industry SURVEY REVEALS EMPLOYERS BELIEVE THE SKILLS SHORTAGE WILL DEEPEN Over 80% of automotive bosses have admitted that, since the pandemic, they have found it increasingly difficult to recruit skilled staff with 90% reporting that workshop and technical roles are the hardest positions to fill, according to a recent survey commissioned by Autotech Recruit. Over a two-month period, workshop and garage managers, and anyone within the automotive aftermarket responsible for recruitment, participated in the survey, and the results expose the severity of the skills shortage and how strategies to recruit, train and retain talent need to be implemented urgently to safeguard the future of the industry. Over 90% of respondents believe that the challenge of recruiting skilled vehicle technicians will get worse over the next few years, with three quarters admitting that the shortages are having a negative impact on the profitability of their business. “The skills shortage within the automotive industry is certainly not a new problem – it’s a direct consequence of years of under investment in training and recruiting younger generations,” comments Simon King, MD of Autotech Group. “However, Brexit and the pandemic has exacerbated the issue, which is clearly illustrated within the results of our survey. The motor industry has the sixth highest vacancy rate of all UK industry sectors. When it comes to preparing for the future, just 4% of those surveyed revealed that all their technicians were trained to Level 2 electric/hybrid vehicle standard – and almost a third admitted that no technicians within their business had received any electric vehicle training. Autotech Recruit says that the effects of not making the automotive industry, particularly the aftermarket, an attractive option to the school-leaving generation is also being felt. Over 65% of businesses surveyed employed technicians over the age of 30, with just 1 in 5, reporting a majority workforce under the age of 29. Encouragingly, over 61% said they had plans to employ apprentices, but the industry needs to significantly shift its focus and create more opportunities for younger generations, as Simon comments: “As an industry, we specifically need to
INDUSTRY
GOVERNMENT AXES PLUG-IN CAR GRANT
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The government has now closed the plug-in car grant scheme and is expected to heavily disincentivise EV adoption across the UK. Mike Coulton, EV Consultant at Volkswagen Financial Services UK, said: “Whilst it should not come as a surprise to see the Government have brought to a close the Electric Vehicle Plug-In Car Grant (PICG), it is nonetheless
harness the talent of automotive college leavers who lack experience in the garage environment. We need to be more open to recruiting inexperienced young technicians with a view to helping them connect their theoretical knowledge to the work environment, to ensure they don’t disappear into other industries straight after college.” For further insights and advice from automotive industry experts on the topic of skills shortages download and read Autotech Group’s “Guide to Overcoming Automotive Staff Shortages,’ at https://autotechrecruit.co.uk/a-guide-toovercoming-automotive-talent-shortages.
hugely disappointing that more is not being done to encourage and support lower-income households in the transition to EVs. “Maintaining or even increasing the PICG for the least expensive EVs to make them more affordable, and encourage manufacturers to produce electric cars at a lower price-point, could have been a strong incentive to help adoption for this sector of the market.”
