A company is the sum of its parts, but it is our people, not our plant & machinery that creates culture & vision. As many Made in Group members are hiring currently; the rewards of growth bring with it the pains of needing more people. 2022 has seen Made in Group manufacturers facing unprecedented competition for quality people. Partly attributed to changing working demands following the pandemic and the ‘Great Resignation’ in 2021 where employees and leaders exited the UK working population in record numbers. In short, people’s priorities have changed and the net result is a greater focus on the work/life balance for those that stayed and unexpectedly early departure for those that left which has left manufacturers in the UK with a problem.
Sky News reported in July 2022 that this is a nationwide issue across businesses with 76% of companies struggling to hire new staff, putting businesses at risks and damaging the economy, with manufacturing particularly bearing the brunt of this alongside the construction industry. It is believed there are 1.3 million unfilled jobs in the UK economy which will hinder the national recovery towards growth.
Why is there a shortage of labour in UK manufacturing?
The side effects of COVID-19
Unprecedented challenges facing workers in the UK in 2020 severely shifted how workers could carry out their roles and view their roles and lives afterwards. Lack of stability in global supply chains were one of the key disruptions; highlighted by the semiconductor shortage where Ford particularly were forced to produce 672,000 fewer light duty vehicles globally in Q1 2021 alone.
Russia-Ukraine War
European conflict impacting energy production, steel production and availability of other raw materials impacted by the geopolitical landscape has created huge supply chain issues and lost production.
Desire for flexibility
A major challenge has been the sectors limited opportunity to offer remote working solutions to employees which in the service sector have been commonplace and has changed how employees view a healthy work-life balance
Negative Perception of the sector
Unconscious bias projected by firms to the local talent pool, incorrect perceptions of lower wages, poor working conditions, migration of volume manufacturing away from the UK and a parental and teaching influence away from encouraging young people towards a career in the sector remain prevalent.
Lack of diversity
Globally less than 30% of the manufacturing workforce are made up of women and University of Strathclyde conducted research in 2021 that in the UK this figure is even lower at 26%. McKinsey Institute identifies however that every 10% increase in gender diversity among organisations will increase operating profits by 3.5%
Ageing workforce
Office for National Statistics (2020) showed 20% of UK workers in the manufacturing sector were aged over 55 – considering the above barriers to assisting young people entering the sector, this 20% of UK workforces were the biggest segment of the manufacturing workforce deciding to leave the sector earlier.
Best Practice From Today's Panel:
Made in Group members met this morning to identify shared experiences of the root causes of the problem and also what dynamic businesses are doing to address it.
Richard Parkes, Sales & Business Director at Cadspec Ltd was one of the keynote best practice leaders at today's Virtual Breakfast meeting for Made in Group members; in which he cited the difficulties his firm and others have found in finding the right people. The firm has prioritised ‘cultural’ fit as a key attribute for new hires, to ensure new hires are more successful than just ‘rushing people through the door.’ This makes employers scrutinise potential candidates harder however, which takes time and can create frustrations and delays in furthering the firm’s growth objectives in pursuit of finding ‘the perfect candidate.
This sentiment was shared with other panellists from privately owned UK manufacturers including NCMT, Cadpsec, TecQuipment, LK Metrology, Fablink, Addison Saws and also HE representation from Dudley College.
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So how do manufacturers address this?
Look internally
All manufacturers on our panel cited an eventual turn to bringing on internal candidates into multi skilled roles. It assists in retention by exposing employees to new areas of the business, often benefitting departments quicker by having someone already familiar, sped up cross pollination of ideas across different departments and also for senior positions, places a greater value on loyalty by giving people internally the first chance before going externally. Obviously, this then creates a need to backfill sometimes a different role
Focus on the employer proposition in its entirety
Money and remuneration are important but Gen Y candidates particularly are putting more focus and emphasis on a firm's environmental and social credentials, the working environment and the culture.
Tackle your online image on jobs boards as well as social media and website
Even jobs boards like Indeed can contain possibly negative or untrue feedback from unquantified but assumed former disgruntled employees; this could be tackled by approaching existing staff, if they’re happy with working there and enjoy their jobs to counter this with positive testimonies to counter any negative.
Look at short term courses to assist in competency gaps
The pursuit of perfect candidates invariably concludes that no-such thing exists, so there are excellent short courses in local FE and HE institutions which could assist in competency gaps to turn a ‘close’ candidate into a ‘strong’ candidate.
Interact with local Colleges & Universities to tailor learning
Local educational institutions crave industry interaction and are more flexible than ever to try and tailor even syllabus or curriculum more in line with your needs. It’s a longer strategy but results in better calibre first time workers coming into the sector with greater exposure to industry needs.
Bias away from traditional Recruiters
Shared frustrations over the costs and also the volume of organisations in this sector that do not actually understand manufacturing or indeed their client businesses properly make for costly mistakes and high churn of new starters
