The war for talent is on. If we believe everything we are being told in the press, various engineering media and our daily dose of recruitment approaches then there is a shortage of engineering talent in the UK which is creating a resource black hole, a black hole that will swallow the UK’s ability to design and build any major engineering projects for many years to come and that will leave UK engineering bereft of future leaders when the “ageing workforce” retires.
Whilst the rest of the country’s employment sectors are struggling to create enough jobs, the engineering sector is struggling to find qualified people to fill its vacancies. Blame has been attributed to the education establishment not pushing the right qualifications, for engineering not being sexy enough, for it being perceived as a sexist environment and on the UK’s general decline as a manufacturing nation amongst other reasons.
So where lies the answer? In schools and colleges we can make STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects more appealing or even mandatory. We can develop, push and then truly recognise vocational qualifications and apprenticeships. We can make engineering sexy (ish), we can stamp out inequality and support UK manufacturing growth both internally and through its exports. We can, and are doing all of these things but it doesn’t seem enough and it isn’t proving to be the solution for the here and now.
In the here and now supply and demand rules and it can be a cruel monarch. When demand is high as it is, and the available workforce is limited then several things happen. Costs to hire go up as they tend to do with high demand for a scarce resource. This then means that it costs more to deliver a project. It also means that moving jobs becomes attractive as the guy next door will pay handsomely for your services. This has a knock on effect and it costs more again for your employer to fill the gap that you just left. Even though this is not ideal, in a staff environment the talent can still be nurtured and can provide the security for those future leadership roles. For some though, the opportunity to really capitalise and take the leap out into self-employment and the domain of the limited company becomes an attractive option. Companies don’t tend to train and develop the skills of other peoples employees (limited company contractors) so if the jump is made too early, experience in field could potentially be immature and future development arrested. This does impact potential future leaders and the level of experience being carried forward across the sector. None of these things particularly help the problem in hand. The lack of suitably qualified engineering personnel to deliver what’s required and lead engineering back to greatness.
The reality is that all of the previously mentioned changes need to continue to be developed from grass roots level upwards. Employers need to attract talent early on pushing their home grown talent programmes harder and become more proactive in the protection of their shining stars. Being the employer of choice and creating a stronger EVP (employee value proposition) than your competitors may go a long way in helping ease the problem. If an employer can train and retain its best people and get back to the jobs for life mentality then there may be light at the end of the tunnel.
This is however, no quick fix. I’m going to be bold here and look for the logical answer. We know that there is a shortage of engineering talent in relation to current and scheduled programmes of engineering work in the UK for at least a decade to come. We know that there is a shortage of fresh talent entering into the sector to fill these gaps so here it is…
Maybe if supply simply cannot be controlled then maybe demand can be. Maybe there should be better collaboration between the engineering sector and those releasing the programmes of work. Maybe we could then create a better understating of what can successfully be delivered in the UK with the resources available and in a timeframe that is both realistic and actually necessary.
But that’s a lot of maybes. The traditional answer is that we look at the grassroots, really push STEM subjects in schools and if that is done in conjunction with managing demand through staged programme releases we could create a thriving Engineering sector. How do you think the war for talent should be addressed? We would love to hear your thoughts please use the comments box below or contact Toby Garrod on toby.garrod@bps-world.com or 01925 747392.