ones tied to Mitie being a listed company, are likely to go. After that there's a detailed integration review in the twelve months following completion, covering everything from operations and systems to offices and the future brand. So the real changes are far more likely to land through 2027 than this side of Christmas.

Is this a TUPE transfer?

Not when the deal completes. TUPE is what protects you when your contract moves from one company to another, like when a client retenders and a new FM provider takes over the site. Here OCS is buying Mitie's shares, so the company that employs you stays the same and it's the owner at the top that changes. Where TUPE could come into it is further down the line, if people get moved between companies within the group as part of the integration.

Questions worth asking your manager

If you're at either business you're well within your rights to ask, and a decent manager will tell you what they know, even if that's "not much yet". A few I'd be asking:

• Is anything changing with the company I'm employed by, or just the group at the top?
• Where both businesses cover the same sites or patch, how's that going to be organised?
• Are on-call rotas, callout rates or overtime rates going to be reviewed?
• Will anything change with my van, fuel card or vehicle policy?
• Which job system are we likely to end up on?
• Who do I go to with questions once the deal completes?

None of this means you should be jumping ship. But if the answers are still vague a few months after completion, it's fair to start thinking about what you want next.

Think about what you'd be walking away from

If you've been somewhere a long time, your continuous service is worth more than people tend to realise. You normally need two years with your current employer to qualify for statutory redundancy pay, and the amount goes up with every year you've done, so if redundancies did come up, somebody with ten years in would be in a very different spot to somebody who's just started. Move jobs and that clock starts again from zero. That's not a reason to stay put if you're unhappy, but it's worth factoring in before you hand your notice in off the back of a rumour.

On the flip side, moving isn't as risky as it used to be. From 1 January 2027 you'll be protected from unfair dismissal after six months in a new job rather than two years, so you're not as exposed in that first stretch as you would have been. Redundancy pay still needs the two years though, so it's worth keeping those two things separate in your head.

If you're hiring

For regional FM and M&E businesses, I don't think the window is right now. Most people are sitting tight until they know what's happening, and I'd expect them to start looking properly once the integration review starts changing things on the ground, which on the current timeline means 2027. If you've got roles coming up next year, especially the likes of supervisors and contract managers, start building those relationships early so you're the first call rather than the fifth. And be honest about what you can offer that a group of more than 200,000 people worldwide can't, whether that's local work, less time sat on the M27 or a quicker route up.

Bear in mind that anyone you're trying to tempt away from a big group will be weighing up exactly that. They'll be comparing your offer against years of service, a group pension and the security that comes with a big name, so the money on its own won't always do it. Be clear upfront on the likes of pension, sick pay, holiday and how on-call works, because if those bits are vague it's very easy for someone to stick with what they know.